About admin

This author has not yet filled in any details.
So far admin has created 68 blog entries.

Perseverance: Transforming Vision into Reality

2021-04-09T11:32:28-04:00April 8, 2016|Amy Jen Su, Leading Self, Paravis Partners|

Sticking to it, staying the course, picking yourself up and moving on – this is what perseverance is made of. Great leaders embody this secret ingredient to success. In the short term, perseverance ensures we complete and get the job done. In the long term, our perseverance calls up the faith and determination it takes to transform long-term visions and dreams into reality. In times when you struggle to stay motivated, want to quit, or move onto the next best thing, ask yourself three key questions:

What’s really getting in the way? Start by first uncovering the core issues. Find the obstacles that stop you in your tracks or in some cases, have you prematurely jumping ship. Underlying drivers can include avoiding conflict or judgment by others, fear of failure, fear of making mistakes, poor physical energy, or not having clarity in one’s purpose or convictions.

Take for example, Susan, a group manager in a leading software development company who felt stuck on a variety of projects. Susan described loving the “big picture thinking” at the start of any project, but then struggled keeping the ball moving forward. For the first two weeks of coaching, I asked Susan to self-observe when she got distracted, procrastinated or felt stalled on an important project. After a couple of weeks, she was stunned to uncover that her biggest roadblock occurred at critical decision making points that required her to stand up to difficult, aggressive colleagues or fight for additional resources.

What do I need to do? When we know what the underlying issues are behind our stalling or desire to quit, we are much better equipped to identify what to do. The beauty of looking into one’s own perseverance is that the answer often leads us to the development of other leadership competencies such as communications effectiveness, focus, discipline, or resilience.

In the case of Susan, we actually first worked on rebuilding her energy levels – she was physically exhausted at the start of coaching having worried and mentally churned on “being stuck”. One of the major paradoxes of perseverance is that it often requires we know when to take a rest and recharge in order to keep going.

With a strong physical base, we then focused on Susan’s core issue of strengthening her voice with others, the point where Susan most lost her ability to persevere. She was able to identify the colleagues who most threw her off balance, created pre-meeting rituals to help her stay centered, and practiced the skills of advocacy and influencing others.

What am I really working for? The quality of perseverance is especially critical to reaching long-term goals, dreams or vision for yourself or your organization. Long-term goals require faith, passion, and conviction to keep us moving in the right direction even when we are unable to see immediate results or achievement.

For Susan, she realized that she had not explicitly considered how her projects directly aligned with the strategic priorities of the company. As she realized the importance of her work to the organization’s future revenue growth, she felt more fueled to step up as leader for her team.

Ultimately, it’s the purpose, or commitment behind something, that expands our perseverance – fueling our ability to continue. Great athletes, artists, entrepreneurs, and leaders know this about the principle of mastery – a vision infused by purpose helps us to stick to something over the long term. Knowing “the why” behind what we are doing helps us to persevere even in the face of nay-saying peers or family, even in the face of set-backs or mistakes, even in the face of our own self-doubt and lack of confidence. If you know in your heart the goal or vision is right, keep walking in that

Reflection Questions:

  1. How do you respond to setbacks, failures, or mistakes? What emotions do you experience?
  2. What network of support do you have to help you during these experiences?
  3. What dreams or goals could you reach by learning from these challenging times and continuing on?

– Amy Jen Su

 

Read More

Confidence: Can You Build It?

2021-04-09T11:31:48-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Self, Muriel Wilkins, Paravis Partners, Presence, Leadership, and Communications|

Confidence – we all want it. And, we all look for it in others, especially those in positions of leadership. Yet, time and time again, I encounter executives who do not feel confident nor exude confidence to others. (I also encounter those who are overly confident – to the point that they are blinded by it – but that is a topic for another article!) What these executives fail to realize is that what makes you confident in one situation will not necessarily have the same effect under different circumstances. Therefore, external circumstances cannot dictate one’s confidence. Otherwise, your confidence feels like a loose piece of newspaper on a windy day – – swirling every which way depending on the force and direction of the wind. So, the real question is: “What builds a leader’s confidence?” The answer lies in the three primary confidence-builders: Facts, Focus, and Faith.

Face the Facts: The starting point for building confidence in a difficult situation is to face the facts. A review of one’s past accomplishments and professional track record typically shows that successes far outweigh failures. One need only look at a Tiger Woods to reinforce that idea – do any of his tour losses undermine his phenomenal track record? No – his record speaks for itself. Likewise, executives have track records with successes, and more importantly, with failures that they endured.

Take for example, an executive whom I coached at a global marketing services firm– we’ll call him James. Having recently been promoted to a Vice-President position, James found himself facing new challenges: turning around a low-morale staff, driving new strategic initiatives, and rebuilding the reputation of his department. In addition, he now had a whole new set of relationships to manage given his position including being part of the executive team and being frequently sought after for advice by the CEO. “I often feel like I am going to ‘get caught’ – – that someone is going to realize that they made a mistake by promoting me into this position,” said James at one of our coaching meetings. When James stepped into the executive suite, his confidence leapt out the window. After taking inventory of the various promotions that he had received throughout his career, James realized that he had successfully faced new, albeit different, challenges before. His success track record served as a basis of fact against the uncertainty he currently felt regarding his ability to excel in his new role.

