team alignment

How Do You Sustain Necessary Change?

June 29, 2022 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

You’ve made the changes. You have your business imperative in hand to keep you focused. You’ve aligned and coordinated your executive team around this business imperative. You’ve had some tough conversations to clear the air (and the plates), and you’ve identified the leadership behaviors necessary to support your team in making this happen.

But your team is scared. Or worse, they are at a point where they don’t trust this will work.

Michael, a well-respected CEO, had just led his executive team through these same steps. He was sick and tired of being in the weeds, feeling as though the company wasn’t meeting its business potential.

But his team was scared.

Sandra, his VP of marketing, spoke up. “We’ve gone through the exercise one too many times, and the changes sound great. We start out strong, then fizzle out. The changes we try to make don’t stick. I can’t even muster up the courage to try, this time.”

“Frankly, I’m skeptical, too” said Max, the COO. “We’ve tried and died quite a bit.”

“Patti,” Michael turned to me, “I may as well pack it up. If the team won’t commit, we aren’t going to make any progress.”

“Team,” I said, “Hold tight. There’s a last critical step in the process that ensures that you stay on the path. Most companies miss this step – and it makes all the difference.”

“I’m all ears,” said Candace, the CFO. “Because if this doesn’t work, I’m not sure I can retrieve any muster to move forward. At all.”

The room was quiet for a moment.

“I understand,” I said. “Change is hard. And unless we approach it in a way that supports its success, the discouragement is overwhelming. But hang on, please. Your track record is about to change.”

What did we do?

We created a system of accountability to hold the changes firmly in place. Because a change, no matter how big or small, requires a supportive system to allow it to become the norm.

And here’s how we did it for Michael’s team.

“Team,” I said, “You have taken the first 4 of 5 steps to make this work. Michael has created the company’s business imperative to set the direction (see Article 1 in this series). He has worked with you all to create and align your own business imperatives to support the larger one (see Article 2 in this series). You’ve surfaced some critical conversations that needed to be addressed in order to move forward (see Article 3 in this series). And you have identified how you need to work as a team in order to reach these goals (see Article 4 in this series). Now, it’s time for step 5: putting a system in place to keep you all on the path as you move into greater excellence.”

“I’m all ears, Patti,” said Candace. The others nodded.

“We are going to ask ourselves five questions as we review your goals and the changes you have identified that you need to make,” I said. “This will help us to create a system to hold the process – and ourselves – accountable. It will help us stay on track.”

Question 1: What are we measuring?

We worked to identify what we needed to measure in order to know that we were on the right path and moving at the right pace. What would we look for that measured success? We broke it down by quarter, and then by month, so we could course-correct in a timely manner if something was not working.

Question 2: Who needs to know?

We then identified key stakeholders for each initiative. Even though the team knew who was in charge of what, they did not always communicate to others who might be affected by the work. The team also identified how and when the stakeholders would communicate with each other and built this into their regular meeting agendas. Michael would review each team member’s progress for their area during their 1:1 meetings.

Question 3: How do we check on progress?

Michael took charge of this and built into the executive team’s monthly agenda discussion time to review the team’s alignment and coordination as they worked on goals. What was working? What needed refining or redirecting? The team looked at other feedback loop opportunities to make sure they could tap into needed information at any time.

Question 4: How do we support upgraded leadership behaviors?

The team recognized that working together at a higher level required higher skill-building. They asked me to work with them individually to break through any roadblocks holding them back, and to help them step into more effective leadership behaviors.

Question 5: What are the conversations we need to have now?

We agreed that I would also meet once quarterly with the team to work with them on any trust issues, as well as critical conversations and needed relational skill-building. Without this fifth step, a team does well at best, but never reaches its peak performance.

I’m happy to report that Michael and his team made incredible progress company- and team-wise in that first 12 months. And so, we decided to repeat this for Year 2, knowing that things would only continue to reach new and exciting heights. It is Year 3 for them, and they have established themselves as a leader in their industry.

Where in the process I have described above do you and your team excel? Where do you need to put a system in place, or to strengthen this so that it works well for 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.

Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton reenergizes talented leaders and their teams to achieve fulfillment and extraordinary results. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

Confronting Elephants in the Room That Hold Your Executive Team Back

June 8, 2022 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

Aligning and coordinating your team in a strategic direction is paramount. However, as challenging as this might seem, it is easy compared to the conversations you and your team need to have around what will actually make the plan work.

Surprised?

So was our CEO, Michael.

He thought that setting a clear direction (see the article Getting Your Leadership and Company Out of the Weeds) and aligning and coordinating his executive team’s energies around this (see the article How to Align and Coordinate Your Team) would get them to “hit the ground running.”

Not so. In fact, his efforts had only been the first two of five important steps to becoming a high-performing team to meet the goals that matter most.

Aligning and coordinating his team revealed some deep, dark secrets that turned out to be what actually held his team back.

