Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

management

Leading to Recovery While Managing Response

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Leading to Recovery While Managing Response
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Your full attention and energy have been called to manage the current crisis. By now, part or all of your workforce is working remotely. Your executive team is alternating “home days” with “office days” to meet social distancing edicts.

Your entire management team is working on ironing out the systems and protocols that need to help you deliver service to your customers during this critical time.

But are you leading to recovery while managing response? If you aren’t already examining how to reinvent yourself and your business to meet the “next normal,” you need to shift gears now.

This begins with vision.

If you can envision the new normal, you can already lay the groundwork to meet it. You certainly know who your customers are and what they need from you at present. But can you anticipate what will they need, once this crisis has passed? The ability to look ahead and project what is likely to happen with customer behaviors and desires will help you define the future of your business. Make sure you are careful to access resources to help you project this. Pool your energy and brain trust with a few other forward-thinking leaders on a regular basis to stay current and sharpen your abilities to anticipate.

Plotting a course for the future, now, is paramount.

This may seem challenging when you are dealing with a crisis, but it’s actually the only smart thing to do. Most organizations are drafting plans that allow them to return to “business as usual.” They are doomed to fail. There will be no returning to ways of operating that we have known in the past. Those who recover and thrive understand this and are seeking to reinvent.  This means that if you can respond to current demands in a way that also lays the groundwork for the envisioned future “normal,” you will have moved your organization ahead. Think about how regulatory and competitive environments in your industry may shift. Does this change your thinking around an action you might take so that you not only survive in the immediate, but you also pave the way to thrive?

You are positioned well right now to make change.

The fact is that managing change is never easy. But current conditions have placed the business world in a situation where all must take bold action and take it now. People are looking to make sense of today. They are seeking leaders who embody confidence and character, even if they don’t have all the answers yet. Employees are rallying to the cause as they work together in new ways to deliver service. Your customers are looking for the human part of your business presence and your support.

If you will look to the horizon toward anticipated and yet unseen vistas, while leading the organizational charge to move forward, your business will be primed to succeed.

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.

The Cost of Snap Judgments

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The Cost of Snap Judgments
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Are you compromising your leadership by making snap judgments?

Research shows that we use less information than we think when making decisions.

Yet, what can you do when the volume of problems to be solved continues to grow?

If you tend to make decisions quickly without the benefit of “the rest of the story,” your leadership and your company are in jeopardy.

How do you solve this?

Here’s an actual client scenario: (names are fictitious)

Nate, senior manager of operations of Allen, Inc., hurried into Jim’s office. “Our steel inventory won’t meet demands this next month. I’m particularly concerned about making good on our commitment to Shanden, Inc., our biggest account.”

“You are right – we can’t have this,” sputtered Jim, CEO. “I hate to do it, but go ahead and buy the more expensive grade of steel for their current project. I know it doesn’t require it, but we need to keep Shanden. I’ll find the money somewhere.”

Jim and Nate spent a lot of money to procure last-minute inventory – and inventory that was overkill for what Shanden’s project actually required.

Here’s what both men did not consider – and which could have saved them headaches and dollars:

  1. Jim lost trust, which was replaced by resentment.

    Jim lost trust with his employees

And he lost trust with his middle management.

In this scenario, Sam, the relationship manager for the top account was not consulted. If he had been, Nate and Jim would have learned that Shanden’s project had in fact come to a standstill for external reasons. The men could have waited and ordered less expensive inventory.

“I could have saved them a lot of trouble and money,” Sam said. “I may as well be invisible here.”

Jim lost trust with Allen employees who worked directly with Shanden to deliver product.

They became resentful, knowing this kind of steel was overkill and required quite a bit more money. Could this kind of decision-making jeopardize things like their raises that they had been promised later in the year? If the boss had such funding, why had he said the company couldn’t invest in better conditions for them? Did he really care about them?

  1. Jim lost an opportunity to mentor and empower his top talent.

Nate had a habit of knee-jerking and not getting all the facts before panicking – something that Jim had inadvertently fostered in him by doing the same.

And Sam was furious. “I feel like a useless paper-pusher, here,” he told me. “If I were included in decisions that affect my area, I could contribute quite a bit – and save Allen money and relationships!”

Nate should have included Sam in his fact-gathering – and Jim should have asked that Sam’s input be included before making a decision. Getting the perspective and input from all relevant parties would have resulted in a much healthier, less costly outcome and much better team relationships.