Focus: With a track record as the foundation, it is helpful to focus on one’s strengths to build confidence. Research shows that most people are very strong in a few competencies, weak in several others and average in the majority of skills. Rather than trying to be perfect at everything, successful leaders primarily focus on leveraging their strengths and closely managing their “average” and “weaker” areas. With the help of a 360 assessment, James accepted that he was not going to be great at everything (nor did anyone expect him to be). He recognized that his strengths in “managing others” and “creating vision” would be key contributing factors to his success in his role. By focusing on his contributions, James grew more confident that he could accomplish some of the challenges ahead.

Faith: It is not by chance that the Latin root of the word confidence is “con fide” which translates into “with faith”. Ultimately, faith is a belief in the unseen. Leaders are called to create vision and change for the future out of uncertainty – fundamentally, they operate on a level of faith that gives purpose and strength to the path that they carve out for their organizations. James’s fear of failing obstructed his ability to step out on the faith he needed to believe he could succeed in this role despite the newness of it all. By shifting his attention to the excitement of building, creating and leading something new, he tapped into a deeper purpose for his role beyond his own day-to- day successes and challenges. His confidence in the future gave him the ability to accept his place as Vice President and make the impact that he had been asked to make.

Confidence is a constant practice of building – especially as one’s circumstance change. By tapping into a blend of Facts, Focus and Faith, you can continuously strengthen your confidence to prepare you for the next level. And when that next challenge comes your way, do not be surprised that others remark, “You are so confident – – how do you do it?”

Reflection Questions:

  1. Think of a particular challenging situation or circumstances in which you lack confidence. What fear is obstructing your confidence in this situation?
  2. What facts do you have from your past, which show how you have overcome similar, albeit, not the identical challenges?
  3. What can your strengths contribute to working through the situation?
  4. What will you need to believe, even though it does not yet exist or you cannot see it (faith),to make you feel more confident about the situation?

– Muriel Maignan Wilkins

Read More

Leadership Values in Times of Transition

2021-04-09T10:27:29-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Others, Leading Self, Paravis Partners|

As leaders move through the leadership pipeline they typically gain additional responsibilities, a larger footprint in the organization, and more complex stakeholder groups. They likely have many new constituents to consider, points of view to integrate, a larger vision to convey, and more people to convey it to. In our Signature Voice for Leaders program, we talk about the shift in mindset that is required of leaders to broaden their perspective and influence during an expansion of their role, or to fully step into their current role. They need to see and think more broadly about the organization as a whole to have the impact they desire.

This message of thinking “big picture”, while often difficult, is not usually new to leaders that we work with. The flip side of it, however, often is. Along with holding a broadened perspective is also a need to go deeper and become more focused on what is really important to them as a leader– in short, being clear on their values.

What are Leadership Values? It’s usually easy to begin to understand and envision values at work when we consider leaders we’ve worked for – for example, the person who held “fun” as a core value and couldn’t imagine going to work if he didn’t get to experience and create it. Or the leader for whom “hard work” trumped everything else, and who expected that of her team. Or the person who valued “expertise” above all, and used that as a key criteria in decision-making. Or “relationships”, or “quality”. Each of these is a reflection of what’s most important to that person. It’s authentic to them. It’s what they’re known for and becomes part of their brand. While it’s usually fairly easy to spot in others, it’s sometimes more difficult to see in ourselves those 3 – 4 things that really define what we stand for.

As leaders progress in their career, and as they transition into a new roles, clarity of values can play an important role in making that transition go smoothly.

Values and Motivation As leaders step into a new role, their motivation is critical to enabling them to sustain engagement through the challenges they’ll inevitably face in their new position. Attending to their personal values is a critical first step. For each of us personally, whether we’re working in alignment with our core values or not will usually directly correlate to our satisfaction and engagement in our job. If you think back to times when you felt like you were at your best and fully engaged, it’s likely that you were in an environment that enabled you to live your core values. Likewise, when you had the inevitable “slump” in your career, you likely were not feeling like you were able to live in alignment with what is most important to you. Being clear on how one’s personal values align with the organizational need is critical as one enters into a new role.

Values During Transition When leaders are going through a leadership transition, they can often feel somewhat unsteady. They are at the beginning of a learning curve about the area they are leading, the team they have supporting them, and the expectations of the internal or external customers they are supporting. During this time of uncertainty, growth and change a leader’s values can anchor them in what is NOT changing – what you can still hang onto. Their values become the rudder that can keep the boat upright in the storm-perhaps it’s “challenge”, “teamwork” or “mission-focus”.

Values to Promote Understanding As you think about the last time you got a new boss, if you’re like most people, you spent the first few months of that new relationship trying to figure him or her out. Where are they going to lead us? What is their preferred communication style? How will they make decisions? What are their hot buttons? How can I influence their thinking? That transition period can be shortened greatly with an explicit conversation about these topics, and once again, the answers usually lie in a leader’s values. Being clear on what’s ultimately most important to you, and being explicit about it, can shorten that ramp-up period.

Leadership Values Create Culture We see over and over again that the culture of an organization will typically reflect the values of the leader. It’s as if their values seep into the fabric of the organization, shaping what people focus on, how they make decisions, who gets promoted, the predominant communication styles and the mood and tone of the organization. Being clear about the values a new leader wants to shape in their organization is the first step to creating a culture that will support the leader’s vision.

What are Your Core Values? So, in light of the importance of leadership values, how can you get more clear on what’s most important to you?

