You have lots of great reasons to want better leadership support for your team.

An executive visit can really help provide strategic context and reinforce important priorities. A regular cadence of executive exposure opens doors for your high-potential employees. And of course, if your executive is closer to the day-to-day challenges you face, they’re better positioned to share, solicit and respond to ideas and remove roadblocks.

But what do you do if your senior leader is not showing up as often or as supportive as you would like? How do you ask for the leadership support you need without looking needy?

This “Asking for a Friend” question came in through our Let’s Grow Leaders Learning Lab during one of our recent leadership programs.

“I’m finding that my part of the company (team and peers) isn’t getting enough executive-level attention. Is it appropriate to ask for this senior leadership support directly? How do you recommend handling a situation like this? I don’t want to escalate a problem, just to ask for the creativity and support that seems to boost results for other teams by sending a signal about priorities. #Asking for a Friend”

3 Ways to Get Better Executive Leadership Support

If you’re looking for more executive leadership support, ask for what you need, be easy to help, and follow-through.

1. Ask for exactly what you need.

Just like you, your executive leader is doing the very best they can. And, they’ve got more to accomplish in any given day than they could ever pull off.

So, saying something like “I wish you were around more,” is probably not going to get you the support you are looking for.

Start by being really clear about what you need in terms of leadership support.

For example:

• I could really use your leadership support in reinforcing how important this strategic initiative is to the business. Can you please come and share your thoughts as part of my 5×5 communication plan?
• The team has been working so hard, can you please come and thank them and tell them the impact their hard work has made?
• My team has some fantastic ideas about ______ that I think you should hear.
• We’ve really been having a hard time building the strategic partnership we need with this (supplier, client, department). Could you come to our next meeting and reinforce how important they are to us?
• I have an “A player” who I think might be looking around at other options. Can you help reinforce how valuable she is and give her some additional perspective on her long-term career options here?”
• My team and I are having a strategic planning meeting, and I would love for you to join us for the last hour for us to share where we landed and see what insights you may have.”

2. Be easy to help.

Assume that that executive you are looking to engage has a lot on their heart and mind. The easier you are to help, the more helpful their leadership support is likely to be.

For example:

• Here’s how I’ve been communicating this key initiative and why it matters.
• Here’s a list of five people I would love for you to talk with while you are here (and here’s a briefing on what they’ve been doing and why it’s so important).
• The reason I’ve asked my team for ideas about this is _____.
• As you prepare for this meeting with this new supplier, here’s a list of who will be in the meeting and a bit about their background with our company.
• Where we’re really hitting a roadblock with this client is _______. I would love to hear your ideas and perspectives on what we might do next.
• Devon has been looking around at other options. Here’s why he’s a rock star and where I see his future potential.
• We’re going to be working on this MIT (most important thing) in our strategy session. I’d love for you to come up with your ideas on that.

3. Follow through.

In my corporate executive roles, I was always impressed with when my team followed up my leadership support, by recapping the next steps. Executives are human too 😉 Just like you, they care about making an impact.

For example:

• Our visit really made an impact. People seem to really get that this is really important now. Thanks for sharing that story.
• Thanks for recognizing John, he was really grateful for the conversation and is working on that challenge you gave him. He’d love to follow up with you in the next few weeks to share his ideas.
• That meeting with our strategic supplier worked so well. Thank you. Here’s what they’ve committed to as a result.
• Wow, your insights on our strategy were really helpful. As a result, we’ve made the following changes:
• My team loved having you here because _________. We have an  End of Year Meeting in December, do you think you could come back again then so we can share what we’ve accomplished?

Being an advocate for your team often means drawing in the leadership support you need. If you want more leadership support, ask for what you need, be easy to help, and follow-through. Your team gets the recognition they deserve, you show up as an organized rock star who cares deeply about your team, and you get the support you need.

Related Articles:
Communicating With Executives When Your World is On Fire

Executive Presence is a Virtual World: What Matters Now

Presenting to Executives: How to Have More Confidence

Share Your Ideas: Practical Ways to Ensure Your Voice is Heard

The post Leadership Support: How Do I Get More Executive Attention? appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Of course, leadership is not about being liked. But it sucks to go to work every day when you know your team would rather be working for someone else. Plus, if your team doesn’t respect you, you’re not going to have the influence you need to make an impact. So, how do you gain respect, when your team’s just not there?

