Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

decision making

Are You Suffering from Performance Anxiety?

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Are You Suffering from Performance Anxiety?
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If you lead a group of people, you most certainly carry the chronic stress that accompanies this. It’s a privilege and a responsibility to lead, and this can weigh heavy.

How do you stay on an even keel and avoid the burnout that can otherwise sneak up on you with this responsibility?

Let’s look at three common false beliefs that CEOs and other leaders carry, which create undue stress and additional problems.

1. I need to know more than my executive team.

This is naïve and unrealistic. The world is in a constant state of change and complexity. The smart thing to do is for the CEO to surround himself or herself with experts. They should concentrate on sharpening their systems, thinking, and emotional intelligence for influence and impact. Challenges that accompany the rise to the top require such.

2. I need to make all important decisions.

Fully 50% of all decisions executives make are wrong. Various factors play into this, but chief among them is that executives make these decisions without the benefit of brain trust. Know when you must make an executive decision – and when it’s best to include others for various perspectives to challenge best thinking.

HOW MUCH

DO OTHERS REALLY TRUST YOU?

​Learn the two vital parts to trust and how they can help you become a more highly effective leader.

GET THE INFOGRAPHIC

3. I can count on my great performers being great leaders.

Many a CEO has promoted an excellent performer to a leadership position because of his stellar performance, and this has backfired. In fact, the skills and attributes of a great performer are not what will make him a great leader, as leading people requires a different skillset. What the organization is left with is an underperforming leader, which causes problems and more work for those who lead.

If you find as top leader that you are carrying undue chronic stress, chances are that you are not tapping into the full potential of your executive team to take more ownership. Sharing this with them will not only relieve performance anxiety for you, it will also flex the executive team’s ability to stand into greater responsibility and succeed.

© Patti Cotton and patticotton.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that attribution is made to Patti Cotton and patticotton.com, with links thereto.

How to Develop a Culture of Gratitude in the Workplace

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How to Develop a Culture of Gratitude in the Workplace
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Could your workplace benefit from greater morale and engagement?

The answer may be simply to develop a workplace culture of gratitude. This may seem odd to many, since gratitude has long been considered a “soft” practice, but the results are dynamic.

In fact, developing a culture of gratitude helps elevate wellness, engagement, productivity and employee retention. And these things are measurable.

Moreover, gratitude has been called the gateway to developing greater empathy and compassion, which are cornerstones of group emotional intelligence on high-performing teams.

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful.

But it differs from appreciation.

Whereas appreciation is thankfulness for the goodness in our lives, gratitude moves beyond this. It attributes these positive things to forces outside ourselves. For example, noting an accomplishment at work will include recognizing the efforts and contributions of others in making this a success.

Moreover, if gratitude is to become a culture embraced by the organization, it must be systematized so that it is replicable. Where do we begin?

Gratitude starts at the top.

We must start at the top, agreeing at the executive team level to identify and coordinate the practice of gratitude. Then, modeling this, we must also teach them to reports, replicating this throughout so that it cascades throughout the entire workforce.

Where do you begin?

  1. Define key approaches your organization can take to express gratitude.

Begin with “thank you.” How does your organization address recognition? It may have yearly events where people are recognized for years of service, outstanding performance, and other categories.

But what can expressing gratitude in the workplace look like on a more regular basis? Where and how can you say thank you more often? This may take the form of virtual or physical “walls” that provide shout-outs. It may be in the form of a handwritten note or other special gesture. Decide how gratitude looks at the individual, team, and organizational levels.

  1. Assess for gaps and growth opportunities at the individual, team, and organizational levels.

As you design your organizational gratitude practice, make sure you examine how these thread through from the individual to team, and from team to organization, so that the practice cascades throughout. For example, does your organization preach work-life balance, but quietly expect that people will work 80 hours weekly? This requires not only conversations but reexamining the organizational model to see how to restructure and grow the resources needed for its employees to enjoy balance.

  1. Identify the behaviors that support these approaches.

Many times, change management practices fail only because the organization has defined categories of improvement, but it has not identified the supporting behaviors that support each category.

