TheLeadershipNotebook

Your First 90 Days....

 

“Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”

~John Wooden

 

In last week’s post, I shared the news that I’ve accepted the position of President of Toledo St. Ursula Academy and Junior Academy. My start date is October 1st. I’m excited to jump right into my new role and hit the ground running.

But as a leadership development coach who has worked with many leaders during their transition into new roles, I have to remind myself to practice what I preach. What do I mean?

According to research and best practices on leadership effectiveness, the first days in a new position are critical because small differences in a new leader’s actions can have a huge impact on long-term results.

Whether you’re a hire from the outside, as I am, or an existing employee who has been at an organization for a while, it’s important that the new leader take the time up front to quickly diagnose a your situation, understand its challenges and opportunities, establish priorities and manage the key relationships that will help you succeed.

 

So my real start date was the minute I accepted my new position.

 

There are two resources I have utilized with my coaching clients who are entering new roles. The first, Michael Watkins’ The First 90 Days, provides an excellent roadmap for a new leader. The second, The New Leader’s 100 Day Action Plan by Brandt et. al. offers a similar blueprint that includes practical tools to help you implement your plan.

 

Here’s a very brief summary of the concepts that Watkins shares in The First 90 Days. He outlines 10 key transition challenges that will help you navigate your road ahead. They are:

 

 

1. Promote Yourself — get yourself mentally ready to step into your new role. Shift your mindset and perspective and embrace your new position.
2. Accelerate Your Learning — figure out what you need to learn and identify up front your best available sources of insight and information and learn what you need to learn in the shortest amount of time.
3. Match Strategy to Situation—not every situation is the same. This transition challenge requires you to assess just what you are facing. The book outlines four different business situations that will allow you to match the appropriate focus and response to needs of the organization.
4. Secure Early Wins—in this step, the new leader tailors early initiatives to build personal credibility, establish key relationships, and identify and harvest low-hanging fruit-the highest –potential opportunities for short term improvements in organizational performance.
5. Negotiate Success—proactively work to understand with your new boss just what success looks like. You will have greater clarity and a sense of focus for your efforts.
6. Achieve Alignment—this step requires a focus on analyzing the architecture of your organization. Assess alignment among strategy, structure, systems and skills. You will likely not be able to do this immediately but it should be included in your 90 Day plan.
7. Build Your Team—begin by assessing your team, looking for congruence with strengths and needs of the organization. Then work to build team trust and cohesion. You will also need to put in place goals, incentives and performance measures that will propel your team in the desired direction.
8. Create Coalitions—consolidate existing sources of support while developing relationships with those whose resources or connections you need to succeed.
9. Keep Your Balance-- build your support systems and keep your personal disciplines. Starting new is challenging and stressful. It’s important to remember to keep this important balance.
10. Expedite Everyone —if there are other new leaders in your organization, share these steps with them. Share your plan as well.

 

Regardless of the tools or resources you use, if you are anticipating a promotion or a move to a new assignment, planning your first three months in your role is a must. I’ve completed a first draft of my 90 Day Plan and have already accomplished some of my action steps.

 

What do you think? What has worked for you when you transition into a new position? I’d love to hear about strategies you have used in your first days and months in your new job.

 

To your success,

 

Mary

Same Journey, New Path...

 

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.”

~Henry David Thoreau

 

Dear Friends,

 

Over the last six years, I’ve had the privilege to work with many outstanding leaders and teams, helping them to reach their highest potential. My work has been about the positive aspects of change:  personal growth, learning, building resilience and increasing emotional intelligence.

 

Coaching my wonderful clients and meeting all of you have been so rewarding and a very natural expansion of my previous career as a practicing CPA and management consultant. 

I now have a fantastic opportunity to continue my career journey along a different, yet exciting path. I will be assuming the role of President of my alma mater, St. Ursula Academy and Junior Academy.  SUA is Toledo, Ohio’s oldest all-girls Catholic high school and is built on a foundation of educating the whole young woman: academically, spiritually, physically and emotionally.