  1. Think back to the high points and low points in your career. During the high points, what are the words that come to mind that describe the experience and made it fulfilling for you? During the low points, what was missing?
  1. Think back to the last time you had an emotional disagreement with someone or felt triggered. What value was it that was being challenged at that time? It’s likely something that’s very important to you.
  1. Ask a few confidantes. It’s often easier for us to see values in others than in ourselves. If you ask a few people what you’re known for, or what they believe is ultimately most important to you, what themes begin to emerge?
  1. As you get more clear on your values, think about how you can use that knowledge to motivate yourself and others, promote understanding, and create the culture that will lead to success!
Read More

When Boards Behave Badly

2021-04-09T10:25:45-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading the Business, Muriel Wilkins, Paravis Partners|

As a coach, I often see the deep impact of board leadership on my executive coaching clients.  Sadly, at times, this impact is not positive and lapses in leadership judgment have left my clients and the general public scratching their heads in confusion.   So today, I’m turning the lens away from the leadership issues that our coaching clients face to leadership issues that their boards face. Why? Because leadership on the board is just as critical as leadership of the organization for which they hold fiduciary responsibility.

To that end, here are some quick leadership refreshers to course correct bad board behavior, especially during critical leadership times:

  1. Know Your Place: Understanding what role you play as a board member and the boundaries associated with that role are fundamental to demonstrating effective board leadership. Board members who constantly overstep boundaries undermine the organization’s leader. On the flip side, board members who shy away from making tough decisions handicap the organization from moving forward to meet its strategic goals. Knowing one’s place on the board especially vis a vis decisions, the organization’s leader, and each other will help drive leadership behavior in a productive manner.
  1. Be Clear: While it’s important to know what to expect of your role and each other, it is just as important to be clear about what you expect of the organization’s leader. Does the organization’s CEO, president, or executive director understand what is expected of him or her? Is there alignment on the direction in which the individual is leading the organization and what metrics will be used to measure performance? The relationship between the organization’s leader and the board can be much more productive when there are aligned expectations about what needs to happen and how success will be gauged.
  1. Check Your Ego at the Door: Let’s face it – – being on a Board is a prestigious feat. Another emblem of professional and personal success. And while you bring tremendous value to your board, remember that, ultimately, you’re there to do what’s right for the organization, not necessarily what’s in the best interest of yourself or your fellow board members. With that in mind, leaving your individual agenda outside of the board room gives greater clarity to make the right organizational decisions.
  1. Lead by Example: Recognize that as a board member, you too are a leader of the organization and you have a ripple effect beyond the board room. Think about your own leadership behaviors and that of your board colleagues. Is this the way you want to be viewed as leaders? If the board room was a fishbowl, would you be letting everyone watch or would you be running for cover?

There can be no excuse for boards behaving badly. We wouldn’t expect it from our leaders. So, why would we accept it from the board? And to all those who graciously, selflessly, diligently and effectively lead on boards, a major kudos to you. There are many of you out there whom we can learn from. Keep up the good work.

– Muriel Maignan Wilkins

Read More

Resolution #1: Accepting & Starting Where You Are

2021-04-09T11:31:05-04:00April 8, 2016|Amy Jen Su, Leading Self, Paravis Partners|

Ahh…Change.  We resolve to do it at the start of every New Year yet struggle to maintain our resolutions after just a few days or weeks into the process.  Having helped others through positive change, I have come to realize that those who made the greatest transformations mastered a paradox of the change process itself: sustainable change always begins with an acceptance and acknowledgement of where you are first. How is it acceptance drives change?

Principle #1: Acceptance frees up our emotional resources for change

Acceptance is a powerful lever because it frees up emotional resources. When we are not accepting our lives, we live in a state of resistance. In resistance, we experience anger, fear, or frustration – emotions which sap emotional and physical energy. When we move to a state of acceptance, we come to terms with how things are. We shift from saying, “I hate this about my life” to, “things are exactly as they should be, I am exactly where I should be.” Acceptance, however, does not mean resignation or giving up. The natural progression from anger to acceptance actually creates an opening for change to occur.

Take, for example, an up and coming leader – we’ll call her Jane – whom I recently worked with at a top tier management consulting firm. For years, Jane received feedback that others felt shut down around her due to a commanding style perceived as abrupt, curt, and impatient. For years, she met this feedback with resistance feeling angry and blameful. When the same feedback came again but this time with a stalled promotion warning, Jane reached out for coaching but from a place of acceptance. “I finally realize I am a great leader in terms of getting the job done but there is some truth to that I am a terrible listener and can be curt with others – I’d really like to get to the next level but don’t know how.”

Principle #2: Acceptance enables us to see our situation with clarity

No longer swimming in the pools of anger or fear, acceptance helps us to see what is really going on with great clarity. In the case of Jane, she could now objectively observe herself in meetings and track the triggers, causing her to feel impatient or go abrupt. In this self-observation, she uncovered many vulnerabilities: the time pressure she felt from her boss, the fear of not being seen as an “expert”, and her knee jerk habits of responding when under stress.

Principle #3: Acceptance creates focus, faith, and fuel for change

By uncovering the truth, Jane could now efficiently engage in the practice of change. She decided to focus on evolving her leadership style. She felt good about her strengths in directing, executing and driving action – skills that had carried her career so far – but now it was time to balance out her leadership voice with skills such as listening, empathy, and reading an audience. No longer frustrated, Jane channeled her energy into practicing these new skills. Her faith and optimism about her future career advancement grew. Six months after coaching, Jane received a performance review and feedback from colleagues indicating she had successfully made the changes she intended.

Jim Collins’ research on Level 5 Leaders (refers to the highest level of executive capabilities), called this the “Stockdale Paradox” named for Admiral James Stockdale, a Vietcong POW camp survivor. Level 5 Leaders “confront the most brutal facts of their current reality (accept, acknowledge, and see it clearly), yet simultaneously maintain absolute faith that they would prevail in the end (focus, faith, optimism).” While most of us may never experience something as horrific as a POW camp, the same principles apply.