This challenging and poignant question came up in one of our “Asking For a Friend” segments following a recent keynote.

“What do I do if I’m sure my team doesn’t like me?  How do I gain their respect?”

My first response was, “It depends. Why don’t they like you?”

I’m thinking about the handful of managers I had over the years who were the epitome of a jerk at work — the bullies who crush courage with their toxic leadership behaviors or who seem to be lacking a moral compass.

Those folks had deeper issues going on and probably needed a therapist more than an executive coach.

This article is not for them, but for you, the well-intentioned, human-centered leader looking to gain the respect of their team.

3 Reasons Your Team Might Not Like You (and How to Gain Respect)

“What do I do if I’m sure my team doesn’t like me? How  do I gain better influence and connection

Here are three common reasons you could be losing influence (and what to do to regain respect and the impact you need).

1. Your behavior is sabotaging your leadership influence.

We all have blind spots and opportunities to improve our leadership and gain respect. If you sense your team doesn’t like you, start by talking with each member of the team one-on-one.

In Courageous Cultures, I share a story of a well-intentioned manager who was coming across as a bully. Thankfully, one of his team members had the guts to confront him.

What he did next made all the difference. He asked others about their perceptions, and as it turned out, his reputation was consistent.

He learned to change his tone of voice. To ask more questions. And, to enter the room more gently. Those slight modifications to his behavior, coupled with the fact that he was asking for feedback with a real intent to listen, made all the difference. He gained the respect of his team.

In our leadership development programs, we often encourage managers to complete a Do It Yourself 360 (Listening Tour), to gather this feedback. Identifying one or two areas where you really want feedback, and then going out and asking people a few questions, and summarizing the themes.

Managers tell us that this simple process is a great way to get candid feedback to improve their leadership, and it also reinforces that they really are open to change, so it lays the groundwork for psychological safety. and helps them to gain respect. They are easier to approach the next time.

2. They underestimate the value you bring.

There was one time in my career where I was absolutely certain that my team didn’t like me.

I had been promoted to lead a 2200 person retail sales team at Verizon. The problem was I had zero sales experience. Thirteen out of fourteen of my direct reports were men. And, fourteen out of fourteen had been in retail sales for their entire careers.

The Associate Director of Operations on the team, “Greg” was an absolute rock star and was the obvious successor for that role. No one on the team could believe that this “HR chick” had been “given” this job. “It was probably a diversity move.”

You can read more about how this story ends in Chapter 6 of Courageous Cultures (you can download the first few chapters of Courageous Cultures for free here).

But here’s the long story short. I showed up in the stores on Sundays (and other times no one wanted to be at work) and rolled up my sleeves to really get to know the team and their approach.

I asked lots of questions and really listened. And then, I showed up with the confidence to establish a strong vision and leverage the skills that had helped me earn that role—rallying a large team to execute a turnaround plan on their most important priorities.

The team won the President’s Award for customer growth that year. One important way to gain the respect of your team is to help them win.

3. You’re holding them accountable for the very first time (stay the course!)

Of course, it can be quite a shocker to an underperforming team, when a new manager comes in and holds them accountable for the very first time. 

If you sense that your team doesn’t like you because you’ve raised the bar, or are holding them accountable to meet expectations, check your style. Make sure you’re focused on both results AND relationships as you’re giving performance feedback) and then stay the course.

It might be rocky for a minute, but most people really do want to work on a winning team. You might lose a few slackers who will continue to think you’re a jerk, but you will build respect with the rest of your team, not to mention getting the results you need.

Leadership is not about being liked. But, respect matters, if you want to have influence and impact. It starts with understanding where the breakdown is happening and then building a deliberate plan to gain their respect.

Your turn.

What would you add?

What’s your best advice to gain respect when your team doesn’t like you?

We would love to help.

Our new book Powerful Phrases for Dealing with Workplace Conflict, focuses on four dimension of better collaboration: Connection, clarity, curiosity and commitment with over 300 Powerful Phrases to help you communicate through challenging workplace conflict. And it comes with a resource center filled with free activities your team can used together.

The post How Do I Gain Respect When My Team Doesn’t Like Me? appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

With more of us working remotely, what it means to have an executive presence is changing along with everything else. What matters most right now? Tips for upgrading your executive presence in a virtual world.

What IS Executive Presence?