I’ve been passionate about the mission and vision of St. Ursula since my high school graduation nearly 40 years ago. Each of my three daughters is an alumna. I’ve been a volunteer, booster and former board chair. So when the opportunity to lead the school as its President arose, I felt a calling to serve.

 

My financial background, leadership development coaching, and consulting expertise, along with my love of the school, was a combination I couldn’t resist. And the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of nearly 600 young women is foundational to my decision.

 Mary Conlisk ‘74

St. Ursula Academy

 

I will begin my role October 1^st and will honor all my coaching and commitments through January 2013. Although my external coaching will end, I intend to continue this blog, The Leadership Notebook.

How lucky I have been to have met each of you along this leg of my career journey. I hope our paths cross again soon but please accept my sincere gratitude for all I have learned from you along the way.

To your success,

Mary

Stuffing It

 

“Anybody can become angry-that is easy,

but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree

and at the right time and for the right purpose and in the right way-

that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”

~Aristotle

 

 

I write and speak often about the concepts of emotional intelligence and the impact your EQ skill level can have on your career (and your personal life.) Specifically, I’ve discussed an EQ topic that is affectionately called an amygdala highjack: that point when your lizard brain takes over and your emotions cause you to say or do something that can lead to regret, embarrassment and outcomes that are often worse.

 

But there’s an opposite side of that coin: stuffing your emotions. Refusing to be assertive or even express what you’re feeling can be just as career-limiting as “popping off.”  That’s what’s happening to my client, Dan (not his real name).

Dan’s EQ 2.0 self-assessment reflected low scores in emotional expression and assertiveness and a high score in impulse control. Not an emotionally intelligent combination.

 

During our results review session, Dan shared his boss’s negative 360 feedback, which pretty much confirmed Dan’s self assessment. And according to his boss, Dan’s lack of emotional expression and assertiveness is severely limiting his career progression.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand the mental and physiological cost of stuffing your emotions. But there are additional costs as well. Here are a few more:

To relationships and trust: Relationships and trust are both built on two-way communication and sharing.

To perceptions: Sometimes this behavior can be seen as predictable or calculated, often sending the wrong message.

To respect and influence: It’s difficult to have influence and garner respect when those you lead don’t know where you stand.

 

What Dan (or You) Can Do

1. Become more aware of the types of emotions he has trouble expressing at work and understand what triggers them.

2. Look for a role model who he feels successfully expresses their emotions. He should seek their advice and perspective on what works for them.

 3. Tap into his skills in empathy and emotional self awareness to pay more attention to how others react when he does express his emotions.  

4. Understand what situations cause him to be less assertive than he should be. What situations make him cave?  

5. Sometimes when we don’t speak up, it’s because we are mired in thought when others want action. Think about that in advance of making a decision. What information or evidence will you need in order to feel comfortable acting.

 

Aristotle was right. It is difficult to express your emotions to the right degree at the right time for the right purpose in the right way. We know that an emotional explosion is not the right approach but neither is stuffing them.

Emotional intelligence skills CAN be learned. In fact, ultimately, your career success counts on it. Just ask Dan.

To your success,

 

Mary

An Unexpected Bonus

 

“Patience is not passive. On the contrary, it is active. It is concentrated strength.”

~Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

 

I had a coaching meeting this week with “Rick,” a Partner of a very successful CPA firm. For some background, Rick is a “go getter,” operating with a sense of urgency in everything he does. This style worked well for Rick in the early years of his career. He could be relied on to get stuff done and that sense of urgency translated into great productivity.

That was then. Now as a Partner, Rick must get work accomplished with and through others. That’s difficult to do when you haven’t taken the time to build relationships with or develop others. When you rush about, not listening or connecting with those individuals you lead and rely on to deliver great work.

Rick has realized that in order for his practice to grow, to continue his success at work, he needed to make some changes.

Thus Rick came to me for coaching to build his self-awareness and get a handle on his impatience and de-motivating leadership style. Rick embraced the coaching from the beginning, learning about himself through self assessments and the questions we discussed during our coaching sessions. In addition he focused on practicing patience in his daily interactions.