As the year continues to unfold, make this year different. Start with accepting and acknowledging where you are first. You may be surprised to find that by year end you actually held to your resolutions and made incredible change as a result.

– Amy Jen Su

Read More

Leader as Coach: Lessons from a Saturday on the Soccer Field

2021-04-09T10:26:33-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Others, Nina Bowman, Paravis Partners|

As I sat on the sidelines for my son’s soccer tournament this past weekend, I observed various coaching styles and techniques which bore an eerie resemblance to the coaching and development approaches that sometimes play out in the halls of corporate America.  Feedback such as, “Just put the ball in the net already!” or “If I see you do that one more time, you’re coming off the field!” abounded.  My favorite “not so helpful” quote of the weekend? — “I know you’ve been on the field for 20 minutes, but anytime you’re ready, Alex, just start playing!”  Whew– with that kind of support, it’s no surprise that the players’ performance stayed the same or sometimes tanked.

It wasn’t all bad, I also heard coaching feedback such as, “Ok, Aaron, next time try passing it straight up the wing, you can do it!”.   I suppose I regained hope when I found myself clapping for an opposing team as I watched each member communicate effortlessly on the field, play to their strengths, hold their field positions, and maintain their composure – all signs that they had been well coached for some time.  Their calm and confident coach, stood on the sidelines doling out timely, forward-looking feedback that was fair and accurate, yet not undercutting.   The coach was aware that it was game time, a time to show what you’ve learned over months, not a time to cram what should have been done over months.

As executive coaches and leadership development trainers, we know that the “frazzled, unhelpful coach style” is far more common than it should be. Our clients often share their stories and frustrations about their boss’ development approach.  These themes can be summed up as follows:

  • Sharing information on what not to do, but not clarifying what to do
  • No proactive development plan in place, just reacting in the moment to actions gone wrong
  • Blindsiding direct reports with feedback that should have been shared sooner or more directly
  • Giving advice, but not creating the opportunity to practice
  • Using the annual review as “the” development platform

For managers and leaders to move from good intentions to meaningful development of their direct reports, they must bring a more robust approach to coaching for development. They must think about how to BUILD.

Begin with Yourself

At the heart of how each leader coaches others is a set of beliefs, assumptions and personal behavior patterns that the leader tends to fall back on. These beliefs can either support or thwart the process.  What are your beliefs about who is responsible for the development of others?  What are your assumptions about the value of developing others and about the capability of each of your direct reports?   What patterns do you fall back on?   Do you make development a priority? Do you take ownership of what’s working, and not working, with your direct reports?

Understand the Coach Role and Why it Works

Treating coaching like mentoring may give your direct reports some helpful tips and advice gleaned from your prior experience, but it won’t provide the experimentation and practice that is needed for new behavioral practices to stick.  I know you didn’t follow the corporate or not-for-profit path to find yourself knee deep in neuroscience of the brain or adult development theory, but in the case of coaching adults for development, a little bit of knowledge can be helpful.  Pause to read a few articles by Robert Kegan, or David Rock, or subscribe to a training and development magazine.    Before you know it, you will be focusing on the key behaviors of your direct reports; understanding what truly motivates people (not a carrot and stick approach); and spending time clarifying the key assumptions and beliefs that drive your direct reports’ actions. In short, you will have a more solid foundation to begin coaching.

Incorporate Coaching Conversations

If your idea of constructive feedback is akin to “just put the ball in the net already”, it’s time to hone some new skills! Successful coaching is all about holding effective coaching conversations.  These conversations require a strong set of communication skills which include, listening and exploring, giving and receiving feedback, communicating a fact-based assessment of your direct reports’ core opportunities and challenges, and building shared expectations for action.  You will gain more traction if you temporarily halt the penchant for action and 1) seek to understand  2) focus on observed behaviors and articulating a clear vision for new, desired behaviors and 3) make it a discussion and not a debate.  

Learn the Process

The operative word here is “process”.  Coaching others toward success is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process that is proactively designed to shift behaviors.  Start by identifying specific behaviors.  Set expectations for desired outcomes.  Gain agreement with your direct report(s).  Then, co-design a coaching roadmap or plan. Finally, you will need to gain commitment to the plan and provide ongoing monitoring, support and constructive feedback.  

Develop Resources and Support

So, you’ve raised your self-awareness. You understand that coaching is not teaching and is not mentoring.  You are better skilled in handling the many coaching conversations that are faced in the workplace, and you have a collaboratively developed roadmap that takes you from being the “frazzled, unhelpful, shouter” to the “supportive and proactive” coach–Done?  Not so fast.  It’s time to dig deeper.  Your direct reports need ongoing support and resources.  Think crafting opportunities for your direct reports, or rallying for the dollars to send them to that much needed course.  Review each aspect of the roadmap and ask yourself, “what can I do to support this plan?”

This all takes a lot of time and effort, you say, and you are correct – but, so does re-hiring.  It is important to keep in mind that, ultimately, the work of managing and leading is about coaching others toward success.  Interestingly enough, as we learn to effectively BUILD others up to their full potential, a curious thing happens – we’ve somehow learned to BUILD ourselves as well.

