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Strategic leadership thinking is not just what you think about but how you think. And there is a wide range of strategic thinking skills, frameworks and tools that leaders can use.  First, leaders must let go of this belief that they must withdraw from the day-to-day order to think more strategically. While retreat for individual leaders and leadership teams is important, leaders must also learn to think creatively and strategically in the moment given today’s accelerated work environment. I coach my clients to understand that you can think critically and stay engaged at the same time. “Second-order thinking” is a crucial skill that allows leaders to do this effectively. First vs Second Order Thinking First-order thinking involves our immediate response to solving a problem and often focuses on short-term solutions. This approach is faster and  involves minimal complexity. However first-order thinking also can fail to play out scenarios, risks and the impact of their decisions on…

As an Executive Coach, the ability to focus is perhaps the single biggest struggle that I see clients facing.  With incessant demands on our time and attention, endless collaborative opportunities, distributed work environments, and dependency on multiple communication platforms, it has become increasingly difficult to simply focus and get things done.  But we must look beyond these external realities and ask ourselves: how does focus work and moreover, how do we get focus to work for us? In digging into these questions, I found very splintered views on what kinds of focus are useful and which are not.   This article argues a few key principles: That there are distinct styles of focus that exist on a continuum That each style of focus has value to tap and limitations to manage That a key to high performance is the ability to fluidly shift between these styles of focus We know from everyday experience that there are…

A business grows in stages and its success often hinges on the ability to navigate the common challenges of each stage. Business however often expands and contracts in messy, unpredictable ways due to countless external forces in the market, customer needs and global events. While there are certain stages to business growth, the process through these stages is often divergent and winding, rather than linear. This article presents a model of personality related to fundamental values—those things we think are important and focus our attention on, sometimes to the detriment of other areas. We explain how our innate Instinctual Biases can shape how we attend to business, often contributing to both our success and our struggles. Understanding these non-conscious biases and learning to manage them rather than be impeded by them can greatly increase the chances of a business succeeding, especially as it finds its footing in the early stages of its life-cycle. It is…

Over the past two months I have attempted to navigate my Executive Coaching clients through the emotional and financial vicissitudes of COVID-19. I have seen some client’s gripped by anxiety and doubt and others stay incredibly grounded and focused. The business challenges are as complex as the emotional ones; however, whereas the business focus is survival and continuity, the psychological need goes beyond survival.  I believe leaders must strengthen two important psychological skills more than ever: to make meaning and to tolerate immense ambiguity. Although the economy is re-opening, we will not magically feel better–we are not in a post-trauma period, but rather still in the midst of it. And although the deadening effects of social isolation will lessen, we will have to navigate new anxieties in this new socially-distant world. Creating meaning or “finding purpose” in the rubble of trauma is considered to be the end-stage of the grieving process. However, I believe leaders must learn…

Managing virtual and remote teams present a number of challenges including maintaining employee engagement and cultural consistency. Early, seminal studies 2001, 2005 showed that teams were not meeting goals, client requirements were not met and that employees struggled with the learning curve of collaborative technology. Focused leadership is essential now as the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing many businesses to now build out these teams quickly. Simplify the Tasks and Processes. In order to ease the coordination between team members, make sure that the tasks are abundantly clear, labor is divided, and processes streamlined. The contextual and emotional cues that typically signal to employees if something is working or not are now absent. It is also important to use small subteams if possible–research shows that teams under 10 employees are more effective (and less effective over 13 people). Finally, select a model to use in managing your team. There are multiple models including the popular X Team…

When guiding teams through significant organizational change, a common first step is to assess employee readiness for change. The COVID-19 pandemic however blindsided most businesses, leaving teams completely unprepared. Rather, teams have been forced to adapt and develop new habits, goals and systems in a very rapid way. As suggested in my previous post “Leading Through Chaos”, it is important to have an active Communications Plan to guide your team through the coming weeks and months. In my Executive Coaching practice, I find that teams are now in the midst of a very difficult period known as the “valley of despair”, marked by struggles with motivation and apathy. Good leadership during crises is the ability to reframe the crises for your team. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s five stages of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance) is a helpful tool for employees to make sense of and keep perspective on what they are feeling as they adjust to…

As of mid-April, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused more than 100,000 deaths worldwide and the infection rate has not even peaked in many communities. Many employees have already and will continue to experience the death of a parent or loved one as a result of the pandemic. Employees will be accelerated into a grief process while battling other stressors including financial hardship, social isolation and managing children at home. Perhaps more than ever before, it is critical for organizations to re-evaluate how grief is handled in the workplace.  Healthy organizations support and acknowledge major life transitions including marriage, the birth of a child, and retirement; bereavement should be no different. Grieving is messy and any grief expert will tell you that the traditional stages (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance) are non-linear and shaped by personality and culture. Healthy organizations–including its degree of psychological safety, the meaningful relationships with co-workers and customers, and its alignment with…

In 2019, I wrote a piece on Leading Through Change, outlining simple change management strategies to help guide your team through periods of uncertainty. However during a massive disruption such as as the current coronavirus pandemic, additional and often more robust guiding leadership principles are important to follow.  Develop a Communications Strategy. Fast. Communication about massive organizational change needs to be clear and repetitive about what changes employees can expect, what is expected of them and how their responsibilities will be impacted. Work Across Department Heads. You will need to get buy in from your top leaders, source employee concerns, and act in full alignment with your leadership team. Do not work unilaterally or in an uninhibited manner. Demonstrate your ability to value different perspectives and then execute a clear plan that everyone can own and work through the layers of the organization.  Full Transparency. Your organization will also serve as an information resource for…

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…