Not only has he been practicing patience at work, he’s also been practicing patience at home with his wife and three young children. He had a real chance to practice with his kids on a recent family vacation. In fact, Rick just got back from an 8 day trip. All five of them traveled in a minivan to 6 different cities throughout the south. Yikes! This would be a true test….

So, this week, it was a special bonus and a surprise to read a note written to me by Rick’s wife on what a difference his new found patience has made for their family, especially on their recent vacation. “Calm,” “engaged” and “thoroughly enjoyable” were some of the words his wife used to describe the “new Rick.” The kids even commented on how fun Dad was. Rick’s response: “For that reason alone, it is definitely worth all the hard work and practice.”

Very cool.

The letter is a great reminder that while our work behaviors are important to our “success,” how we show up in our personal life can be every bit as impactful.

What about you? Are you aware of how your behaviors impact others? Do you rush through life, never stopping to connect or be fully present to others? What are the implications at work AND at home?

To your success,

Mary

5 Secrets of Olympic Coaches

 

“Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen.

The coaches who win are the ones who can motivate their players.”

~Vince Lombardi

 

For us mere mortals, the 2012 Olympics has certainly been a display of amazing performances. From the “kids” in gymnastics to the swimming and diving feats of the US team, we’ve witnessed outstanding athletes and outstanding teams. But we can’t forget the coaches, some more public than others, providing non-stop encouragement and focus to their athlete.

While I don’t work with Olympic athletes, I do coach leaders who want to take their performance to the next level. And those leaders often must learn to make the transition to become internal coaches themselves, focused on developing their team members and direct reports to achieve outstanding results.

So I read with interest a recent HBR blog post by Marcie Schorr Hirsch and Therese S. Kinal, discussing the results of a study outlining what it takes for coaches to produce Olympic champions.

It’s interesting that the five critical areas cited in the study of Olympic coaches are not dissimilar to what we coaches (both internal and external) must provide to our “coachees.”

The five areas are below with my take on how they might apply to your world.

1.      Help the athlete cultivate self-awareness

You can help your direct reports develop self-awareness by helping them understand their strengths and areas requiring development. How might you build on their strengths to leverage great results? Do you know what really matters to your direct report? How they are best motivated. How are they able to learn and grow in areas that provide meaning and value to them AND to the organization?

2.      Build a strong coach-athlete relationship

Trust, commitment and a sense of partnership are integral to building a solid relationship with your coachee. This requires truly listening to them, without judgment. You must instill in them the confidence and trust that you believe in them and what they are capable of achieving.

 

3.      Create an optimal training environment

A great coach/manager must create an environment that provides the right amount of visibility and sponsorship that can propel a career. Throughout the Olympics, we heard athletes continually share how their coach challenged the athletes to achieve stretch goals. What kind of environment are you creating for your coachees?

 

4.      Provide financial and other support systems

Development of new skills requires an investment of both time and resources. A coach encourages and motivates her coachee to devote the time and effort it takes to practice these skills. A coach also holds her coachee accountable for their following through on responsibilities and stated committments.

 

5.      Manage the Olympic environment

Coach/mangers must challenge their “athlete” to see the bigger picture as they learn new skills. Politics are part of every organization and great coaches help their coachees gain a broader perspective that expands beyond their immediate sphere of influence.

 

I just finished watching the US Women’s Soccer team win the Olympic gold medal against Japan. It was an excellent game and team USA’s performance was outstanding. Coach Pia Sundhage did not receive a gold medal for the victory but knew that her focus was not on achieving fame and glory but on her team’s results. In fact, Sundhage’s quote about coaching Team USA mirrors my feelings about coaching my clients: “I’ve been lucky to coach them….it is unique. It’s wonderful.”

What do you think? How do you coach your employees to deliver outstanding performance? I welcome your perspective and input.

 

To your success,

 

Mary

Your First and Simplest Emotion

 

“The first and simplest emotion that we discover in the human mind is curiosity.”