– Nina Bowman

Read More

The Power of Trade-offs

2021-04-09T10:14:02-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Others, Leading Self, Muriel Wilkins, Paravis Partners|

Around August every year, I’m reminded of the power of making trade-offs. You see, I take a month off every summer (actually five weeks). And, yes, I get a lot of “you do WHAT?” from clients, friends and colleagues alike as they first react to the audacity of taking that much time off. Incredulity quickly transforms to curiosity as the next reaction is typically “How do you do that?” My answer is quite simple: it’s all about priorities and making trade-offs.

Prioritization is just a nicer way of saying that you have to make trade-offs. With all the hoopla over the years about having it all and whether it’s possible or not (regardless of your gender, by the way), I’m intrigued by the fact that so many resist the notion of making trade-offs, as if it means defeat in some way. And I’m left to wonder, “Can you truly lead your organization effectively if you can’t lead with priorities in your own life?”

Take Andy, for example, who is the COO of an investment management firm. When I first started coaching Andy, he made it very clear that he needed to figure out how to operate at this senior level where the scope and scale of impact was much broader. I asked Andy to make a list of what was important to him personally and professionally. The list was two pages long. “Andy,” I said, “My question was what’s most important – not everything you think you should do.” It was no surprise to me that just as much as Andy struggled to lay out priorities in his personal life, he was challenged with making the tough choices at work about where to focus his and his team’s energy. As a result, he and his team ran very hard but never felt like they were accomplishing anything at the level that they’d like.

While much has been written about time management, energy management, strategic prioritization, here’s a quick and dirty back of the envelope way to make priorities work for you, both personally and professionally.

  1. Name your trade-offs. I can empathize with those who feel like everything on your list is important. It probably is. But can you circle the ones that are most important. Peter Bregman, in his book “18 Minutes”, describes our reticence to choose priorities as the “buffet challenge” – – there are so many good things to choose from, all for one price, that we don’t choose. Instead, we try to do it all. The answer (as it is for the buffet) is to choose a few things. Bregman suggests listing 3-5 things you’ll focus on for a year and spending 90% of your time in support of those areas. This requires determining what doesn’t fit on your plate anymore and leaving it at the buffet for someone else to eat.
  2. Own your trade-offs. Making decisions about what to focus on and what not to focus on can be tough. What if you pick the “wrong” things? What will you give up? What will others think? What if you’re not happy with the outcome? You need to make your choices without judgment and without the fear of being judged for the choice you make. You are the one who will need to live with and deliver on that priority so the number one person who needs to fully believe in it and embrace it is you.
  3. Create guardrails. When you’re taking a long drive down a highway, it’s easy to get distracted by other things which then take our mind off the road. Thank goodness for guardrails that get us back in line. Having guardrails to keep you from straying off the path on your priorities is critical too. For example, Andy chose developing his team’s bench strength as one of his priorities. A guardrail which kept him in line with this priority was having monthly development discussions with each of his direct report. One of my clients had “making his wife feel special” as a priority. He mapped out a whole year of monthly surprises of things she enjoyed – – flowers, spa visit, a babysitter – – that supported his choice.
  4. Get alignment. Whether personally or professionally, make sure you get those important to you to buy into your priorities. If not, it will be a tough lonely road ahead to stay the course. On the personal front, make sure your significant other, kids or friends are supportive of the choices. It’s hard to choose “taking care of my health” as a priority and have your whole family scowling every time you say you’re heading out for a workout. Pat Lencioni does a fabulous job in his book “The Three Questions of a Frantic Family” outlining how to get families to rally around core priorities. Likewise, aligning your team, boss and key stakeholders on key business priorities is critical especially when you are in a leadership position. Without their buy in, it will be difficult to achieve the results you set out.

Bottom-line: while it’s not easy to make tradeoffs, it’s imperative. Make it part of your regular routine to reflect, recalibrate and reengage in your priorities. Over time you’ll find that, both in and out of work, the act of making trade-offs will serve you, and those around you, well.

Now, as for those five weeks off… For me, having memorable life experiences with my family, seeing the world and being able to substantively recharge periodically for work are up there on my list of paramount priorities. One of my guardrails, an awesome one I’ll admit, is taking a month “off the grid” to travel every year with my family. While this requires me to say “no” to other financial wants and time commitments, it enables me to say “yes” to the things that enable and inspire me to be the best leader I can be – both personally and professionally. That’s my trade-off in a nutshell. What’s yours?

– Muriel Maignan Wilkins

Read More

A Checklist for Time Management & Executive Endurance

2021-04-09T10:24:59-04:00April 8, 2016|Amy Jen Su, Leading Self, Paravis Partners|

Do you look at your calendar and dread the number of back-to-back meetings you see? Are you always running short on time? Do you often wonder if what you are doing is sustainable? These are the types of things we hear from our clients everyday in a 24-7, global business environment, where resources are often constrained but deliverables and priorities are significant.

Below, find a checklist we put together based on observing the practices employed by “best-in-class” executives who manage big scope and spheres of influence while enjoying the ride and sustaining themselves along the way.

At the Ground Level

When we work with clients, we start by looking at what’s happening at the ground level, the day-to-day of how they operate. These often provide “low-hanging fruit” opportunities for increasing productivity and energy.

How is your focus?

  • Present to what you are doing; not distracted by the next to-do item
  • Can transition well between activities. Shifts focus, does not “split” focus
  • Has a way to signal to others not to interrupt you
  • Holds blocks of time for highest priority work. Uses EA as gatekeeper
  • Closes and completes on things. Knows when and how to put a forcing function in place when needed

How purposeful are you in how you start your day or week?

  • Spends first 15 minutes of each day going over calendar.
  • Knows what day will look like, which meetings to prepare for, which will need less prep, and what else needs to get done
  • Has both a global system for tracking all to-do’s and a daily system
  • Minimizes being in back-to-back day meetings on Mondays to ramp into the week

How do you schedule yourself to optimize energy?