“Karin and David, my boss just told me that the reason I’m not in box 9 of our talent strategy is that I’m not viewed as having enough ‘executive presence.’ But when I asked her what that means, she told me I should ‘act more executive.’ Seriously! What do I do with that?”

We receive that call, or one just like it, a few times a month.

And, this is not new. It’s been happening for years.

People use the term “executive presence” to mean anything from strategic influence to carrying “the right” purse (sigh).

When we get underneath what this ACTUALLY means, it’s usually one of these competencies that could use some work.

• Influence and Relationships: Are you seen as a trusted advisor?
• Confidence and Composure: Do you believe in who you are and what you have to say?
• Communication: Can you clearly and concisely articulate your point of view?
• Grace under pressure: Do you freak out when things go wrong or take productive action?
• Energy: Do you engage others in ways that inspire confidence and hope?
• Physical Image: Do you look “put together” and ready to make an impact (of course this one’s the most subjective and the most dangerous for unconscious bias).

What Hasn’t Changed?

In this virtual world filled with so much turmoil and unrest, some core components of executive presence remain the same, and if anything, have become more vital.

1. Influence and Relationships

It’s not just who you run into in the cafeteria anymore or the guys you can go have a beer with. In a virtual world, we have to be even more deliberate in nurturing genuine relationships and cultivating influence.

And in many cases, virtual water coolers are democratizing access and the truly influential are getting their day.

If you want to increase your virtual executive presence be deliberate with whom you spend your time. Reach out and schedule some virtual coffees with your peers in other departments. Understand other people’s challenges. Notice and thank the unsung heroes making the work happen every day.

One of the best ways to be influential is to be interested.

2. Grace under Pressure

If there’s anything this last year has given us, it’s plenty of stress and pressure. And for many of us, the work and home stress blend into one big cocktail of opportunity to practice our poise.

Work to become a beacon of calm amid chaos. Stress amplifies as it rolls downhill. If you want more executive presence learn how to slow the roll.

3. Communication

If there was ever a moment that clear, compelling, and concise messaging matters to get past clutter, it’s now.

If you want to up your executive presence work on streamlining your executive communication, checking for understanding, and communicating important messages five times, five different ways.

What’s Different About Executive Presence in a Virtual World?

Things that matter more than ever …

4. Showing Up Real

When it comes to influence and impact, we’re noticing a significant shift towards vulnerability as a credibility builder.

It’s the leaders who say, “I know this is hard. It’s hard for me too, and here’s why. And I care about all of us and the work we are doing. Let’s figure this out together,” (and really mean it) who are changing the game.

5. Confident Humility during Uncertainty

No one has written the definitive book on how to lead well during a pandemic, massive social unrest, and a wacky economy. Most of us have been on a fast pivot to transform not just how we work, but what we’re working on.

Executive presence in this new reality means navigating this uncertainty with confident humility—deciding with incomplete information AND staying nimble if you need to change your mind.

6. Managing Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication with Poise

You gain huge credibility by becoming an artful virtual communicator. Paying close attention to your remote meeting etiquette (e.g. showing up on time, managing your mute button, looking directly at the camera) is a great start. It’s also helpful to master the art of using the right channel for the right message—and knowing the difference between being informal and sloppy.

See Also: Lead Remote Meetings That Get Results and Build Relationships

7. Managing your Surroundings

The good news is, no one can see your shoes. (Don’t even get Karin started about the boss that told her she should go spend several thousand dollars on shoes to up her executive presence—and no she didn’t follow that advice).

But they can see the clutter on your desk, the bad lighting, and the weird virtual green screen that makes your head disappear whenever you move.

Take a look at how your office shows up in the Zoom view. Do you like what your surroundings say about you?

The good news is that there are some simple things you can do to improve your executive presence in a virtual world—which will make a difference for your influence and impact.

Summary

How Do I Improve My Executive Presence?

• Look for opportunities to be a trusted advisor.
• Believe in who you are, even under pressure to do the contrary.
• Clearly and concisely articulate your point of view.
• Take productive action and make good decisions.
• Engage others in ways that inspire confidence and hope.
• Put it all together and be ready to make an impact.

