Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

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3 Crucial Questions Leaders Need to Answer for 2021

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3 Crucial Questions Leaders Need to Answer for 2021
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I hope you have been able to enjoy a safe and meaningful holiday, and that you have this week as a reflection period, as well. Contemplating key questions in order to move forward well in 2021 requires dedicated focus.

Here are 3 crucial questions leaders are currently asking themselves. Can you answer these? And if not, do you have the plan and support you need in order to do so?

1. What should virtual or hybrid work look like for us in the future?

A lot of leaders still hope that as the devastation of COVID is addressed and managed, that all will get back to “business as usual.” However, many of the ways we have had to work this year were already on the horizon as possibility. The virus simply accelerated this. As we move forward, we recognize that working virtually has not only been in place for some time in many businesses, but it is now something that the rest of us need to accept.

Beyond physical logistics, we need to address the potential impact this will have on our ability to deliver; to productivity and outcomes. Culture will need to be considered (see point #2 below). Ways of communicating are important – but what we communicate in order to get things done will need to change, as well. Cultivating soft skills in connection and all things relational will become more important to success.

2. How can we cultivate and maintain a vibrant and positive culture?

Culture is a company’s mission, vision and values in action. Much of this has been eclipsed by the constraints of COVID and having to scramble to work virtually in many cases. Moreover, as we return to work, it will not be as we knew it, but as we create it going forward. Considering virtual and hybrid work environments, how will you keep your organization’s culture vibrant and alive? What will need to change or be implemented in order to create this? Focus on individual, team and organizational behaviors, as well as the processes and systems needed to provide a supportive framework.

And as we move from a knowledge-based mindset to a learner’s mindset (pivotal for meeting the future!), how can you implement a program that supports culture at all levels of the company? This is an oft-neglected part of typical planning, but key to the spirit of belonging and desire to contribute; employee morale, engagement and productivity.

3. What skills and abilities does my executive team need now in order to meet the future?

Your strategic plans dictate what capabilities your team will need in order to execute. Identifying these and putting a development program in place is non-negotiable. You will want to use a blend of proven techniques and modalities that allow your executives to apply their learning to their work. Online learning is here to stay and is just as effective as in-person learning when well executed. How will you identify your needs, what programs are most effective, and how you will receive support to make sure the learning is integrated?

Beyond the individual team members’ growth, however, focus needs to be given to the team as a body. Include the team behaviors and norms you need to see in your own team in order for them to trust each other, to execute together at highest levels. How would they assess trust on the team? Are team members aligned and coordinated in their execution? In their ability to communicate and resolve conflict? Without putting a plan in place to respond to these questions, the best team can become fragmented or siloed, depending on what your organization is facing.

As you read this, what key components will you need to integrate into your planning for 2021? Designing a framework that supports both short and long term is crucial.

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© 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 Move Beyond Growing and Surviving

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How to Move Beyond Growing and Surviving

Your Succession Plan

Are you a business leader struggling to grow and survive? It’s time to get a better game on.

Whether you are a business owner, executive, or other professional, you need a succession plan, now.

What is a succession plan?

Most think it’s simply grooming new leaders who can eventually take over a business or corporation. But it’s much more than that. Succession planning should include getting your “house” in order, making sure that systems, processes, and team are identified and developed to effectively meet the future.

Because of this, succession planning is not something you do when you are getting ready to retire.

In fact, succession planning is something that should be an ongoing process now, if you are a business leader who identifies with any of the following:

  • You want to move the business and your future from surviving to thriving
  • You are proud of your leadership accomplishments and you see this as a legacy that others should enjoy
  • You have a vested interest in seeing that your efforts pay off exponentially, not only now, but in the future (financial gains, heirs, etc.)

Most corporate and business leaders spend their time caught up in the daily worries of running the business or enterprise now. They are in a survival mode, or busy trying to scale the company’s efforts to generate more revenue.

When this happens, it’s tough to get ahead – much less lay the firm foundation for something that will pay off now and in future.

These business leaders may see succession planning as an HR function and not a leadership imperative – to their peril. Planning for the future and laying out the strategies to reach it effectively require vision and global thinking. It requires that you set a clear direction with system-wide goals to carry the business into the future.

This means that if you are in charge of an enterprise or your own business, you need to lead the charge.