  • Schedules for similar type of activities in chunks (to minimize shifts)
  • Schedules in blocks of time (especially if after a string of back to back days)
  • Blocks in vacation, days off, or family activities first – manages by exception
  • Tries to set up recurring meetings and manages by exception
  • Has some block of time either evening, early morning or weekend to catch up on things
  • Has an EA who knows preferences of optimal day: % of time in meetings etc.

How do you manage email?

  • Does one-to-two line responses; clears out box quickly
  • OR Checks email at only prescribed times or responds only at prescribed times (we’ve seen either of these strategies work)
  • Uses auto-responses to manage expectations

What rituals have you set up to stay in physical shape?

  • Has a regular exercise time set
  • Manages sleep
  • Manages diet to match energy needed for the job

At the 15,000 ft Level

After looking at the day-to-day habits of our clients, we also helicopter up a notch and look at their overall way of setting priorities, how they make decisions around time, and ultimately how they communicate with others.

What drives your yes’ and no’s?

  • Has the appropriate strategic screening system and criteria for prioritizing for self
  • Has the appropriate strategic screening system and criteria for prioritizing for the business
  • Is clear on the trade-offs amongst yes’ and no’s
  • Is clear on what the critical path is

How skilled are you at conversations?

  • Manages up, aligns, and socializes around expectations with others
  • Lets others know how to engage you and what your boundaries are

At the 30,000 ft Level

For many, even with the gains made at the ground and mid-level of looking at time management or endurance issues, the underlying root causes stem from lack of clarity around vision and purpose as well as your own internal alignment as a leader to the role you’re in. Digging deep on these high level questions often provides the largest gains.

Are you clear on the end game?

  • Is clear on value proposition for self, team, function, and organization
  • Is clear on 6 month, 1 year, 3 year, and 5 year goals
  • Has clear understanding of vision and purpose

How much do you “own it”; feel alignment to the role you are in?

  • Really wants to be in the executive position they’re in
  • Has a clear understanding of and accepts the benefits, trade-offs, and exception points around work and its place within the greater context of life purpose and vision

Have you built a high performance team?

  • Has set a clear vision for the function/team and has the right structures in place
  • Has a strong direct report team with clear development plans for each to ensure succession and bench
  • Uses a chief of staff or has a great EA to help triage or serve as gatekeeper

– Amy Jen Su

Read More

Falling Toward Success

2021-04-09T10:24:15-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Self, Nina Bowman, Paravis Partners|

Failure.  No one expects it, but sometimes our professional journey takes a sharp turn onto a bumpy or unpaved road.  For some, the experience is like riding as a front seat passenger – able to see the wreck coming, but unable to grab the controls and stop it.  For others, it’s a back seat experience — the potholes were there all along, but you just can’t see them coming.  If we’re lucky, we end up just having to replace a tire.  If we are not, we could end up being in the market for a new car.

When I first met “Lisa” she had been at her organization for 6 months and just received her first informal review a month prior. She was still livid about the feedback.  Her team found her style abrasive and a few senior executives were less than impressed with her handling of a recent marketing deal.  She clearly knew her stuff, but was making too many waves in the company.  A discussion of whether she was a good cultural fit was clearly underway.

Lisa complained about how ridiculous the feedback was and blamed her colleagues for not having a clue on what they were doing. Lisa had trouble acknowledging her role in the problems and seemed unwilling to engage in productive conversation and reflection about the experience.  From my assessment, she was not only in the back seat of the car, but her head was covered with a blanket. She was completely oblivious to the wreck that was coming her way.

In contrast, I met “Mark” a couple of months after he had been fired from a senior technology sales position.  He had a stellar career prior to being let go and the experience was jarring and difficult.  He wondered who would hire him after being fired and he had no idea how to move forward.  As we discussed his situation, he commented on what he had learned from the experience and what he would consider doing differently next time. Mark didn’t know it at the time, but he was on his way to a bigger and better role.

As I contemplate the lessons learned about overcoming failure from the Marks and Lisas of the world, several key lessons emerge:

Remove the blanket from your head.  An early view of the obstacles will allow you to change course and hopefully avoid a total wreck

Don’t get stuck in denial and blame. While it is natural to experience a bit of anger and denial, staying stuck in this mode will slow the recovery process.  Yes, there may be some truth in the fault of others, but remaining in this mindset renders you powerless.

Don’t be too hard on yourself.  Yes, you made a mistake, but also remember that one failure does not define your entire life.  How many individuals can you think of who failed and recovered?  The list is long and filled with impressive names –Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, J.K Rowling, etc.  You are in very good company.

Look for the lessons.  Opening your eyes, exploring your role in the failure and actively looking for the lessons learned will allow you to emerge a better and stronger version of you. Did you rely on your old ways of working in your new company? Did you think that you had all the answers?  Were you afraid to admit what you didn’t know? Be candid with yourself and commit to acting differently next time.

Hold the belief that what is on the other side of failure can be bigger and better than what you had before.  Remember Mark? Mark was hired by a competitor who understood that individuals who have experienced, and learned, from failure can be great employees.

The irony of failure is that it can lead to great success, but only if we are willing to accept and own the failure; reflect on the lessons learned; and commit to new practices and behaviors that demonstrate our learning.

