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If you want to see a good leader in action, observe their behavior when there is imminent danger and catastrophe. As South Florida anxiously waited to see which direction Hurricane Dorian would turn in early September, Governor Ron DeSantis demonstrated solid leadership: he actually read the 300-page hurricane preparedness plan, deliberately took action, communicated calmly and consulted with state and local officials, empowering them to make decisions rather than using a top-down messaging style as seen with his Republican predecessor.  Unfortunately, this type of steady leadership is not always the case. Rather, the tendency for many leaders is to exhibit certain negative behaviors under extremely stressful circumstances including avoidance, poor judgement, unclear communication and setting inconsistent expectations.  Change and instability in a business can come in many degrees and forms–when business slows down, negative PR blind-sides a brand, good talent leaves, and cash flow dwindles.  I would argue that all organizations need to expect and…

“What specific harmful behavior is this person showing and what has been the impact?” is typically my first question when an organization inquires about my Executive Coaching for employee in a leadership position who has been acting destructively. I want to get a very clear sense of what the negative behaviors are that needs to be addressed immediately and what messes need to be cleaned up. We often characterize different types of healthy leaders (e.g. transformational, visionary, affiliative, pacesetting, etc.) but we should be aware that there are also different types of negative leadership. For a helpful categorization of these styles, I recommend this review of harmful leadership styles. (W. Burns, 2017).   Overall, harmful leadership behavior often ranges from unpredictable and explosive to self-promoting and demeaning to discriminating and dismissive; more attention now is also being given to absentee leaders which has it own deleterious effects. In general, harmful leadership often results in direct reports and…

Many companies thrust employees into new leadership roles without equipping them with the proper tools and training. This transition can heighten anxiety and stress for that individual, resulting in them under-performing or reverting to only what they know. Transitioning into a new leadership role often requires aligning bigger teams (and therefore more personalties), managing “up” to senior leaders/stakeholders and working at increased levels of operational and strategic complexity. Ideally your organization has an on-boarding process in place to ensure a successful transition. But if it does not, it is imperative that you are pro-active about this transition. Tools to get you started: Set Critical Milestones. Create a 30/60/90 plan with clearly defined milestones for you and your team. Call them Rocks, OKRs, or KPIs, etc–just be sure you and your team knows the big priorities. Commit to an effective time management system. As you step into increased responsibilities and demands on your time you will need to have…

Great hurdlers know that they must clear the obstacles while maintaining their speed. The same applies for good leaders: you must overcome barriers—both externally and internally—while maintaining your focus and energy. In my previous article “Time Management Principles To Live By”, I suggested a number of tools for leaders to test and practice. Delegation is one of the most difficult time management skills for two reasons: a) when done well, delegation involves multiple steps (often referred to as “Realization/Observation/Collaboration/Evaluation/Delegation”) that can derail at any stage and b) it tends to trigger internal barriers (i.e. limiting assumptions and beliefs) for leaders, often resulting in sabotage of the delegation process. My clients and colleagues know that the Enneagram Personality Tool is the primary personality assessment tool that I use in my 1:1 Executive Coaching work. I won’t describe here the details of how the Enneagram works (I refer you to Mario Sikora’s excellent articles on this) but it is…

Time management is one of the most common and daunting challenges for busy executives. In my Executive Coaching practice, I find that many leaders either never learned a time management system, resulting in reactivity and lack of focus, or they have learned an overly rigid system preventing them from fluidly adapting to the realities of their organization and shifting challenges of the marketplace. In fact, there is no universal time management “system” that works for everyone. Rather, I suggest that leaders test and practice specific time-management principles to see what actually works depending on the demands of their business and jettison those that do not. Clarify your Intent.Start by asking yourself: if I had a more time, then what would I do with it? What would I actually spend my time on that I would both enjoy and drive the business forward? Clarify what you want to do, why you want to do it and…

We understand Collaboration to be one of the key elements to successful teams however in my experience as a Miami-based Executive Coach and Consultant I find that few organizations know how to successfully be collaborative. First, it is important to understand why collaboration might benefit your employees and organization as a whole. The word “collaborate” is rooted in the Latin collaborat- ‘worked with’, from the verb collaborare and from col- ‘together’ + laborare ‘to work’. By the definition, all teams are collaborative because all teams work together on some level. It is really a question of how well does your team work together, what are the risks/consequences of them not working well together and how do you put the right mechanisms in place to be truly collaborative. I find that organizations have several underlying assumptions and beliefs that organizations have preventing them from being collaborative, including: a) we don’t have time to listen to everyone’s…

In my last blog “Core Values: 3 Step Discovery Process” I outlined a simple process for clarifying your organization’s Core Values. Many teams stop here because they are uncertain exactly how to apply and implement the Core Values. It is critical for the leadership team to remain consistent and follow through. I suggest the following applications: 1. Hiring & Firing. Use a Values Based Interview. New hires may have the necessary technical skills for the position however if they are not aligned with your organization’s Core Values then this can be disastrous. Good HR teams will evaluate an applicant’s skills, personality style, interpersonal skills AND assess for real examples of how they demonstrated your Core Values. This will determine what they prioritize at work, what drives their behavior and whether their priorities align with your Core Values. For example, ask a question related to each of your organization’s Core Values (either through written question and…

As a Miami-based Executive Coach and Consultant, my experience is that all companies have a set of Core Values whether they realize it or not. The question is whether they are clearly articulated and thoughtfully implemented into the company culture. Often, the Core Values are unspoken, underutilized, latent principles. Waking up the Core Values is perhaps the most energizing thing you can do for yourself as a business leader and for your team. Many organizational and leadership issues—including hiring and firing, talent retention, employee motivation and performance, and simple management skills can be vastly improved when the Core Values are alive within an organization. Oddly enough, there is no formal discovery process or “delivery system” for the creation and implementation of Core Values. Below, however, is a four-step Discovery process to help your organization clarify its Core Values. In my next blog entry, I will detail practical ways to implement the Core Values into your…

In the wake of their semi-final World Cup defeat to France, Belgium’s goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, criticized France, telling Sporza. “I would have preferred to have lost in the quarter-finals to Brazil, at least that was a team that wanted to play football. [France] are just an anti-football team.” France did not win because it was anti-football (and to characterize being anti-football as solely defensive in strategy is of course absurd). We can actually look to France’s championship team for key ingredients about leadership and effective teams:  · Adaptability. France was criticized as having been over-reliant on defense (“anti football”). But a major reason France won was because of their ability to adapt to the changing strategies of their opponent—they happed to play extremely efficiently and defensively against Belgium and more offensively against other opponents. A leader and team’s ability to adapt to changes in the market and environment is critical to success—this “Adaptability Quotient” (AQ)…

In a recent trip to Cartagena Colombia I found myself fascinated with the sun-drenched, hypnotic world of author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Although having settled in Mexico City, he would make many trips back to Cartagena to visit his parents and siblings and a city that would inspire many of his stories and characters. After wondering the streets of el Centro for a few days it is not difficult to see how Marquez’s magical realism literary style was inspired and crafted—or perhaps that Cartagena’s dreamlike feel, with its seamless and at times vigorous blend of Caribbean and Latin culture, found Marquez, who would simply become its scribe. As a Miami-based Executive Coach, I wasn’t thinking about leadership at all. I was wondering about Marquez’s ability to intertwine dream and reality, about the centuries of conquests of this canon-lined, walled city, and the astonishing gold animal carvings of the pre-Columbian Zenu tribes that lured the Spanish conquistadors….