  1. Jim weakened Allen, Inc.’s future.

Jim incurred loss for the company. Allen lost money on the Shanden project as a result of throwing money at it. This meant that Allen didn’t have the reserves it needed to invest in some of the company’s top priorities later that year – including the employee raises and some expansion it was considering. These losses definitely affected employee morale and productivity, and Allen’s future opportunities.

What happened to Jim? Jim fell into the psychological trap of allowing his emotions to get in the way of careful judgment.

Ed O’Brien, associate professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, has performed experiments with decision-making that point out the following:

“People view the mind as a rational arbiter, assuming that they and others will withhold judgment until they finish flipping through all the evidence. But the mind isn’t just a passive information processor; it’s also emotional. In reality, once people begin to experience…evidence in real time, they will inevitably react to it as they go along. We won’t need to see later information if we already love or hate the very first piece” (“We Use Less Information to Make Decisions Than We Think,” Harvard Business Review, 03-07-19).

Are you too quick to judge?

Losing trust, weakening your business, and limiting opportunities definitely make a case for slowing down, getting the full picture, and diagnosing the real problem.

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.

Why Downsizing May Not Be the Answer

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The Hidden Costs of Downsizing
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Tom S., CEO of the Jansen Company (fictitious individual and company names, real client), called me a short time after downsizing.

The company had lost quite a few customers due to the bad press it had received for this.

Employee morale and engagement were rapidly sinking.

There was a loss in productivity due not only to the occurrence itself, but also because the remaining employees had to absorb the work previously done by those having lost their jobs.

The cost in dollars to Jansen was significant and surprising.

The move to restructure had been a move to stop profit bleed. But just totaling money spent on loss of market share due to bad press, severance packages for those laid off, and current training costs for those who needed to absorb the work left behind, was more than the company had projected.

Additionally, employee turnover was on the rise, as people didn’t trust what the company might do next. The search for replacements was also costing Jansen money, time, and effort, as well as the onboarding and training to get the new people up to speed.

Things were a mess as a result of the downsizing.

It appeared that Jansen’s downsizing had been an incredibly poor idea that did not pay off.

It’s a fact that a majority of layoffs do not turn out well. Downsizing has become a default response to an ambiguous future marked by swift advances in technology, volatile markets, and growing competition (for more on this, see “Layoffs That Don’t Break Your Company” by Sucher and Gupta, Harvard Business Review, May-June 2018 issue).

There are new and more successful alternatives emerging – but in Jansen’s case, this was now water under the bridge.

The CEO had called me in because the executive team members were under extreme stress. A couple of them who had never worked well together were simply not talking to one another. He was afraid that some of these executives might secretly be job hunting, and the company couldn’t afford such a final blow.

He wondered if executive coaching might be the answer to supporting his team with the agility they needed as they faced managing this unexpected situation.

I agreed to meet with each one of the executives individually to get a sense of where they were vis-à-vis their commitment to the company and to assess their ability to manage change.

As I did so, I learned that their effectiveness as team members and as team itself had been compromised long before the decision to downsize took place.

And I wished I could have coached them sooner – before they found themselves in such a difficult situation. Because what I identified were some areas in their leadership that, had these been strengthened, might have circumvented the downsizing and what led up to it.

Here were the chief team and individual behaviors I uncovered. These led to high COI (costs of inaction).

  • Poor communication and conflict management (by the way, this one area account for around 67% of all productivity loss in any enterprise)
  • Slow and poor decision-making processes leading to less-than-optimal outcomes
  • Ineffective approaches to bring others along in the process for buy-in and commitment
  • Poor ability to keep eyes on the horizon for trends and shifts while managing the present
  • Poor stress management from high productivity and little return
  • Unwillingness to consider multiple perspectives leading to better creativity and innovation

I believe Jansen would not have had to consider downsizing, had decision-makers recognized the value of intentional and consistent leadership development.

Leadership directly affects all levels of the organization’s success.

Is your leadership producing a great ROI? Here are some questions to help you gauge this:

  1. Are people clamoring to work for your company? Are your employees highly engaged and productive?
  2. Is your business consistently increasing revenue and profitability? Or are there areas that need help?
  3. Are you retaining your current market share and capturing more? Or are you stalled at a certain point?
  4. Where do you stand vis-à-vis the competition? How well are your products and services reflecting the innovation you need to be on top?
  5. What does overall performance look like for your enterprise? Are there any silos or broken parts needing your attention?

