Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

Executives

From Firefighting to Strategic Leadership: Breaking the Cycle of Urgency

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From Firefighting to Strategic Leadership: Breaking the Cycle of Urgency
Image Credit: Depositphotos

In today’s fast-paced business environment, many senior executives find themselves perpetually in fire-fighting mode. This means they seldom feel the bandwidth to focus on the things that are most important to move the company forward.

Marc reached out to me at a time when, in his words, he had “fallen prey to the tyranny of the urgent.”

“It’s critical that I make a pivot,” he said. “My board has set some stretch goals that will require most of my time. I was already fighting to focus on what is most important. Now, I just don’t know how to dig myself out of this hole.”

Indeed, the constant barrage of urgent issues that executives face can demand their immediate attention. And, as in Marc’s case, this often occurs at the expense of being able to focus on more important, long-term strategic goals. This mode of operation, while seemingly productive, can create a culture of quick fixes and reactive decisions, ultimately hindering sustainable growth and innovation. It can also mentally and physically drain even the greatest of executives.

What can you do when this happens?

The Perceived Problem: Urgency Over Importance

Executives often perceive their primary challenge as the need to address urgent issues swiftly. The pressure to respond immediately to crises can be overwhelming, leading to a perpetual cycle of urgent task management. This sense of urgency is fueled by several factors.

  • Market Volatility: Rapid changes in market conditions demand quick responses to maintain competitive advantage.
  • Stakeholder Expectations: Shareholders, customers, and employees expect prompt solutions to emerging problems.
  • Technological Advancements: The fast-paced evolution of technology requires constant adaptation and rapid decision-making.

While addressing urgent issues is undeniably crucial, this focus often comes at the expense of more important, strategic initiatives that drive long-term success.

The Real Problem: A Culture of Reactivity

The real problem lies deeper than the immediate need to manage urgent tasks. It is rooted in a culture that prioritizes reactivity over proactivity. This culture manifests in several ways:

  • Short-Term Focus: Emphasizing immediate results over long-term goals creates a myopic view of success.
  • Lack of Reflection: The constant state of urgency leaves little room for reflection, analysis, and learning from past experiences.
  • Decision-Making Fatigue: Continuous quick fixing can lead to decision-making fatigue, where the quality of decisions deteriorates over time.
  • Inadequate Planning: Insufficient time and resources are allocated to strategic planning, resulting in reactive rather than proactive leadership.

This reactive culture not only hampers strategic growth but also creates an environment where systemic issues remain unaddressed, leading to recurring problems.

Marc admitted that his executive team struggled with the same issue, firefighting becoming the norm at the expense of focusing on the strategic.

“And if they are challenged in this way, it probably means that their own teams are also doing the same,” he said.

“I can guarantee it,” I responded. “If you and your team are experiencing this, it’s sure to ripple throughout the company. However, this can be turned around – and it starts with you.”

Solutions: Shifting from Firefighting to Strategic Leadership

To break free from the cycle of firefighting, executives must cultivate a culture of strategic leadership. This requires a shift in mindset, processes, and organizational structure.

Here are actionable solutions to facilitate this transformation.

  1. Prioritize Strategic Planning

    • Dedicated Time for Strategy: Allocate specific times in the calendar exclusively for strategic planning and reflection. This helps ensure that long-term goals are not overshadowed by daily urgencies.
    • Scenario Planning: Regularly engage in scenario planning exercises to anticipate potential challenges and opportunities, allowing for more prepared and proactive responses.

  2. Empower and Delegate

    • Build a Strong Leadership Team: Develop and empower a leadership team that can handle urgent issues, freeing up senior executives to focus on strategic initiatives.
    • Delegation and Trust: Delegate authority and decision-making to capable team members, fostering a culture of trust and accountability (see previous article on delegation).

  3. Foster a Learning Culture

    • Encourage Reflection: Promote a culture where reflection and learning from past experiences are valued. Regularly conduct post-mortem analyses of projects and crises to identify lessons learned. When Marc and his team implemented this, they not only pinpointed areas for improvement, but they used this as a learning lab to cultivate innovation.
    • Continuous Improvement: Implement continuous improvement processes that encourage innovation and the proactive identification of potential issues before they become urgent.