~Edmund Burke

 

Remember when you were 6 and you drove your Mom crazy asking questions that began with words like: Why? Who? When? Where? How? and my personal favorite, What? Endless curiosity ruled your world. Until, as one of my coaching clients lamented, your parents or teacher or babysitter cried out in exasperation: No More Questions!

 

Curiosity inadvertently squashed.

 

Another lesson some are taught as kids is that it’s rude to ask questions or worse, that asking questions somehow conveys your ignorance. Curious George always got into trouble for being curious. And we might even have been warned that “Curiosity killed the cat!”

 

For many, curiosity got a bad rap.

 

The truth is that curiosity is one of the most vital and life-affirming qualities you can bring to your work life AND your personal life.

 

Curiosity at Work

It is so easy to blame others (or ourselves) when things go wrong. Consider being curious about your experiences rather than critical. For example, instead of beating yourself up, or blaming someone else, for not reaching your performance goals—again—try asking yourself what is going on for you that keeps your performance below your expectations?

 

You can ask questions like:

• What could have done differently?
• What can I learn from this performance?
• What will be my next step?

 

With an attitude of genuine curiosity in coming to understand the current reality, you are more likely to help yourself find new and more creative solutions to achieving your goals or helping others achieve their goals.

Cultivating a curious mind also improves your ability to think more strategically. Asking questions like:

• What’s possible for my department to achieve in the coming year?
• Where is the next wave of opportunity in my client base?
• What if I looked at our challenges from a different perspective?

 

Questions like these coming from a curious mind, shift your perspective from the here and now to points in the future and help you begin the process of building your strategic roadmap.

 

Curiosity in Life

Helen Keller said, “Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all!” When you foster an attitude of curiosity, doors open and adventures begin; questions lead to new possibilities. For example, asking yourself “What do I want to learn now and where might that lead me?” can set you on a journey of exciting exploration that moves you forward.

If, instead, you come from the place of “I already know what I need to know,” you shut off the possibility of discovering something new that could rock your world.

 

So shake off those old, outdated beliefs you have about being curious. Walt Disney, friend of 6 year olds everywhere, said: “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

 

If you truly want to expand your excitement, joy and fulfillment in your work and your personal life, keep those Why? Who? When? Where? How? and What? questions coming.

 

What do you think? How has being curious benefitted you in your career or in your personal life?  What have you learned about being curious?

 

To your success,

 

Mary

 

The End of the Command and Control Leader?

 

“In these troubled and uncertain times, we don’t need more command and control;

we need better means to engage everyone’s intelligence

in solving challenges and crises as they arise.”

~Margaret Wheatley

 

Command and control leaders. You love to hate them. These leaders are the “my way or the highway” type where the phrase “Just Do It” takes on quite a different meaning than Nike ever intended. But the reality is that this form of leadership has been the long standing default style for many leaders in our Firms and Corporations.  

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had the “pleasure” to work with more than a couple command and control type leaders in my years as a practicing CPA.  And my experience is consistent with the research on the negative impact of this leadership style:

No Flexibility   -- “My way or else.”

No Clarity   – “I only know what not to do.”

No Responsibility   – “Just doing my job.”

No Commitment   – “I’m just looking out for myself.”

But there is great news coming from a research study of 1,700 CEOs recently completed by IBM. The study reported that these leaders clearly see that the command and control leadership style is outdated and ineffective.

The implications are clear for the CPA profession as well. It’s time for Partners and Managers to move off this outdated and non-productive leadership style and embrace the leadership style that engages, inspires and aligns their professionals to outstanding performance and results. New behaviors can be learned and when CPA leaders see the positive impact on the bottom line, they’ll be more motivated than ever to shift their approach.

A New Era of Openness and Collaboration

The study also revealed what CEOs are looking for in employees, another clue that we’re moving in a direction that’s more open and collaborative. These CEO respondents want to recruit and hire people who excel at working in open, complex, and team-based environments. Highly valued skills are collaboration (75 percent), communication (67 percent), creativity (61 percent) and flexibility (61 percent).