Schedule a Complimentary Discovery Session!

Is Your High Performer Ruining the Company?

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Is Your High Performer Ruining the Company?
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Do you have a high performer that acts out, but you hesitate to correct him or her because he or she generates so much business for the company?

You may discover that your favored “race horse” is actually costing you more than you know.

What can you do?

I have seen this before – and if the high performer is willing, and you are ready to support the change, you may be able to turn this around.

Sam was an executive vice president who generated the lion’s share of the revenue for his organization for over five years. Leadership coined him “the race horse,” and at one time wondered if he should be the next CEO.

The customers were real fans, and Sam’s team was extremely loyal.

There was just one problem: Sam didn’t like to work with the other vice presidents or their managers. He felt they slowed his progress, which meant they weren’t consulted when he took on a new project – even when it affected their area. Sam often went around department managers if he needed help with something from one of their employees.

In the past, leadership pushed back on these other executives, worried that if Sam was asked to work with them, he would quit. However, over time, leadership noticed a growing resentment and conflict due to Sam’s work-arounds and inter-team avoidance tactics. Productivity was taking a deep dive.

Sam was surprised when his CEO introduced us, stating that he didn’t see the problem since his revenue generation was better than ever. However, since I had met with the CEO previous to this meeting, and we had quantified the loss to the organization because of Sam’s approach, the message was clear – Sam was actually costing the business a lot of money. His team and members of other teams were fighting, and turnover was on the rise.

Wanting to save his job and his reputation, Sam agreed to work with me to turn things around.

He had several great qualities, but lacked two key leadership traits that would stop his career in its tracks – the ability to empathize, seeing things from multiple perspectives; and the resulting ability to develop and nurture rapport with others for trusting relationships.

We co-created a development plan that addressed these two behaviors specifically, and worked together over the ensuing months to apply and integrate his learning so that it became a part of his nature. Sam agreed to a bold approach in this – he allowed me to help him talk to some of his colleagues and team members so that they played a part in his success. He shared that he was working on his leadership, and asked them if he could get intermittent feedback from them as to how he was doing as he and I worked together.

This paid off exponentially. Not only did Sam learn how to eliminate old counter-productive behaviors and replace them with more effective ones, he acquired some great advocates in his colleagues and teammates through his willingness to receive and use the feedback they provided.

Sam wasn’t promoted to CEO at that organization. He did get an offer, but instead, chose to accept another CEO position a few states away. I wish him well. He has earned the promotion.

Do you have a “racehorse” that does not play well with others? What might it be costing you?

Three Ways to Help Your New Employee Execute Well

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Three Ways to Help Your New Employee Execute Well
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Do you sometimes wonder if one of your managers made a mistake with their latest hire?

How can you tell?

The new hire’s transferable skills check out. Their attitude is positive. Team morale is high. And you can clearly tell the new hire is highly engaged and ready to go.

But he or she is not getting the work done.

Why is this?

There’s a handy, quick mental process I like to go through with leaders when they are second-guessing a latest hire.

Is it really the new hire, or is it your management?

Here is how you can tell.

1. Does the new employee show a clear understanding of their role, responsibilities, and your expectations?

Be careful not to downplay this. I have worked with many great companies whose new hires may receive a job description and a desk as their orientation. The manager counts on the team to fill in the blanks for the new person. If your company takes this casual stance, you are losing money and a potentially great employee.

What does the new hire’s manager truly expect of them and their area of responsibility? What are the goals set for them? Timelines? Metrics?

2. Does the new hire have the right tools and resources to do the job?

Again, most leaders will respond with an immediate “yes.” But they are basing this on what they think the employee needs to do the job. Has he or she been asked the question, “What do you need in order to achieve your goals here? Do you have the tools and resources you need?” Just test this. You may be surprised.

3. Has the immediate supervisor developed an accountability system with their new employee?

Can the employee access their immediate supervisor on a regular basis for help and questions? Does he or she get the regular feedback needed so they know they are on track? The opposite is more prevalent than you would hope.

In fact, according to one study by Dresser & Associates, HR, Payroll, and Management Solutions, only 7% of managers and 10% of senior executives in the workforce are held accountable consistently for developing their direct reports through performance management processes.

How do you compare?