  4. Implement Effective Systems and Processes

    • Crisis Management Framework: Develop a robust crisis management framework that outlines clear roles, responsibilities, and protocols for handling emergencies efficiently.
    • Proactive Risk Management: Establish comprehensive risk management practices that identify, assess, and mitigate potential risks before they escalate into crises.

  5. Balance Urgency and Importance

    • The Eisenhower Matrix: Utilize tools like the Eisenhower Matrix to differentiate between urgent and important tasks, ensuring that important but non-urgent tasks receive adequate attention. Marc’s team began to review this as part of their weekly meeting to bring consensus to priorities and reported saving hours weekly by doing so.
    • Strategic KPIs: Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with long-term strategic goals, ensuring that progress towards these goals is regularly monitored and prioritized.

  6. Promote a Visionary Mindset

    • Vision and Mission Alignment: Regularly communicate the organization’s vision and mission to ensure that all team members are aligned with the long-term strategic direction.
    • Innovation and Creativity: Encourage innovative thinking and creativity within the organization, fostering an environment where new ideas and approaches are welcomed and explored.

Breaking free from the cycle of firefighting requires a deliberate and concerted effort to shift towards strategic leadership. By prioritizing strategic planning, empowering teams, fostering a learning culture, implementing effective systems, balancing urgency and importance, and promoting a visionary mindset, executives can transform their organizations from reactive to proactive. This shift not only enhances the organization’s ability to navigate immediate challenges but also positions it for sustained long-term success. In the end, moving away from firefighting and towards strategic leadership is not just a necessity—it’s a strategic imperative.

This transformation is not easy and requires a significant shift in mindset and organizational culture. The list of potential strategic solutions may feel daunting. I encourage you to pick one or two areas and start there, integrating more along the way. Even one tool listed above will move the needle for you.

Indeed, the rewards—sustainable growth, innovation, and a resilient organization—are well worth the effort. Executives who embrace this shift will find themselves better equipped to lead their organizations through the complexities of today’s business environment and beyond.

© 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.

Cracking the Accountability Code

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Cracking the Accountability Code
Image Credit: Depositphotos

Most executives in charge will find that accountability eludes them. In an effort to get things done, a senior executive may create a culture that is severe and unforgiving, with employees being terminated in rapid fashion. The executive hopes that different people will perform better than the ones dismissed – in most cases, faulty thinking.

Another senior executive will develop a soft culture, thinking that accountability is harsh – again, faulty thinking. This results in people at top levels chasing, babysitting, or actually doing the work of others in order to ensure that things get done.

Those who remain staunch in wanting to crack the accountability code will purchase expensive people management systems that ultimately may not work because of other factors. This kind of system focuses on just one of the three building blocks needed to reach healthy accountability.

The Three Building Blocks of Healthy Accountability

  1. Leadership Development.
  2. Performance Management
  3. Risk Governance

When carefully orchestrated, integrating these three building blocks will make a significant difference in a company’s sustainability, profit, and growth trajectory. On a more personal level, it supports the executive’s cognitive and emotional capacity, which means the executive will enjoy less stress, have a greater ability to think strategically, focus on what matters, make better decisions, and model and develop her people.

Let’s examine each building block and see how it plays out in business scenarios.

(Note: No matter what the size of your company, these three building blocks are still valid and necessary!)

  1. Leadership Development

Executives will need to shift their leadership style from traditional command-and-control to more empowering and coaching roles.

This involves:

  • Fostering empathy, compassion, and vulnerability.
  • Building psychological safety to encourage innovation and problem-solving.
  • Acting as a coach to facilitate constant learning and skill development among employees.

Leadership Development in Action: Elysian Enterprises

At Elysian Enterprises, CEO Sarah Jones noticed that her team’s creativity and problem-solving capabilities were stagnating under the traditional command-and-control leadership model she had inherited.

To begin addressing this, she embarked on making the shift to a more empowering leadership approach.