For example, if a category within your defined gratitude practice is “recognize a job well done,” what are the behaviors associated with this? How will we know this recognition is occurring?

An example might be, “timely acknowledgment through personal call or thank you note.” Be sure to address the whole person as you define behaviors to be recognized. Focusing solely on top performers omits all those supporting the process who contribute greatness through character, such as going the extra mile, exhibiting great compassion, and other traits. And these are the heart of the organization – the very stuff that keeps it going.

  1. Model these behaviors to begin establishing the culture.

As chief executive, how are you expressing gratitude for others in the workplace? Facets of your expression should include being sincere, specific, and humble. As an insincere acknowledgment erodes trust, so does a sincere expression build it.

Beyond this, a simple “thank you” is not enough without saying why you are thankful. Give specifics as to how someone else’s behaviors or actions resulted in a positive outcome or tenor. And third, be humble and keep this about the other person. It is always disappointing to hear of an acknowledgment that turns a message into something that is all about you or the project itself. Make sure you give ample light and credit to the person you are recognizing.

  1. Reward these behaviors in others as you recognize them in order to reinforce the culture.

How can you reinforce these behaviors in others? What does acknowledgment of these look like? And how can you hold your managers accountable for supporting this? Do you need to build this into expectations? And what does that look like?

Gratitude, when practiced with a sincere heart, can turn around an ailing culture. Be sure to address it. And be sure that it starts with you.

© Patti Cotton and patticotton.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that attribution is made to Patti Cotton and patticotton.com, with links thereto.

Making Your Leadership Vision Work

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Making Your Leadership Vision Work
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Your leadership vision must be bold, compelling, and achievable. These are the things that will inspire, motivate, and drive your team for excellent performance.

To lead your organization into the future, this is crucial.

Most of you reading this can affirm that your own leadership vision meets these criteria.

You articulate the vision relentlessly.

You’ve defined the organizational goals to support it.

Your team is fired up and ready to go.

What are you missing?

You are missing the one thing that you and your team need in order to achieve the business imperative.

The team culture shift.

The team culture shift answers the questions:

  • Together, who do we need to become in order to make this work?
  • What specific changes in behaviors and interactions, in ways we relate to one another, do we need to meet the business imperative?
  • What behavioral changes do I as leader need to make in order to support this team culture shift?

Begin your team evaluation by examining and discussing the following:

  1. Do we deliver acceptable outputs to the client (internal or external)?

If not, why not? Examples of behaviors that can interfere are:

    • Team complacency. This is especially prevalent where team members have been with the organization for several years. Signs this may be happening are a slowness to adopt new systems, or a poor ability to handle transitions.
    • Team victim mentality. As a group, your team may be suffering from a victim mentality, unable to look past assumptions and biases to see how things might work differently.
    • Myopic team lens. Is the team willing to step outside its comfort zone to reach new stretch goals, or does their messaging reflect an inability or reticence to grasp the “why” of the business imperative?

  1. Do we work together in a way that creates and fosters a cohesive team for the long term?

If not, why not? Examples of behaviors that can interfere are:

    • Power coalitions within your larger team that defer mostly to each other. These coalitions tend to stick to their small group without wider acknowledgement or connection with other team members.
    • Competing factions within your team. These are team members who are passionate about their own viewpoints, but slow to collaborate to reach agreement.
    • Conversations in all the wrong places. This dynamic can occur when one team member has a personal agenda that vies with the larger leadership agenda. It can also take place when members simply don’t feel like they have a voice in the collective or they fear not being valued in the group.

  1. Does each of us as an individual team member contribute to have positive impact on the other team members?

If not, why not? Examples of behaviors that can interfere are:

    • Collaboration sabotage. Do you have someone on the team who continues to silo in order to showcase his or her team’s own accomplishments above the rest? Do you have someone who throws people under the proverbial bus?
    • Lip service. Is there someone who provides a lot of affirmation, but is revealed later to have a different agenda? Or do you have a team member who promises a lot, but is poor in delivery?
    • Lack of organizational awareness. Do you have team members who demonstrate that they are unable to keep the larger picture in mind as they work? Signs of this may be an inability to work through inter-team conflict or to understand and consider the business impact their team results have on the other teams within the organization.