– Nina Bowman

Read More

Finding Leadership Lessons in the Most Unexpected Places

2021-04-09T10:23:27-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Self, Muriel Wilkins, Paravis Partners|

Sometimes you come upon leadership lessons in the least expected places. This past Saturday, as I sat outside my daughter’s ballet class, a sole sheet of paper that hung on the bulletin board caught my eye. The title on the lavender hued flyer read “Rules for a Dancer”. To pass time, I read the rules. What I found is a treasure trove of lessons brilliantly transferable from dancers to leaders. I thought these principles worth sharing whether you are an aspiring leader or already an effective leader in your own right.

So here they are, listed in no particular order:

Leadership is hard. No leader ever became successful riding on their natural born talents only. The world of leadership is akin to an extreme sport. Natural ability will only get us so far. Leaders must work hard and persevere.

You won’t always get what you want. You don’t always get the role you wanted, the results you want, hear the praise you want, make the money you want, see companies run the way you want, etc. This teaches humility and respect for process of leadership. The faster you accept this, the faster you can get on with being impactful. You’ll never be 100% sure it will work but you can always be 100% sure doing nothing won’t work.

There is a lot you don’t know. There is always more a leader can learn. Even our least favorite bosses, team members, and customers can teach you something. The minute you think you know it all, you stop being a valuable asset.

There may not be a tomorrow. A leader never knows when things will go off course…  A strategy changes, the economy takes a dive, a personal challenge takes place. Lead every day as if it is your final opportunity to do so. Don’t save your passion for leading for the big moments.  Infuse it even in your day to day routine.

There’s a lot you can’t control. Don’t waste your talent and energy worrying about things you can’t control. Focus on honing your leadership skills and being the best leader you can be. Keep an open mind and positive attitude.

Information is not true knowledge. Knowledge comes from experience. You can discuss a task a hundred times and go to multiple meetings, but unless you get out there and engage with your organization, you will only have a conceptual understanding what’s happening. Find opportunities to get out beyond the executive suite. You must experience what is happening throughout your organization, with your customers and the industry to call yourself a true leader.

Someone else will have more than you or be better than you. It does not matter. Rather than get caught up in what others are doing around you, focus on the things you are good at, the things you need to work on and the things that make you most impactful as a leader.

You can’t change the past. Everyone has a past. Everyone has made mistakes and everyone has glorious moments they want to savor. Effective leadership forces you to focus on the present. To be at the top of your leadership game, you have to be in the moment; the minute you take your eye off the ball, mistakes happen. If they do, see #12.

The only person who can make you happy is you. Leadership and work, in and of itself, cannot make you happy. The root of your happiness comes from your relationship with yourself, not from what role you are given, how much money you make, what company you work for, etc. Sure, these things have effects on your mood and outlook but in the long run it who you are on the inside that make you happy.

There will always be people who don’t like you. Leaders are on public display when they make hard decisions, drive change, and even the smallest actions such as who they talk to in the cafeteria. Critics abound. You can’t be everything to everyone. No matter what you do, there will always be someone who thinks differently. So listen to others and concentrate on what you know in your gut is right.

Sometimes you will fail. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, following the best advice, you will fail. Failure is a part of life. Failure can be the catalyst to some of your greatest growth and learning experiences. IF you never failed, you would never value your successes. Be willing to fail. When it happens to you, embrace the lessons that come with failure.

You will at times have to go above and beyond the call of duty. Every leader has at one time or another had to extend themselves and their organization further then what they thought they were capable of. This causes undue stress. There are many good reasons to put in the extra effort and time… and there are just as many reasons not to do so. Ask yourself if the cause is worthy and if it is the only way to get to the desired results. Go into the situation fully aware of the implication on you and others. And make sure to recognize when it’s time to get back to a normal pace.

Changing course is sometimes good. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. I f you keep doing the bare minimum, don’t complain when you and your organization don’t move to the next level. If you want to grow beyond your comfort zone, you must push yourself beyond your self-imposed limitations.

You will never feel 100% ready. Nobody feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Leaders have to be willing to take risks. From taking a new role, to making an unpopular decision, to changing course, leaders must have a flexible mind and attitude. The greatest opportunities in life force you to grow beyond your comfort zone, which means you won’t feel totally comfortable or ready for it.

So there you have it. Simple yet powerful leadership principles found in the most random of places. Take note of these lessons for yourself. Share them with others.

Note: The 14 rules provided in this article were adapted from an unsourced flyer titled “Rules for a Dancer” on the bulletin board of a professional ballet school in the Washington DC area.

– Muriel Maignan Wilkins

Read More

In a Crunch? Keep “Getting to the Balcony”

2021-04-09T10:10:56-04:00April 8, 2016|Amy Jen Su, Leading Self, Paravis Partners|

I’m in a crunch. This is the month where many important projects and engagements from the year are culminating and converging, and boy am I feeling the pain! In my body, it feels like walls are closing in and blinders are forming alongside of my head.

While all of this hyper-focus is great and I am extremely productive, I can feel I’m dangerously treading the edge of a tipping point. Where walls closing are creating a tension and rigidity in my body, the blinders along my head are getting narrower, and my line of sight focused on an end only.

Along the way, I’m noticing that I’m more shrill, curt, and impatient with those around me. I’m noticing how much more easily I slip into frustration and drama.

As I feel one part of myself dance a familiar edge of resistance and resentment, there is a more grounded, centered part of me that provides counsel and a reminder to rise above it all and go to the balcony.

“Getting to the balcony” is one of my favorite terms coined by Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky. As HBR defines it: “in order to remain effective – a leader must be able to get some distance from the challenging situation in order to gain perspective, possibly breaking the spell of groupthink or temporary hysteria that prevails on the ground.”