  • Empathy and Compassion: Sarah began by instituting regular one-on-one meetings with her team members, aimed at understanding their personal and professional challenges. This shift was inspired by a practice at Google, where managers are trained to start meetings with personal check-ins, enhancing team cohesion and emotional safety.
  • Psychological Safety: To cultivate an environment where employees felt safe to express ideas and concerns, Sarah introduced a ‘no blame’ policy for failed projects, focusing instead on learning from mistakes. This mirrors practices at companies like Pixar, where ‘brain trust’ sessions are held, allowing creative teams to present ideas without fear of criticism or repercussions.
  • Coaching Instead of Controlling: Transitioning from a director to a coach, Sarah facilitated workshops and provided resources for continuous learning. Inspired by the coaching culture at Microsoft under CEO Satya Nadella, she focused on growth mindset training, significantly enhancing her team’s adaptability and innovation.

  1. Performance Management

Effective performance management is crucial for holding people accountable. This includes:

  • Setting clear, challenging yet achievable targets.
  • Ensuring transparency in how these targets align with the company’s overall objectives.
  • Maintaining open communication about performance, where metrics are actively discussed and not just passively reported.
  • Instituting appropriate rewards and consequences to reinforce the importance of meeting targets.

Performance Management in Action: Orion Industries

At Orion Industries, CEO Mark Liu faced issues with underperformance and unclear accountability.

He overhauled the performance management system to align individual goals with corporate strategy.

  • Setting Relevant Targets: Mark introduced a system where targets were co-developed with employees, ensuring they were challenging yet attainable. This was similar to the approach at Intel with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), where ambitious and transparent goal setting is standard practice.
  • Transparency and Communication: To improve transparency, Mark implemented a dashboard visible to all employees, showing real-time data on performance relative to targets, akin to Salesforce’s use of similar dashboards to drive sales performance.
  • Rewards and Consequences: Recognizing the power of incentives, Mark revamped the reward system to include both financial bonuses and recognition programs, such as ‘Employee of the Month’, which not only rewarded results but also behaviors aligned with the company’s values.

  1. Risk Governance

Robust risk management systems help ensure accountability at all levels of an organization by:

  • Establishing a clear risk governance framework that defines roles and responsibilities across the organization.
  • Implementing comprehensive controls and regular stress tests to manage financial, operational, and strategic risks.
  • Encouraging a culture where risk-aware decision-making is valued and practiced by all employees.

Risk Governance in Action: Proteus Corp

At Proteus Corp, a multinational company with diverse operations, CEO Linda Zhu strengthened the company’s risk management framework after a major data breach.

  • Clear Risk Governance Framework: Linda established a dedicated risk committee that reported directly to the board, ensuring high-level oversight and accountability. This mirrored the approach of banks like JPMorgan Chase, which have robust governance structures in place to oversee various types of risks.
  • Comprehensive Controls and Regular Stress Tests: Proteus Corp implemented regular IT system checks and scenario planning exercises to assess the impact of potential threats, similar to stress testing done by financial institutions as required by regulations like the Dodd-Frank Act.
  • Culture of Risk Awareness: Linda fostered a culture where every employee was trained to recognize and report potential risks, much like the safety culture at airlines like Southwest, where employees at all levels are encouraged to report safety concerns without fear of retribution.

Together, these steps form a comprehensive approach that a chief executive can use to build a culture of accountability and resilience that supports both individual and organizational growth.

In the next article, I’ll share why top executives still won’t delegate – and if you are one or are supervising one, what you can do to shift this.

© 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.

When Your Executive Can’t Get to the Point

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When Your Executive Can’t Get to the Point
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Have you ever had an executive who just can’t seem to get to the point?  It can be an agonizing monologue, and you, as listener, can easily get lost in their narrative.

How do you help them shorten up the time they spend in detail so that you can determine what they need from you?

Tom asked me to work with him on his tolerance levels with key executives. “Specifically, I’m at my wit’s end with John, one of my key executives.”

“I can’t get past his droning narrative,” Tom continued. “It’s as if every conversation he has begins with when he was born and where. Then I start bristling and cut him off. Lately, I’ve noticed him shutting down, and I’m sure it’s because of my reaction. What do I do?”