See also:

How to Develop Charisma in a Virtual World

Your Executive Presence – an Interview with Hilary Blair

How to Overcome Negative Perceptions for a Better Leadership Brand

The post Executive Presence in a Virtual World: What Matters Now? appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

We recently had a very senior leader join a live-online leadership training he had hired us to do with his team. Not in a “watch from the sidelines” kind of way as sometimes happens. He was all in to be a better leader.

He actively participated in the breakout conversations and completed his action learning assignments and reported them in the learning lab.

In addition to providing this training for his team, he was curious about what he could do to be a better leader.

In debriefing his experience after the final session, he shared.

This was interesting for me to slow down and really think about HOW I’m leading. I spend so much time on strategic issues, it was helpful to try some new approaches and tools. Ha, I can’t help but think that it might be helpful for my boss to take this class too  😉

4 Approaches to Help You Become an (Even Better) Leader

Once you get to “expert” level, it’s easy to put all your leadership development energy into your team. After all, it’s your job to grow leaders. You want to invest in your team as others have invested in you.

Perfect. There’s no better way to get your team focused on being better leaders than to show that you too are working to be a better leader. Experts are continual students.

Here are a few approaches that can help.

1. Slow down and revisit the fundamentals.

I (Karin) am a decent skier. Most of the time, I can get down the expert slopes without doing too much harm to myself or others.

But the trouble is, my form isn’t always the most efficient, or graceful. AND, I’ve been skiing pretty much the same way for the last decade.

This past week, over Christmas break, I did something I haven’t done in a really long time. In the mornings I watched some really basic Youtube videos which included some skiing drills. And then, I spent part of each day skiing the easy stuff and really paying attention to my form—before I headed back to the blacks.

Shocker—I got better.

What if you took a moment to really think about how you’re approaching the foundational leadership activities that come naturally for you and consider your technique? Look around. Read a new book. Notice what your peers are doing that might be worth a try.

2. Become a Leader Teacher.

One of the best ways to continue to refine your leadership skills is to teach leadership. In many of our long-term leadership programs, we incorporate a “leader as teacher” approach. In addition to more senior leaders participating in the program along with their teams, we prepare them to be “leader teachers” to reinforce the concepts and discuss application in-between sessions in small challenger groups.

There’s no better way to master a new skill than to teach it. And when leaders know they will be facilitating conversations about a new approach, they’re much more likely to try it themselves first so they can speak from first-hand experience.

You can do this on your own too.

Talk with your team about some strategic areas they’re focused on to become better leaders this year. Perhaps it’s getting better at leading virtual meetings. Or building a more robust virtual communication strategy. Stretch yourself to learn some new approaches, teach them to your direct reports, and then schedule some time to debrief how it went and what everyone learned.

3. Avoid S.A.S.R.N.T. syndrome.

When you’re a strong leader, and you stumble across a new leadership approach or tool, it’s easy to fall into S.A.S.R.N.T. syndrome. (So and So Really Needs This).

You think you know who needs this … my boss, or my peer, or my spouse, and you run off and immediately share it with them.

Of course, when you do that, you miss the opportunity to become a better leader yourself.

There’s no better way to get your team to notice a new approach than to first model it yourself. As you take the journey, then you can invite others to join you.

4. Involve your team in your development.

The start of the year is the perfect time to work on leadership development plans … not just for your team, but for yourself as well.

Start with a courageous question. “This year, one focus I have is working to become a better leader for you and the rest of the team. What’s one specific area you think I can work on that would have the biggest impact?”

Of course, when your team sees you investing time and energy to become a better leader, they’re more likely to make it a priority for themselves as well.

Your turn.

What would you add? What has worked for you to take your leadership to the next level?

And if you’re looking for an advanced leadership book to read with your team this year, check out Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovator’s Problem Solvers and Customer Advocates (and download the FREE Executive Strategy Guide) to facilitate a “leaders as teachers” conversation with your team.

The post How to Be an Even Better Leader appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

And yet, it can all feel like a lot. Where do you start?

Use This Strategic Planning Conversation Starter To Get Your Team Talking

Focus on the 5 Cs

Today we’re sharing a tool we use in our leadership programs to help leaders think strategically about their business and prioritize the next steps. You can download it for free here to assist with your strategic planning conversations.