As you begin to identify together the team behaviors and interactions that need to shift in order to work more effectively, remember to evaluate what you as leader need to shift in order to support this change. Consider areas such as how you make decisions, delegate, empower, and hold others accountable.

And since we all have blind spots, ask your team for their feedback on this. What do you need to shift or change in order to support them best?

To your leadership vision success!

The Clockwork of Excellent Leadership:   3 Essential Gears

What makes up excellent leadership? The essential components that go into leadership must all work together, or they begin to wear on one another and bring things to a stop. Learn how to keep them running like clockwork. Sign up to receive the  complimentary infographic.

© Patti Cotton and patticotton.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that attribution is made to Patti Cotton and patticotton.com, with links thereto.

Three Lifestyle Habits to Keep Your Leadership Sharp

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Three Lifestyle Habits to Keep Your Leadership Sharp
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As a leader, how do you stay sharp and energized?

In studying great leaders, three habits seem to support this, with some of these leaders having taken it to a science.

What are these three habits, and how can you capitalize on the experience of the greats?

  1. Reading to Nourish Your Leadership Lens

Great leaders read daily. Bill Gates reads about 50 books yearly. He told Time magazine that reading is essential for success. Elon Musk shares that reading is what taught him how to build rockets. Warren Buffett, who reads about 500 pages daily, says, “That’s how knowledge works. It builds up like compound interest.”

I agree. Whatever you feed your brain is what it uses to operate. This is true for the food you eat and the information you absorb. If you are not taking the time to ingest new information to keep learning and to help you make best decisions, you are not growing. Stagnant leadership is dying leadership.

Here are tips to begin your reading habit.

    • Research what some of the great leaders are reading. Then do likewise. You can expand from there.
    • Set a timer. This is a habit to feed your brain, just like exercise is a habit to keep your body in shape. Begin with 30 minutes and set a timer so that you can focus on what you are reading.
    • Read three chapters before you decide whether you will finish the book. Sometimes you will begin a book that is just not inspiring. When this happens, give it three chapters just to make sure, and then set it aside for another if the selection is stale.

  1. Rituals to Stay Grounded in Turbulent Times

Rituals are as old as mankind. There are many kinds of rituals, such as those that increase confidence or ease grieving. There are those that signify an end or beginning to a life chapter. You and I may have personal rituals including actions such as wearing lucky socks before a big event. Rituals are cultural markers that involve activity tied to some sort of meaning. The wonderful thing about these is that they can also provide grounding and a sense of control.

Arianna Huffington is one leader who firmly believes in ritual. In fact, under her direction, the Huffington Post offers regular yoga and meditation classes, as well as nap rooms, to its employees. Building in one of these activities on a regular basis serves to bring balance and well-being to those who participate. Richard Branson claims he does his best thinking when he adds the ritual of movement, such as taking a walk.

Here are some ideas for you as you think about establishing your own rituals.

    • Decide how you would like to celebrate. Is it important to you to celebrate accomplishments? Important dates? Identify what is meaningful to you and then develop a ritual to mark the event.
    • Identify how you will center yourself. Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a wonderful way to calm anxiety or quiet the world. Developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 1970s at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, MBSR was originally intended for people suffering from anxiety, depression, and pain. It has proven incredibly successful, and today, is also taught in almost every community as a way to alleviate stress and develop mindfulness.
    • Practice sharing a meaningful ritual with others so that it becomes part of your company or family culture. Sharing brings a sense of belonging and connection which is powerful and sorely needed in today’s world.

  1. Replenishing the Leadership Engine

Rest is key for rejuvenation and to re-energize. Just as your car needs energy to operate, so do you. Are you truly getting the quality and amount of sleep you need? Sleep deprivation interferes directly with focus and executive reasoning. This means your performance – and that of your business, in turn – is at stake.

McKinsey conducted a study of 196 business leaders and discovered that two-thirds were dissatisfied with the quantity of sleep they got, and 55% were not happy with the quality of their sleep. Yet, the compelling evidence shows that a lack of sleep on the part of a leader directly impacts organizational performance. What can you do about this?