“John may be a functional communicator*,” I said. “Does he love details and timelines?”

“I don’t know what a functional communicator is, but he thrives on timelines and charts,” Tom answered. “Burying himself in step-by-step guides and combing through details are a mental trip to Disneyland for John. It drives me crazy!”

“And how do you like to get things done, Tom?” I asked.

“Listen, I’m a big-picture thinker,” he responded. “Don’t bog me down with details. Give me a quick overview, and let me ask a few careful questions. That’s how we can move forward quickly.”

“Then I would call you an intuitive communicator, Tom,” I said. “Too many details can seem distracting to you.”

“You aren’t kidding,” Tom said. “My skin starts crawling when we drop below 40,000 feet.”

“Well, Tom, since you say John is great talent, and you want to negotiate a better way of communicating with him, here are four steps you can take with him.”

  1. Let him know you value his contributions.

Tell John he may have noticed you becoming frustrated upon occasion and that you apologize for this. Share that you recognize this is due to your differing communication styles and is no reflection on how you regard his talent or positive impact on the team.

  1. Share your observation about your communication styles.

Note he appears to be a functional communicator. He likes to outline things in a step-by-step way so that nothing is missed and provide details so that someone has full information by the time he is finished presenting. Ask him if this is correct. After listening and confirming, be sure you let him know you appreciate his desire to be thorough. Then, share your communication style with him.  As an intuitive communicator, you appreciate the aerial view. You like the big picture, and details can be distracting to you. You prefer for him to stick to the main topic and allow you to ask follow-up questions. You will then ask him to share other details he feels are relevant after you ask your questions.

  1. Pick a topic and role play.

Experiment with how it would be to communicate in each other’s preferred styles. In other words, after selecting the topic, share first with him, outlining all details and info John might appreciate. Debrief after having done so to see if this is helpful to him. Then, have John try your style with the same topic, identifying the main point in a sentence and its present or potential impact. He will then sit back for questions. Again, debrief.

  1. Practice.

As you meet together, continue to try each other’s styles as you communicate. Ask each other how it is working, and what could go better. Make sure that you don’t treat this as a test, but as experimenting to find the right way for both.

The next time you become frustrated with a colleague’s communication style, ask yourself what would work for you, instead. Then have the conversation with that person and ask them about their experience with you. Do they also need something different, in order to communicate more smoothly? Suggest experimenting such as is outlined above, and see if this doesn’t improve your working relationship and your ability to get things done together.

*Mark Murphy’s 4 Communication Styles, Leadership IQ

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.

Does Your Lack of Authority Make You Anxious?

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Does Your Lack of Authority Make You Anxious?
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Does the thought of using your authority make you anxious?

This can really get in the way of moving the business forward.

Susan was the CEO of a small company, who found it challenging to manage her people with authority. And it was costing her considerably.

I first met Susan at a CEO forum. She was instantly likeable – people flocked around her to laugh and joke with her, and it was clear that she made friends easily.

Later, when she called me to work with her, I found that her employees also enjoyed her humor and engaging manner.

“Susan is a great listening ear,” one of her executives said. “And she’s always good for a lift in spirits.”

“Yes,” I said. “Everyone seems to appreciate her.”

“Appreciate her? Not as a leader. They like her,” the executive responded. “But as a leader, she could do with some spine. She needs to stop letting her executive team push her around.”

Although I didn’t let on, this was exactly why Susan had invited me to meet with her.

“I’m noticing that the executive team is making key decisions without me,” Susan shared later. “And I have to confess that I feel some frustration when we hold our team meetings. I feel like people are riding all over me.”

“What do you think is happening?” I asked.

Susan looked blank. “I’m not sure. But, Patti, I’m scared. How did I get here? Maybe I’m not fit to lead. Can you help?”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to attend one of your executive team meetings,” I said. “Perhaps I can glean some insights that might help. Let’s talk afterward.”

When they next met, I was present. Susan introduced me as her new executive leadership coach. “If I expect all of you and the organization to grow, I need to grow first,” she laughed.

The meeting adjourned two hours later, and we met back in her office. I shared what I had observed.