It’s a new day and Firm and Corporate leadership must change with it.

How about you? What is your experience with “Command and Control” leaders? How do you see your leadership style shifting in today’s complex business environment?

To your success,

Mary

Self-Awareness and the Trusted Advisor

 

“He who knows the universe and does not know himself knows nothing.”

~Jean De La Fontaine

 

So you’ve decided you want to move from technician to trusted advisor.

Last week’s blog post introduced the first required EQ skill of a trusted advisor: pursuit of meaning. It is your deep desire to achieve your goals and to make a difference for your clients. 

You’ve identified your strengths. You’ve reflected on what gives meaning to the work you do. You’ve tapped into the motivation you have to make the changes required to move to a role of trusted advisor.

But here’s the next critical piece of the trusted advisor puzzle. It’s your awareness of the emotions that you feel on an ongoing basis, your emotional self-awareness.

Self-awareness is a critical foundation of emotional intelligence and leadership because what we are unaware of, we cannot change. We must be conscious of what we are feeling, why we are feeling it and the impact these feelings have on others. And it’s the impact that makes all the difference.

In other words, if we cannot take our own “emotional temperature,” we are at risk of behaving in ways that undermine our ability to listen to, connect with or solve our client’s problems. In short, we inhibit our ability to move to a trusted advisor relationship.

My client, Joe*, could not understand why he was not as successful as he wanted to be in gaining traction with his client base. He had all the technical components down cold. He could answer any questions that he was asked about the tax code and the tax ramifications of his clients’ decisions. But he couldn’t move beyond the technical and develop a more trusting and collaborative relationships with his clients.

Joe was clueless. He was unaware that he was short with his clients, lacking patience in truly listening to their needs. He was irritated when he had to repeat the same answers over and over and let his clients know that in his body language and tone of voice. Joe had no idea how he was “showing up” and how he made his clients feel.

The goal of emotional self-awareness is to gain some fundamental understanding of what our trigger points are. This awareness helps us to manage ourselves in our daily interactions, to understand the situations that generate angst for us and to learn how to read our clients, enabling us to understand the impact of our behaviors on them.

When Joe took his emotional temperature over a two week period, he saw regular themes in his daily interactions. Joe kept a record over of two week period of the times he felt anger, happiness, anxiety, fear and sadness. He described the situations that triggered the feeling, the bodily sensations that accompanied it (i.e. clenched fist, heart pounding etc.) and the internal dialogue he had with himself in the moment.

Joe was motivated to change and this process allowed him to evaluate the consistent themes that occurred as well as the consistent players that gave rise to the emotions. He also came to notice more of the emotions that arose for his clients. Was he talking to them at a bad time in their day? How were his client’s behaviors indicating their own emotions?

Tapping into your awareness of what you are feeling and why you are feeling it is a critical skill for a trusted advisor. Watching and being aware of how you are being perceived by your clients in the moment, allows you to shift your behavior in real time rather than perpetuating an ongoing problem.

What do you think? Have you taken your emotional temperature? Do you know how your emotions affect other people? Do you know what emotions help or hinder your performance?

 

The wise philosopher, Socrates, said “Know Thyself” for a reason.

To your success,

Mary

 

*not his real name

 

From Technician to Trusted Advisor: 5 EQ Skills That Make a Difference

”Giving advice is not an exclusively logical process,

but rather an emotional duet played between the advisor and client.

If you cannot learn to recognize, process and respond to a client’s emotions,

you cannot be an effective advisor.”

~David Maister

 

A couple weeks ago, I had coffee with Rob Nance of IShade. One of the top issues we discussed was the critical importance for CPAs (and other professionals like lawyers and engineers) to shift into a role of “trusted advisor” to their clients moving from a transactional problem solver or one-dimensional technician.

How can the shy or reticent professional, who is confident in the numbers they’ve crunched or statutes they site, move beyond the role of technician and into a role of a true advisor? Or how can the extravert stop talking long enough to listen to their clients in order to learn their most pressing issues?  