Here are some tips to get you started on the road to better sleep habits.

    • Target the optimal seven to nine hours of sleep per night. If you have claimed in the past that you “only need six hours” or whatever your number is, you need to let that idea go. Experts show that anything less than seven hours is simply not enough, and you are systematically weakening your brain and body’s abilities to function over time.
    • Keep your bedroom cool and the lights off. Any compromise to darkness will compromise a sound sleep. This includes removing your cell phone from the bedroom. The stress and stimulation it represents, in addition to the blue light it gives off when alerts come through, is enough to interfere with your ability to relax and stay asleep.
    • We have all heard that best sleep hours occur before midnight, so one should go to bed early. Yet many of us may be nocturnal or find this impractical. Decide the block of time that is right for you, and then allot enough time to meet your sleep quota.

Staying sharp means discipline. And discipline is what we see the best leaders reflect as they make change around the world. Taking the time to develop this will mean the difference between good and great. As you review the three lifestyle habits of best leaders above, where will you start?

The Clockwork of Excellent Leadership:   3 Essential Gears

What makes up excellent leadership? The essential components that go into leadership must all work together, or they begin to wear on one another and bring things to a stop. Learn how to keep them running like clockwork. Sign up to receive the  complimentary infographic.

© Patti Cotton and patticotton.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that attribution is made to Patti Cotton and patticotton.com, with links thereto.

Three Commitments to Effective Leadership

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commitment
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Are you committed to being a leader?

You have the title. You have the area of responsibility. You’re in a seat that allows you to make key decisions for the larger picture.

Moreover, others have deemed that you have both the competencies and character to lead well.

But what about your commitment?

Without commitment in three key areas, abilities are not enough.

In my engagement with leaders, I will work with them to assess their leadership competencies, their character, and their commitment. Most often, they can readily articulate their strengths – and many are keenly self-aware of their vulnerabilities. When we discuss character, this is often a more reflective time in our conversation, for this is not a question that surfaces as much.

Then, I approach their commitment. Most everyone quickly affirms they are committed, and some may even feel softly affronted that I’ve even asked the question. “If I weren’t committed, I wouldn’t be here,” quipped one. “They don’t pay me enough, but I still sit in this chair!”

It’s at this point that I invite them to reflect on three areas of commitment and to explore where they might need next to grow.

1. Aspiration.

Aspire to a vision. How old is your vision? Is it still relevant? And does it still inspire you to action? If not, it’s certain that your people are not inspired, either. Take the time to revisit this in light of where you and your company are today. Then, review your direction and strategies to ensure they support it best.

2.  Engagement.

Get involved and find solutions. Dive into the many issues that face you as leader, your business, and your industry. Use the appropriate brain trust to turn old ideas upside down and to come up with creative solutions to problems. See the gold in continued growth for yourself. Admit and examine those areas within the company that require refinement or redirecting. Recognize the merits of collaboration as you examine industry challenges and decide to become part of the thought leadership that provides the answers.

3.  Sacrifice.

Be willing to make sacrifices in pursuit of the vision. If you have been in leadership many years, or your business has been long established, there may be pockets of complacency that impede your ability to move ahead. These may not be readily apparent, so as you share the vision anew, make sure that this is shared at all levels of your organization. Ask each area of responsibility, then, to perform a litmus test by examining systems, processes, and protocols to see if these best support the vision and its direction. Then, define the behaviors and attitudes you want to see that reflect company values. What needs to shift or change? What needs to go, or be adopted? Remaining “in place” with what has always worked is a sure sign that you are not staying current – and by default, you could be on the way out.

In essence, commitment in these three areas requires that you roll up your sleeves and do the hard work required to lead well. I challenge you to use this framework as you consider the effectiveness of your own leadership, and that of your executive team.

HOW MUCH

DO OTHERS REALLY TRUST YOU?

​Learn the two vital parts to trust and how they can help you become a more highly effective leader.

GET THE INFOGRAPHIC

© Patti Cotton and patticotton.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that attribution is made to Patti Cotton and patticotton.com, with links thereto.