The team was not aligned in any of the discussion, and they fought for personal agendas. Further, when Susan gave a recommendation on an item, two of the other team members argued her down. Finally, one of the team members seemed to dominate the entire meeting with his ideas about how things ought to run. Susan finally sat back and remained silent.

“So, I can see why you are frustrated, Susan,” I said. “It was pretty chaotic in there, and you didn’t move any one of your agenda items forward.”

“Things are just out of control,” she said. “Where do I start?”

“Pretty simple, really,” I responded. “When did you first become uncomfortable with your authority?”

During the rest of our meeting, Susan shared how she transitioned from a competitor to become CEO of her current company. When she first onboarded, the outgoing CEO warned her to play small and allow the team to acclimate to her. It seems one of the executive team members had interviewed for the CEO position and lost. Over the next few months, Susan fell into allowing the team to decide by consensus. She became anxious each time she thought about asserting her authority and backed off.

“I became a fly on the wall and became frozen, Patti,” Susan told me. “I didn’t used to be a highly anxious person. But I am, now. And the stress is overwhelming.”

Susan had taken the path of least resistance, and it had backfired.

  • People on the team started making key decisions without her.
  • She felt she was losing footing.
  • She became vague and unclear whenever she provided direction.
  • Other executives pushed back, and she backed down again.

“The anxiety has become overwhelming,” she told me. ”And I’ll do whatever it takes to remove the stress.”

“Well, get ready for more anxiety, then,” I countered. “But this time, it will be worth it.”

I shared that, whether you make a change or not, when you are not comfortable with where you are (and in Susan’s case, with exerting her authority), you will experience anxiety.

“Right now, you are experiencing chronic anxiety. Chronic anxiety comes from putting up with a situation that is stressful rather than taking the painful steps to resolve it. So that’s where you are, because you find yourself frozen and unsure as to how to move out from this space. Yet, should you choose to confront and make the change you need to make, that also creates anxiety. This kind of anxiety is acute. And we don’t like the thought of more anxiety. We put up with the chronic anxiety of inaction, so we don’t have to go through the acute anxiety.”

“That’s sounds crazy,” Susan said.

“It is, in a way,” I said. “Any attempt to change is going to make us feel the disruption of the familiar. A mentor coach of mine once explained it to me with the following example:  chronic anxiety would be if you walked around with a pebble in your shoe and you just kept walking with it because it’s too much effort to take off the shoe. You don’t want to face the challenge. Acute anxiety would be if you are in a 10k race, and you have a pebble in your shoe. You realize that, if you stop to take it out, you will go a lot faster. But you will also lose time. And you will now have to face compensating to win the race. But you choose to do so; and, thus, face the challenge.”

“So, in order to get peace and reclaim my effectiveness, I will need to get off the path of least resistance, and face this. Stand up. Take back my authority.”

“Yes,” I answered. “But it’s easier said than done. There are a lot of people out there who know they need to face change, but they won’t. They need a thought partner to help strategize and implement, someone who can support them through the acute stress. The difference between them and you is that you are willing to take action on those needs.”

“Makes total sense,” said Susan. “When and where do we start?”

Susan and I worked over the next six months to help her reclaim her authority in a respectful, yet firm manner. There were some eruptions along the way, but Susan dealt with them well, which made room for the team to come together and begin to build cohesion and trust.

A year later, she called me.

“You wouldn’t recognize us,” she said. “We are moving forward together on all cylinders. Our conversations are different, and we are getting things done. I’m feeling comfortable leading, and the team is taking great pride in each of their areas of responsibility. Thank you.”

“You did the work, Susan,” I responded. “You decided a bit of acute anxiety was worth the prize. Congratulations!”

Are you identifying with Susan’s dilemma in this story?

  • Where in your own leadership are you feeling chronic anxiety?
  • How much is it costing you, your team, and the company?
  • And the most important question: Are you willing to go through the acute anxiety needed to take back your authority?

—

This article is part of a series of real-life scenarios that leaders face in today’s business world. The names and details are modified to preserve confidentiality and may represent multiple occurrences.

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 Ways to Assess Your Personal Effectiveness

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Three Ways to Assess Your Personal Effectiveness
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How effective are you?

