Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

executive

How Powerful is Your Network?

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Networking

During the recent recession, I served as volunteer coach and teacher for seasoned professionals who were seeking to get back into the workforce. Among other things, I taught networking skills, and was astounded to learn about the lack of understanding participants had regarding the benefits of networking. This fact was especially salient, since at the time, 80% of America’s hires were effectuated through a network, and not through the classic resume submission through formal channels.

Networks are simply relationships, and can be positive or negative; passive or powerful. As someone who loves to make things sizzle, I admit to enjoying expanding my own, to getting to know new people, and seeing how we can make bigger things happen together.

Here are 3 quick tips for strengthening your network that I hope are of value.

  1. Variety matters.

    Herminia Ibarra, INSEAD professor of organizational behavior, notes that there are three kinds of networks: operational, personal, and strategic. Operational networks are those relationships that allow you to get your present work done. Personal networks are those that you form for pleasure and socialization. And finally, strategic networks are those that help you advance in your career, influence others, and get the information and resources you need to move into your future (“Building Effective Networks,” http://leanin.org/education/building-effective-networks/).

Tip:  Make sure you know the difference in the three types of networks when seeing how your network can help you reach your goals. Your co-worker may sympathize with your plight to find a new job, but he may not have the influence or connections to introduce you to someone who can get you in front of decision-makers with job opportunities.

  1. Size matters.

    Small-but-mighty networks are great. But these have their limitations based on the collective influence quotient of the group. And let’s face it – we don’t want to wear our networks out. These are relationships with other human beings, and we want to nurture them. In order to maintain a network’s potency and reach, remember to consistently draw in new people who can add and receive value from the group. Each new person leverages many opportunities for you – and you, for them.

Tip:  With each new person you meet, ask yourself who, in your network, could help them or benefit from connecting. Make that connection for them – and make new friends in the process.

  1. Expectations matter.

    Can you pick up the phone and ask a favor of a person in your network? If not, you are in trouble. Time to give your network a facelift – or to change your own approach to networking. Adam Grant, in his book, Give and Take, talks about givers making up the top layer of all successful people. Do you consistently seek to bring value to your own network? How?

Tip:  Become an intentional giver with consistency. It’s rewarding to help others, and this will also give you the currency and confidence to call on your relationships when you find yourself in need. Who can you reach out to, today?

When Your Star Employee Asks for a Raise

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When Your Star Employee Asks for a Raise

 

Keeping Spirits High When You Have to Say No

You have an excellent employee, Kathy, who is asking for a raise. How do you keep her motivated when you can’t give her what she is asking for?

You want to honor her request. Kathy is an excellent performer and someone you want to mentor for greater leadership. However, you’ve also just reviewed the budget and you know immediately that although she deserves a raise, the cash flow isn’t there to support it.

Be candid about the budget constraints, and tell her you still want to explore other options available right now, in order to recognize and reward her professional contribution.

Here are three tips to help you get creative in showing your support and vote of confidence:

  1. Think outside the box. Offer Kathy something else of value. You happen to know that Kathy values free time to spend with her family. What about additional paid time off every year, or an option to work from home one day weekly? Both of these are great benefits.
  2. Revisit her long-range goals and identify some short-term opportunities to help further these. Has she set her sights on a promotion or different role? You may be able to help more than you have thought. Identify a special project she can take on, or a taskforce in which she can participate, which will specifically help to meet her career aspirations.
  3. Build trust by flagging her request. Share that you will revisit a raise for Kathy with next year’s budgeting that reflects an additional bonus based on performance. And remember to make good on your promise by putting a tickler in your calendar at the appropriate time.

You may not always be able to say “yes” to deserving employees in the way that they request. However, you can acknowledge their value in some of these other ways that will build trust in you and keep a star performer’s motivation high.

 

The Problem With Women and Visionary Thinking

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Women are limiting their own progress by not considering themselves as “visionary thinkers,” according to researchers Ibarra and Obodaru.  In fact, these professionals reveal that the female majority does not value the more abstract “visionary” thinking as much as they value their practical orientation toward solving problems.

This is a game-changer, if we want to elevate women to higher leadership.  It means that even if you are a highly-successful female professional, you are no doubt keeping yourself from an even more incredible future, simply because you may not be developing your visionary thinking.

Vision is the driver for inspiring and engaging your team to move forward together with purpose.  It’s the foundation for creativity and innovation.   Lifting your thinking from simply what’s in front of you to a world of possibilities is necessary to help you and your company remain relevant and positioned for the future.

So if you are a woman who seeks to expand your leadership capacity, you must cultivate visionary thinking as part of your toolkit.