What happens if you don’t take action, now? What are potential consequences, if you don’t see succession planning as an ongoing process to ensure a healthy and vibrant business now and in future?

Here are a few scenarios where a lack of succession planning has resulted in rapid business decline and demise:

  • A leader exits without warning, due to illness or another unexpected event.
  • A company replaces the exiting executive with someone who is not yet equipped to take over. This happens frequently in family-owned businesses and in cases where the company has hired from the outside without ensuring that the new leader is culturally compatible.
  • The business neglects high-potential talent inside its doors and the talent goes elsewhere.

What does your succession plan look like? Do you have a system in place to identify and develop high-potential talent, business processes, and systems that will effectively meet the future?

Patti Cotton helps executives optimize their effectiveness in leading self, others, and the enterprise. Her areas of focus include confidence, leadership style, executive presence, effective communication, succession planning, and masterful execution. With over 25 years of leadership experience, both stateside and abroad, Patti works with individuals, teams, and organizations across industries, providing executive coaching, leadership development, succession planning, change, and conflict management. She is also a Fortune 500 speaker. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

When Personal Crisis Hits: 5 Tips to Manage Your Professional Reputation

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Life is wonderful!  Life is amazing. But sometimes, stuff happens. And when it does, our personal “bandwidth” – our capacity for handling life and work – is asked to stretch.

This is normal. After all, encountering crisis and disruption is part of life. We may suffer the death of a loved one or experience a divorce. We may be called upon to manage a life transition for an aging parent, or to deal with a teen in trouble. No one is immune. Managing this effectively is key to keeping you on track both personally and professionally.

You see, as others at work and in the community learn about your situation and sympathize, they also expect your performance and abilities will be compromised. They assume this, because they think it would certainly affect them in that way.

So, whether you are able to continue working at capacity, in their minds, others will tend to subtly discount your ability to lead and perform well. This can have dire consequences on current and future opportunities for you.

How do you avoid this? How do you care for yourself, the situation, and manage perception so that you maintain your professional reputation?

Here are 5 tips to manage your personal and professional life when crisis hits.

  1. Take care of you, first. If you don’t take care of yourself first, by getting enough sleep, eating well, drinking water, and continuing to exercise, your capacity to manage stress, think clearly, and make decisions will be affected. It will also show through fatigue – the way you carry yourself, the energy with which you talk and approach situations. So make sure you are practicing some radical self-care.
  2. Manage the crisis itself by getting a plan and proper support. Identify the outcome you want to solve the problem, then reverse-engineer into a plan of action. Then, intentionally identify your support system. How do you need and want to be supported? Do you need resources? Advice? A listening ear? Probably all three! Identify those people who can serve as support and reach out to them. Let them know what is happening, and that you would like to call on them for help as the need arises.
  3. Don’t over-share with others. Keep your processing and the bulk of your sharing with your support system. A minimum of information on a “need-to-know” basis is key. Any sharing beyond this with colleagues, clients, and community is inappropriate and potentially harmful to your professional reputation in the eyes of others. In other words, no unnecessary details, and no ongoing updates with blow-by-blow developments as the situation progresses. A simple, “Thanks for asking, we are happy to have things settled down, now,” is helpful for curious minds.
  4. Prioritize and trim your workload and outside activities. Time to get lean and mean. Take a morning to prioritize, triage, delegate, so that you identify those initiatives and activities that are critical and necessary, those that can be delegated, and those that can be put on hold. This will provide mental and emotional space to best support your performance – and others’ perception of it.
  5. Lead a personal PR campaign. Announce to the world that you are on track and running! Deliberately connect with key stakeholders in your organization and outside in the community and subtly form an alliance with them to reinforce your viability. Identify those persons of influence and schedule time with them to catch up. What new trends or developments are occurring in your community, industry, or global marketplace that might affect them? Talk about a new project or the update on an existing one that might pique their interest, and share how it will positively impact. This takes a bit of planning, but you will have formed an unwitting circle of professional support to combat any doubts as to your current abilities.

And a final word on managing your personal situation and your work performance:  Schedule periodic reviews into your calendar until the situation is resolved. How are you doing? What needs to shift? It’s important to avoid allowing a situation to become chronic. If crisis mode is your “new normal,” ask for help.