Things are going well, but you sometimes wonder if you could step up your game – but where to start?

There are three quick ways you can find out.

I recently worked with an executive we will call Sam, who shared that she felt things were going fine. She suspected, however, that she could do better.

“I don’t have anything specific I can put my finger on,” Sam said. “But I’ve been sitting in this chair a long time, and carry out my responsibilities easily. I’m just wondering if I am contributing my best if things run so smoothly.”

“You are wise to check in on this,” I answered.  “Too many executives don’t pause to ask themselves that question. One can easily fall into complacency – and this leads to a rut from which it is difficult to climb. But you are avoiding such a scenario altogether by asking yourself the question, ‘Am I contributing my best?’”

Sam shifted in her chair. “If I’m really honest, I also feel like I’m not growing and learning right now, so that I push the edges of what’s possible for me as a leader. It’s not that I want to change positions or anything like that – it’s just that I wonder if I could be even more effective right where I am. You know – personal growth.”

“Again, great reflection, Sam.” I said. “And there’s much we can do in this arena. But a great place to start is to take a quick assessment of how you are doing. This requires that you be candid with yourself as you go through some careful questioning. And then, if you want a full picture – to see if others have the same perception of your leadership as you do, you will include a few others in this same process.”

“That’s a little daunting,” Sam answered. “But you are probably going to tell me that it is valuable, or you wouldn’t have suggested it.”

“Yes,” I replied. “When we take a careful look at ourselves and assess how we are doing, we are seeing from our lens only. Getting feedback from others helps us to understand how others see us in these same areas. There are often surprises.”

Sam sat back. “You know, I really get that. We have someone here who feels he is a confident and decisive person. But many of us have said that he has a blind spot – that he is actually a poor listener and doesn’t include others in important decisions.”

“Now you are getting it!” I said.

Sam and I worked on some quick questions and process to include others in her mini-assessment. After doing this, she reported some great discoveries that served as the basis for her personal development plan going forward.

How are you doing?

Here are some questions to help you begin your assessment.

Following these questions, I’ve outlined the three ways you can use these. And whether you choose to self-assess, or to include others, it is important to appreciate candor and openness as part of the process, remembering that any feedback you get is valuable to your growth and to your future.

Questions for the Assessment Process

  1. Who am I as leader when I am at my best?
  2. What keeps me from being at my best as a leader?
  3. What do I need more or less of to be at my best as leader?
  4. What do I consider my top strengths?
  5. How do I use these to benefit my work? My team and colleagues? The company?
  6. Where do I see growth opportunities to use more of these strengths in my work?
  7. In what area(s) do I feel there is more personal growth opportunity for me?
  8. How would this enhance my work results? My leadership? How would this benefit my team, colleagues, and the company?
  9. Where in my work do I feel I could be even more effective? Where in my leadership could I do the same?
  10. If I were to work on one thing to be more effective, what would it be? How would this benefit my team? My colleagues? The company?

3 Ways to Assess Your Personal Effectiveness

1. Perform a self-assessment.

Take some time away from the office to sit in a quiet, reflective space. Journal out your answers. Handwriting instead of typing connects the head and heart and will produce deeper, richer results.

2. Have a heart-to-heart discussion with your leader.

Ask her if she will sit with you and answer some questions that will help you to become more effective. Ask her for details or scenarios when you aren’t sure about her answers, or when something isn’t clear to you. It’s important for you to have a clear visual as to when and how you come across in a certain way, or how your results show, so that you can be more aware and manage yourself more effectively.

3. Perform a mini-360° assessment.

Select from those colleagues and reports with whom you work most closely (you may even include a key customer!).

Follow the same process as you do with your leader in #2 above. Select a handful carefully – perhaps 3-5. Be courageous by including those for whom you feel less affinity, or those you fear might be harsh in their feedback. Remember that if one person provides you feedback that is unlike that from the others and does not seem true, you can choose to discount it, or to see this as a growth opportunity to forge a better, closer relationship with that person to test it out.

Once you have gathered your feedback, you will have a rich source of information from which to draw for your personal leadership growth.