As a reminder, Michael had set a business imperative for the year as a first step to getting out of the weeds. He then took this to his executive team and asked each of them to consider their respective areas of responsibility as they drew up their own business imperatives to support the larger one. Recognizing that this would require some time, they agreed to meet the following week.

As they reconvene seven days later, let’s sit in on their conversation…

“Max,” I asked the COO. “You had a great question just before we adjourned our last meeting. You asked if redirecting the team’s energy around the business imperative would not require that we reexamine the other initiatives currently on your plates.”

“That’s right,” Max responded.

Candace, the CFO interjected. “Patti, I’m more interested in the shifts in behaviors you mentioned we would have to discuss.”

“Great kick-off to this meeting,” I responded. “If you will recall, I mentioned that you are all part of a system, and that all parts of the system need to work together in an aligned and coordinated way. This means not only having the same focus and organizing your efforts, but also confronting those things that hold you back from getting this done.”

“We are going to talk about what will hold you back from achieving the goals you have set together. I call these the “elephants in the room.” These are things that interfere with moving forward. And we are all well aware of them. But we don’t address them for various reasons.”

Max spoke up. “Like the fact that we probably won’t effectively address what to do with the other initiatives we have on our plates, because we just hope that by ignoring them, they will get done, anyway.”

“Right!” I said.

Michael spoke up. “And how about things take away from our focus?” He glanced at Candace. “For instance, employee problems that keep happening because we don’t want to confront them.”

“Well, if you are going to talk about this, then let’s talk about it,” bristled Candace. “Because if we are really going to surface these elephants in the room, then let’s talk about that employee situation to which you are probably referring, which occurred again last week.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” said Michael.

“Well,” Candace took a deep breath, “Would it surprise you to know that I feel you are the cause of that problem?”

The entire room fell silent.

“Okay,” said Michael. “I’m listening.”

Candace resumed. “I actually spent another two hours in HR last week over those two employees, only to find out that I couldn’t take action. Apparently, one of them had gone straight to you and gotten permission to do exactly what I had told him not to do. This happens a lot! So how do we handle that, Michael?”

“Now, we are talking,” I said. “We’ve just begun to reveal and confront some of the important things that are holding you all back.”

Michael sat back in his chair. “It sounds like I may be a chief culprit in keeping us in the weeds.”

“Well, I guess I can stand with you,” said Candace. “I’ve been avoiding this conversation for months.”

“Take heart, team,” I said. “This happens to the best of companies. The good news is, we can turn this around. The heart of successful change lies in identifying these behaviors and actions that hold us back – and in having the courage to confront them together.”

We spent the next two hours identifying main areas where shifts needed to occur. The team was subdued as they adjourned.

“Just a minute, team,” Michael paused. “I want to say a couple of things. First, I want to apologize for what I now know has held us back. I’m going to work very hard on making these changes. I’m thankful that you listened to the shifts I need to see in the team – and I’m very proud of you for speaking up today; for having the courage to confront me on what I need to do to support these changes.”

“I want to second the motion,” I shared. “And believe it or not, when we confront what is holding us back, this is when great things begin to happen. Let’s meet next week to pull this forward. It’s not enough to reveal the elephants – we need to up-level these behaviors to move past them.”

What are the elephants you need to confront in your executive team room? Next week, we will talk about how to up-level the behaviors and actions that hold you back so that you, too, can move forward.

Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton reenergizes talented leaders and their teams to achieve fulfillment and extraordinary results. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

How to Align and Coordinate Your Team

June 1, 2022 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

Many a leader has overseen sound strategic planning, only to come to a grinding halt in just a few months.

“I find we get quickly into the weeds,” said Michael. “I really like how you and I just worked on focusing on what matters, and the plan is great (see the previous article on how Michael and I refocused to help him rise above the weeds.) But we’ve planned many times. I share the vision and set the goals, and we hit the ground running. But then, somehow, the team starts bumping heads on projects…Pretty soon, it’s back to business as we’ve always done it – good, but not great. How do I bring my team along in the process?”

“That’s our next step, Michael,” I responded. “And you are spot on. Unless you can align and coordinate your team in actionable and measurable ways, you won’t get far. Let’s roll up our sleeves.”

Michael and I met with his executive team the next week. During this time, he unveiled his business imperative – the top goals and priorities, as well as the quantifiable impact as shared in my last article.

“Team, it’s time we tighten up and get more focused,” he said. “And I admit, I am a chief culprit in keeping us from having done so until this point.”

I chimed in. “What we want to do today is to review Michael’s business imperative for the company for the next 12 months.”

“No offense,” said Candace, the CFO. “But we’ve done this a few times before. And we don’t seem to get anywhere.”

“I understand,” I responded. “Strategic plans and business imperatives usually sound great, but few get far. One important reason is because the executive team isn’t invited to align and coordinate to support the plan.”

“Go on,” said Candace. “I’m listening.”

“Michael will share the business imperative for the company. This imperative identifies the key priorities for the next 12 months, supporting the company’s strategic plan. This imperative is measurable and actionable.”

