As we head into a long holiday weekend in the United States, many of us are going to relax,
reflect, and regroup on these strangest and most unique times.
If you are a leader of a team or a process, I wanted to share with you some insights from research and work Advantexe completed this year in the area of Business Leadership with a focus on how virtual leadership is accelerating the value that you are creating as a leader. To keep it simple and effective, there are 3 ways a leader can accelerate value (what to do) and 3 ways a leader should execute the acceleration of value (how to do it) in this new normal of 2021 and beyond.
Accelerating Value: What to do
Based on our observations and working with thousands of leaders during the past five months, here are the three critical things leaders should be doing more of for the rest of the year.
Providing better coaching & feedback
Whether your teams are virtual, live, or blended, providing better coaching and feedback is the most important thing you can do. Everyone has adapted to the new normal of work. Which means they are literally busier than ever, have less time, and are at their mental capacity for productivity. The challenge is that just working “harder” or longer isn’t enough. The best coaches we have seen are taking the time to give feedback to make sure that the tasks being accomplished are the right tasks and are being accomplished with the greatest efficiencies.
Leading change
We all get that everything has changed. What we have also realized is that the change is going to continue, and leaders must not only be prepared for change, they must also accelerate the change. The tools available to do that are limitless which may be confusing to leaders so one of the things I wanted to share comes from the work of Dr. Elizabeth Moran who we are working with to create a new simulation called, “Practical Change Leadership.” There are three things that you can start doing today to be a more effective change leader and they include:
- Using Compassion to think about change from someone else’s perspective, so you can understand what might be difficult for your team, what they may lose, what they need to succeed, and what strengths they can leverage going forward.
- Practicing ongoing, two-way Communication, so that you can provide information about what is changing and why, invite your team to share concerns, and incorporate their perspective and participation in deciding how work gets done going forward.
- Creating Clarity between people and priorities, so each person understands what the change means for them and knows what they need to do differently to get the desired results. This means talking with your team about new behaviors or actions they need to take as a result of the change (the optimal word here being “with”).
Strategic execution
The third element is strategic execution. We define strategic execution as the ability to take the strategy and implement it through people and process to achieve the goals, objectives, and highest levels of customer satisfaction. In this new world, there are three things to keep in mind about execution:
- Expectations are higher – Your customers and your employees expect quicker results and instant gratification so adapt quickly.
- Big Picture and small picture at the same time – The new world is forcing leaders to be strategic and tactical at the same time 24 hours a day. You must adapt yourself and those around you to this new reality and be able to survive in the ambiguity.
- Acknowledge success (but not for too long) – The rules have changed. This is hard. When you win, acknowledge it, be thankful for it, but be prepared to pivot quickly because the competition will be fierce. Unlike the past when you could dominate a market for years of even decades, we are now down to months and sometime just days.
Accelerating Value: How to do it
Now that you are aware of what to do, it’s just as important to know how to do it. Leadership is hard and everything about it in the new reality is different. Here are the three critical ways of doing it:
Be Humble
In a virtual world, it’s easier to pick up when a leader isn’t being humble. Being humble means you think about others, the work, and then yourself and own importance after everything else.
Build Trust and Psychological Safety
People have been through hell these past 18 months. Psyches are fragile and need reinforcement. An effective leader is one who is building genuine trust and creating an environment for people to make mistakes and learn from. However, there is a fine line here between coddling and giving participation trophies. If someone keeps making the same mistakes, or isn’t being a team player, they need to be coached and get the feedback. Doing that should build trust.
Be Transparent
The day of the deceitful, win-at-all-costs leader is over. In this new reality, you can’t get away with saying one thing but doing another or just being an overall dishonest person who gets by because they have political power or money. Today’s employees demand openness and transparency and if you aren’t giving it to them, you will not fully achieve the goals and objectives of the strategy.
In summary, there is no magic here. This is all basic stuff presented in a way to make you think and reflect. I hope you can take a few moments to give yourself and honest assessment and come back next week with a different mindset. Enjoy the weekend!