It turns out that developing professionals along 5 specific emotional intelligence (EQ) realms can make the difference between being seen as “just a bean counter” OR “a valued member of the client’s team.”

 

David Maister in his book, The Trusted Advisor, describes several distinct attributes.

Trusted Advisors focus on:

• the client, rather than on themselves
• the client as a whole individual, rather than a person fulfilling a role
• problem definition and resolution rather than technical or content mastery
• new ways to be of great service to the client
• doing the right thing rather versus achieving their own rewards
• quality client relationships

 

Over the next several blog posts I’ll share each of the five key EQ realms along with strategies for building your skills in these areas. We'll talk about the first, self-actualizaton, today.

 

Trusted Advisor EQ Skill #1—Pursuit of Meaning

All the skill building in the world won’t matter if you don’t find meaning or purpose or desire in becoming a trusted advisor to your clients. So ask yourself: What motivates me? Is becoming a trusted advisor a focus for me as I plan for my future? How committed am I to continuous improvement and building the skill sets that becoming a trusted advisor requires?

The process of becoming a trusted advisor is a journey not a destination. It’s a process of continuously honing your skills and abilities to become an outstanding resource for your clients. It often requires moving outside your comfort zone and stretching beyond your current capabilities.

If your answers to the above questions indicate that you are ready and willing to transition into this more advanced role, now take stock of your strengths and weaknesses. Ask yourself: What are my best gifts and talents that I can leverage as I make the transition? What do I enjoy currently in my role in serving clients? How can I take the skills I use successfully in my personal life and apply them in my professional world?

Becoming “self-actualized” may sound high minded or philosophical but it’s actually quite practical. When you are interested in persistently trying to improve yourself and engage in meaningful goals and objectives, great things can happen. Success, happiness and life satisfaction involve doing what you enjoy and finding ways to apply your talents and strengths.

Your assignment for the next week is to take stock of your strengths. What do you love to do in your job? What do you excel at? What gives meaning to the work you do? What are you motivated to achieve in your role? How about your areas for development? What are those? How motivated are you to shore those up?

Your journey to trusted advisor begins here.

To your success,

Mary

 

 

Give Yourself an “A”

 

“Faith in oneself is the best and safest course.”

 ~Michaelangelo

 

Michaelangelo said that in sculpting his masterpiece “David” that he was merely chipping away from the marble everything that was not David. In other words, one needs only remove the excess stone to reveal the work of art within.

 

When we apply this notion to us as humans, we discover that we are all works of art in all our varied shapes and forms. Life’s true journey is the process of uncovering and removing what’s in the way of our shining through with beauty and brilliance.

 

In support of helping us find the best in ourselves and others, consider the practice called "giving an A" that comes from one of my all-time favorite books, The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life, by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. This practice asks us to choose the perspective of seeing everyone (even ourselves!) as holding great potential. You can give an A to anyone—your spouse, children, employer, co-workers—even strangers.

 

Taking the familiar classroom example first, notice that when students think of themselves as C students, they may not bother trying very hard. If the teacher expects them to do poorly, the students are likely to fulfill that expectation. What would happen if the expectation were that the students were A students?

 

Benjamin Zander, a world-renowned conductor and teacher, experimented with giving As to all his graduate music students at the start of school. They were instructed to pre-date a letter to him from the end of the semester, writing to tell him not just what they had accomplished, but who they had become in the process of living up to that A. The results were amazing. Students who had been anxious over their performance and who were playing it safe, began to see themselves differently and participated at a higher level.

 

In our work lives, it is easy to fall into the habit of judging others (ourselves, too..) for not living up to what we think is right and then holding that judgment as always true—in essence, labeling them C or D students. Imagine coming from a perspective of believing in an associate’s creativity and potential. The result can be working together toward a shared goal of excellence.

 

The world is much more beautiful and full of possibility when we choose to focus on the work of art within rather than the excess stone that appears to be the reality. It’s really a choice of perspective. What grade do you want to live into?

To your success,

 

Mary