“From here, however, each of you needs to ask yourself what this means for your own areas of responsibility – and develop your own business imperative. This should support Michael’s imperative. Your imperative should have the measurables and actions to support Michael’s. Make sense?”

“It does,” said Max, COO. “We’ve often listed out who owns what when it comes to the strategic plan, but we haven’t made it as actionable as you are talking about.”

“I can see a more workable plan in the making,” said Sandra, the Marketing Vice President.

“I’m glad you do,” I answered. “It does work.”

“Just a minute,” Max hesitated. “If we are all going to do this, what about all those other initiatives we are working on? What if they don’t fit into the plan?”

“Exactly, Max,” I answered. “Once you develop your business imperative, you will need to ask yourself what to do in order to remain focused. But that’s for our next step. For now, let’s have a good discussion on what Michael’s imperative means for you. And when we reconvene next week, bring your draft business imperatives and we will have some critical conversations. We will not only be talking about what to do with initiatives that don’t support the focus; we will also be talking about what shifts in culture and leadership behaviors you may need to make in order to succeed.”

“Culture shifts? Leadership behaviors?” asked Michael.

“Yes, Michael. You and your executive team are a system – all parts of a system need to work together in the same way. If not, you won’t get any traction.”

Next time, I’ll share details of the next meeting and the tough conversations Michael and his team had to have in order to break through chronic underperformance – and finally become a high-performing, aligned, and coordinated team.

Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton reenergizes talented leaders and their teams to achieve fulfillment and extraordinary results. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

Are You Playing Favorites on the Executive Team?

May 27, 2020 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

It’s natural for us to favor some personalities more than others. When we feel a comfortable energy and alignment, it makes conversations and common experiences flow. No doubt, you have one team member with whom you hit it off more easily than others.

Then, there’s “that other one” on the team with whom things seem a bit more stilted. You feel a small undercurrent of resistance or tension when they bring forth ideas. You don’t enjoy conversations with them, and you find yourself dismissing their contributions.

These relational dynamics can give the impression that you are playing favorites (and maybe you are!). And this damages your team’s ability to work best together. Because if you are noticing your bias, so are they.

What do you do?

1. Get perspective.

Talk to a mentor or colleague outside of the team and check your intolerance. Allowing someone you trust to give you some outside perspective might help you to flush out hidden biases that need reconciling on your part.

2. Shift your focus.

Find things you appreciate about the person. Begin to look for ways you appreciate this team member on a personal and professional basis. Notice unique qualities she contributes. Ferret out ways he lends positively to the team or outcomes. This will help you rebalance your view of the team member.

3. Build bridges.

Begin to call on your “unfavored” team member first when asking for opinions in meetings. Chances are, if they have not been speaking up, you haven’t been encouraging it. Think about instituting individual coffees or breakfasts with your team members, and be sure to start with this particular team member. Seek to identify projects and other discussions which will allow you more face time with them so that you can practice engaging differently with them.

Finally, remember that as leader, you are the role model for the team and, in turn, the rest of the organization. Making the conscious decision to turn a problem into an opportunity can only be a great learning lesson, and a win for all of you.

Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton reenergizes talented leaders and their teams to achieve fulfillment and extraordinary results. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

Is Your Leadership Team Out of Alignment?

May 22, 2019 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

What’s happened to your leadership team? You have carefully chosen each member and empowered them to do great things. Yet, you aren’t getting the results you want.

Could it be that your team is out of alignment?

Telltale signs can include subpar performance, poor decision-making, executives at odds with each other, units working at cross purposes, and a rise in conflict.

How can you fix this?

Because if you don’t, your organization will reflect this at every level. Productivity, revenues, reputation – the list goes on.

First, understand that you must look at two kinds of alignment: strategic and cultural.

Strategic Alignment

Strategic alignment is what is necessary for a team to operate well together in their goals and actions so that the organization’s agreed purpose and vision are met. I can tell if a leadership team is out of strategic alignment by having each member list out their internal and external initiatives and comparing these with the organizational vision and goals. If the team member’s initiatives don’t support the larger vision and goals, this means it is time to review and redirect. If this seems like your team’s challenge, it is an opportunity for teambuilding through conducting some actionable strategic realignment sessions.

Cultural Alignment

Cultural alignment is met through team members’ commitment to shared attitudes, behaviors, and actions so that the organization’s values and principles are reinforced. When I work with leadership teams and detect unspoken conversations, silos, turf wars, and a hesitancy to make tough decisions in order to move forward, I know it’s time to revisit their mission, values, and team charter (their team values “in action,” or “group norms”). Most leadership teams have not taken the time to define their team charter so that they can enjoy a dynamic, shared culture. When I work with them to develop this, the positive cultural outcomes ripple throughout the entire organization.

Where do you detect that your leadership team may be out of alignment?

The rest of your enterprise is watching and will do likewise.

The Clockwork of Excellent Leadership: 3 Essential Gears

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Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton reenergizes talented leaders and their teams to achieve fulfillment and extraordinary results. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.