1. To start, give each member of your team a copy of the 5Cs assessment in advance of your strategic planning session.
2. Then take each of the five categories and calibrate your individual assessments around the five strategic areas.
   • Clarity: We know where we’re going and how we will get there.
   • Capacity: We invest in building our people, systems, and tools.
   • Commitment: We keep our promises.
   • Curiosity: We ask great questions and take appropriate risks.
   • Connection: We trust one another and invest in our mutual success.
3. You’ll likely come up with more strategic areas to focus on than time to address them. Here’s where the prioritization comes in. Consider what will have the biggest strategic impact and focus your planning there.

Let’s Grow Leaders 5 Cs Strategic Planning Tool

This strategic planning tool is just the beginning of the conversation. We’d love to talk with you more about your planning efforts and how we might help. Just give us a call at 443-750-1249 or drop us a note at karin.hurt@letsgrowleaders.com.

See Also:

End of Year Meetings: How to Make Yours Remarkable

Own the U.G.L.Y. Four Strategic Conversations to Have by Year End

Virtual Kick-Off Meeting: Why You Should Have One and How to Make it Great

How to Cultivate More Solutions-Oriented Employees

The post Strategic Planning Tool: How to Engage Your Team in Better Conversation appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

In one way or another, your team has had an incredible year. And, an incredible year calls for an incredible end-of-year meeting.

Fill in the blank:

This year was incredibly ________(successful, challenging, stressful, unusual)…

Maybe you’re remarkably proud of all you accomplished.  Or like most of us, you managed a  crazy Covid curveball that derailed your plans and caused a fast pivot.  Or, perhaps it was one frustration and another, and you just can’t wait for the calendar to turn over and start again.

Your team’s feeling it too.

Don’t throw the opportunity to pause and reflect out with the holiday wrappings. Carve out time to talk about what you learned in an end-of-year meeting.

It’s tempting to have a “no one talks about work” virtual luncheon, do the secret Santa thing, and have a few giggles.

Or, to jump right into planning for the new year, “after all the past is behind us.”

The best meetings build both results and relationships, and an end-of-year meeting done remarkably well sets the stage for thoughtful reflection and a more energized start to the new year.

How to Have a Remarkable End-of-Year Meeting

Make a CAREful plan and have your best end-of-year meeting ever.

C- Celebrate 

Celebrate both results and the human beings who achieved them.

Be sure your team knows the Most Important Things (MIT) they accomplished in terms of both results and building relationships.

For example, it’s not just the 28% increase in efficiency, it’s also that they improved the contentious relationship with IT that made the collaboration possible.

If you’re doing formal recognition, resist the urge to just pick the top three by the numbers of a stack rank. Consider HOW the results were achieved.

There’s nothing more demoralizing to a team than seeing their boss recognize some bozo who gamed and back-stabbed his way to the top. If there’s any chance your team will be texting one another “WTF” when an award is given, supplement your criteria to include behaviors that matter.

A-Acknowledge

Acknowledge the disappointments and what you could have done better.

Talk about the effort that may not have paid off the way you would have hoped, and celebrate what did.

When we ask our keynote audiences  “What’s one thing you feel underappreciated for at work?,” the number one answer is always, “The time I spend developing my people.” Acknowledge that too.

R-Renew

Do something to refresh and renew.

One year one of my sales managers took his team bird watching in the local park, before digging into their strategic review.

Another year I hired a caricature artist to do a composite sketch of the team.

Another time, we had a white elephant exchange, but instead of wacky presents, each member of the team brought their favorite business book— people were stealing from one another right and left, and the side effect was a lot of strategic reading and dialogue happening that year.

Most years at Verizon, I brought my team to my home for a planning session followed by a dinner celebration. Find some way to refresh and have some fun along with the reflection and planning.

E-Engage

Engage the team. Ask each team member to reflect on their own contributions in terms of results and relationships this year, as well as disappointments.

If you’re holding a small meeting with just your direct reports give them time to share. If you’re hosting a larger event, there are lots of fun ways to engage and capture reflections, from sticky notes and grouping themes; to “best of”/”worst of” reflections on index cards collected at the beginning and sorted into themes; to simple polling texting apps, with results projected immediately on the screen.

Find a way to get your team’s best view of the year into the conversation at your end-of-year meeting.

2021 Virtual Meetings Update

If you’re looking to host a 2021 End-of-year meeting or planning a virtual kick-off meeting to start the new year, you won’t want to miss Virtual Kick-off Meeting: Why You Should Have One and How to Make it Great.

Ready to rally YOUR team for breakthrough results with Let’s Grow Leaders?