Here are 5 steps to help you begin to make this shift:

  1. Make room for creative space. Schedule this on your calendar regularly, and give yourself permission to daydream, and to dive deep. This may be a big shift for you if you are accustomed to operating from a “get-it-done” mindset.  Recognize that without this space to look beyond what is, you will remain right where you are.  And if you find it is a challenge to make this happen at the office, schedule yourself outside the office for it.  This is foundational.
  2. Make your creative thoughts relevant. How might the ideas you come up with relate to your company, and to your own leadership?  If you catch yourself limiting ideas because of current practices or parameters, ask yourself what might be possible if these were not limiters.
  3. Leverage your thinking and creative process with a brain trust. Utilize the concept of brain trust, forming a small circle of trusted professionals both inside and outside of your industry to discuss ideas.  This one move not only supports synergy, but also begins to develop a forward-thinking network to incubate ideas and innovation.
  4. Develop your outside-in lens. As you go about your daily work, approach it with new eyes.  If you were looking at your company or initiative from the outside, how would what you see compare to what could be?
  5. Disrupt the rules of engagement. Challenge process and protocol.  Ask why, when your team opts for the standard, preferred way of doing.  Ask why not, when you hear someone saying that it simply can’t be done.  Mix up your taskforces, hold meetings in unconventional spots when you want creative thinking.  What else can you switch up that disrupts the status quo?

Cultivating visionary thinking is not an overnight switch.  Developing new habits to shift mindset take time.  But the results are worth it, if you are ready to get from where you are, to where you want to be.  I challenge you to begin cultivating your visionary thinking, and to let me know what shifts you are experiencing.

“The possibilities that tomorrow brings are proportional to the beliefs you hold about them.”  – Patti Cotton

 

How to Avoid Being a Bad Role Model: 5 Keys

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Anne was the vice president of a national wealth management organization who was being considered for a more senior role. She realized that this would position her to be of greater influence to the other employees in the organization, and reached out to me for help.

“I just stumbled my way to leadership on my own. So, even though I’ve helped others along the way, I feel I could be much more effective,” she said. “I would like to be a role model that can help others get ahead.”

Over the next few months, Anne and I worked on sharpening and flexing her leadership brand.* This sparked new energy and confidence for her in her ability to lead, and it showed well in her decision-making and calculated risk-taking. The organization benefited greatly, and by the time she stepped into the new position, she was confident of influencing others with greatest impact.

A year later, I checked in with Anne, and we celebrated her success together. She shared her thoughts on what she felt makes a great role model. I agreed with her points – and have summed them up here:

  1. Live your values with confidence. Are you consistent in practicing these values? Or are there habits and behaviors that you need to shed so that you lead with integrity and confidence?
  2. Celebrate being unique. And celebrate the uniqueness of others. The entire team brings strengths and talents to the table. Seek to make sure all of these are recognized and invited to be part of the larger picture.
  3. Be humble and willing to admit mistakes. Show others it’s okay to step out of their comfort zones and take calculated risks. And when it doesn’t work, or you misstep in your leadership in some other way, be willing to admit your mistakes so that others have permission to grow, as well.
  4. Show respect and concern for others. Sometimes we can get busy leading and forget to take a look around. Don’t take others for granted – make sure you recognize and acknowledge those around you.
  5. Seek to do good in the community. Commitment to a great cause can indicate a strong commitment to business. But beyond this, and more importantly, take the time do take action in doing good – simply because you can.

We influence others through our behavior, and can inspire greatness in others, or engender mediocrity. The choice is not really whether we want to become a role model, but rather, what kind of role model we want to be. What about you?

*  For more information on how to define and strengthen your leadership brand, see my previous article “Inspire!  Taking Your Leadership to the Next Level.”

Six Simple Steps to Next-Level Leadership

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You are a successful person who is in charge. You recognize that the leadership you have developed to get you here is not enough to support your goals going forward.

When I work with clients to help them up-level their leadership, the following points are some of what we include in our work together. Here’s to your viability, vibrancy, and effectiveness!

A 6-Point Checklist for Next-Level Leadership

  1. Create a higher vision for your leadership. You’ve led and done well. Now, what? The leadership that got you here is not the greater leadership that calls you forward. What does “next level” leadership look like for you? And how does it support your purpose?
  2. Lead from the heart. Purpose must possess passion in order to be heart-centered and genuine. Does yours need reviving? Get back in touch with why you seek to serve through your leadership, and align your heart and head, so that you can infuse heightened energy and excitement into your contributions.
  3. Take a stand. What’s important to you, and what are the top values from which you operate? When these values come into conflict with one another, or you are asked by others to step outside your values system, how do you handle it? Learn to use your values as a powerful lens so that you operate with integrity and confidence.
  4. Conduct a fearless inventory of those things that no longer serve you. Have you inadvertently developed a “group think” approach over time, or adopted habits and behaviors that have impeded you from doing your best work? Shed these and identify better alternatives so that you can increase your effectiveness.
  5. Define your unique value proposition. How does your envisioned “next level” leadership benefit the company’s bottom line? Can you articulate this in a way that others see the value in what you bring to the table?
  6. A vision is nothing without action, and integrity is key to great leadership. How will you ensure that you deliver consistently so that you meet and exceed the expectations of your company or business?

And finally, learn to actively cultivate your leadership. Using your wisdom as you remain agile to support change is key to your relevance and effectiveness. Enjoy the ride!