When in a crunch, I move to three balconies in order to bring the space needed to get the job done – and get it done well.

  1. Remember the Broader Eco-system Around You.

When we’re in a crunch, it’s easy to lose awareness that there is much more out there than you and your deadline. Pause for a moment and hold a broader perspective beyond your personal and individual circumstance. What is your organization’s mission? What’s happening in the community? In the country? In the world at large? Now, see just how far back you can pull yourself and look beyond a much broader horizon. Where does the world of interconnection begin and end? What cycles of nature continue? What human suffering and joy of all kinds are happening right now? This may sound dramatic, but sometimes it takes realizing that the situation you’re in is not a life or death matter, despite it making you feel that way.

  1. Look at a Longer Time Horizon.

The other balcony that is really helpful is that of time. When we’re in a crunch, time compresses and the finite nature of it hits hard. We can’t take what’s happening in any given month and project that onto our life. This period of time will pass, you will have made that next milestone that seems so urgent right now, and move onto whatever feels urgent next. Gaining some perspective on time can help bring greater acceptance to things as they are now and to ease the resistance when you have to pull out your laptop on a Saturday afternoon.

  1. Connect to Gratitude.

It’s easy in crunch time to fall into our favorite stories of being a victim to our circumstance. I know I love to play the martyr. Negative voice tracks can take over and cloud our view of life. During busy seasons, hold a larger frame of gratitude. What parts of your work are you grateful for at this time? How can you see the support that’s in your life right now? How can we be thankful for our families, our health, and our homes? Gratitude breathes.

As we lift up and out of the current situation and get on the “balconies” of interconnectedness, time, and gratitude, the squeeze and torque within begins to unwind, lighten and bring space. Resistance melts into greater acceptance and we are gently reminded of being human and humility settles in. With more space, a greater presence to what’s in front of us becomes possible, and finally, we mindfully get the job done.

– Amy Jen Su

Read More

Mentoring as a Leadership Role

2021-04-09T10:50:07-04:00April 8, 2016|Leading Others, Paravis Partners|

One of the responsibilities of leadership that leaders sometimes minimize is the role of the leader as a coach, mentor and developer of people. For leaders who are single-focused on getting the job done, all of this “people stuff” can seem like a distraction at best. However, as Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE said: “Before you are a leader, success is all about yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” As you reflect on goals for yourself, we encourage you to consider not only plans for your own growth, but also how you are going to support the development of your team.

With everything you invariably have on your plate, and prioritization a necessity for success, it is a legitimate question to ask why it’s important to focus on developing people. Much research has been done on this topic, and it really comes down to three things:

In the short term, people whose development is encouraged are more engaged. The Gallup organization has done extensive research on employee engagement, and found that there is a strong correlation between people who answer positively to the question “Is there someone at work who encourages my development?” and those with high engagement. Engagement turns into productivity and results.

In the medium term, the payoff to the manager is that people who have been successfully coached and mentored develop the ability to do more independently, without as much direction or guidance from their manager. They will develop greater comfort in making decisions, and initiating action to achieve goals.

Over the long term, organizations with a developmental focus develop bench strength and are able to promote internally. They develop a strong culture with people who understand the business from different perspectives. They are able to capitalize on business opportunities because they have capable people ready to take on a new challenge.

Over the years, we have worked with many leaders who have a strong focus on coaching and developing others, and have seen their best practices. Here are the ones that stand out and are a good reminder for all of us.

  1. They tune into people in a meaningful way. In coaching, if I ask a client who is adept at developing people to describe her team, she will share very nuanced perspectives on each person, and will often be tuned into their untapped potential. “He was on two assignments where he wasn’t a strong contributor so has gotten a bit of a bad reputation. They were both led in a fairly structured, top-down way. But I know he really thrives in an environment where he can be creative and has other people to brainstorm with. When he can do that, he comes up with amazing ideas that others don’t see. There’s a new initiative coming up that would be a good fit for his subject matter expertise, and could use his creative thinking, though he’ll need to be able to influence others to hear his ideas. I think he could really thrive there, particularly if I support him in developing his influencing skills.”
  2. They think as strategically about their team as they do the business. Leaders who are strong people developers can see the business years down the road, and anticipate the talent and capabilities they’re going to need. They develop strategies for developing the people who will serve as the next generation of leaders. “We have a new product that we’re going to be launching in 12 months. I want to put Susie in a role where she can learn enough that she can take over the product six months after the launch. She’s not ready yet, but if the product manager mentors her for the next year she should be ready. That will enable the product manager to move onto a global role where he can broaden his perspective and understanding of the emerging markets that will be core to our business in the next 5 years.”
  3. They spend time on it. Strong people developers will hold one-on-ones with their team members on a regular basis, and don’t cancel them when “something else” comes up. They see them as equally important as everything else on their calendar. In their one-on-ones they will resist the temptation to focus only on immediate issues, and will spend time talking about fit for role, performance trends, and career direction. And they do this throughout the year, not just during the annual mandatory performance management conversation. “I’m going to do one-on-ones this month, checking in on how everyone is doing. There’s been a lot of change and I want to get a true pulse of the team. I plan to ask how they’re feeling about their work, and what they see themselves doing in 6 – 12 months. I also have some ideas to check out about how they may be able to contribute to a new initiative that is coming up.”

So, as you look forward, how could you enhance your focus on developing your team? What commitments are you prepared to make to both deliver results for your organization and develop your team?

Read More
Copyright 2012 - 2024 | Paravis Partners LLC | All Rights Reserved
Go to Top