Plan a fast start to your New Year! Establish a Courageous Culture of critical thinkers, problem solvers and customer advocates in your organization with a Team Innovation Challenge or Executive Leadership Workshop. These strategic innovation events – in person or virtual – will help shape the culture of your organization, skyrocket employee engagement and clear the path for increased team innovation.

Let’s Grow Leaders programs are highly customized to your organization’s needs, hands-on and interactive. Get ready for leadership development that sticks.

And check out our interview in Authority Magazine: Karin Hurt and David Dye of ‘Let’s Grow Leaders’: 5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event

See Also: How to Hold a Motivational Meeting

The Secret to Great Skip Level Meetings

Avoid This Infuriating Phrases in End-oof Year Feedback

4 U.G.L.Y. Conversations to Have With Your Team Before Year-End

The post End-of-Year Meeting: How to Make Yours Remarkable appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

If you’re neck-deep in planning your virtual kick-off meeting like so many of our clients, great! Your team needs this moment more than ever. In this extraordinary year, a virtual kick-off meeting is a great way to close this chapter and give your team a moment to reflect, connect, and feel the anticipation and hope of what’s to come.

And yet, sadly we’re hearing other folks say, “There’s no way we can do a virtual kick-off meeting. Just like everything else, we’re putting it on the list of ‘Covid- canceled.'”

Before you wring your hands and wait until next year, consider this.

One of our clients just reported that this year’s virtual kick-off meeting actually received better ratings from his global team than last year’s event (last year’s was held in-person, flying people in from all over the world for days of interaction, strategy, and fun).

He had gone out of his way to be real and vulnerable, established a compelling and realistic vision of the future, created tactile experiences, and leveraged the heck out of break-out rooms for a dynamic conversation that tapped into the best I.D.E.A.s from every team member. He even found ways to create a virtual water cooler experience.

Do people wish they could have gathered in person? Of course. Will they gather again when they can? Yes, and it will be that much sweeter. And, my guess is they’ll be telling stories for years to come about the ingenuity and effort of this year’s virtual experience.

7 Ideas to Make Your Virtual Kick-off Meeting Great

1. Be authentic
2. Share a compelling vision and clear direction
3. Make it easy to share ideas
4. Celebrate and recognize the “how” as well as the “what”
5. Leverage the wisdom in the room
6. Make it tactile
7. Bring in speakers who know the art of online interaction

Of course, no one wants to add one more boring virtual meeting to the mix.

But with a little effort and creativity, you can plan a truly memorable event.

Consider these seven ways to enhance your virtual kick-off.

1. Be authentic

Telling authentic stories with a bit of vulnerability is the secret sauce to building trust and connection at these large events. It’s important to close the distance between the executive speakers and the team by showing up real. And it matters even more in a virtual kickoff meeting.

The good news is, it’s not that hard. If your kid comes through with a PopTart, bring them on your lap for a minute. If the parakeet lands on your head, that will make for a good laugh. Let them see the human in you, and give your team opportunities to be human too.

Share what you’re grieving and acknowledge the hardships and losses the team has endured.

Your team will engage with your inspiration and fun, once they know that you get it and that it’s been hard for you too.

2. Share a compelling vision and clear direction.

The antidote to uncertainty is clarity. Provide a directional path forward even if you have some contingencies in the mix.

Be clear about what matters most and why. Ensure your team understands what your vision means for their role in very real and compelling terms. And, check for understanding to ensure that everyone leaves your event knowing what to do next and why it matters.

3. Make it easy to share ideas.

The biggest challenge with remote teams is the lack of a virtual water cooler. If your team is like most we work with, they’re longing for creative, spontaneous collaboration and to share what they’ve learned during this fast pivot.

Our FREE I.D.E.A. Incubator Guide can help you identify where you most need some great ideas and then help your team brainstorm, vet their ideas, and articulate them in a clear and compelling way.

4. Celebrate and recognize the “how” as much as the “what.”

As you think about who to recognize in your virtual kick-off meeting, if there was ever a year to think beyond the numbers it’s now. Who truly lived your values? Who stepped up to support struggling team members? How about the unsung heroes behind the scenes working long-hours to support your fast pivot?

During times of stress and change, it’s hard to over-celebrate. Take time to make a ruckus and let people know how much you appreciate them and their hard work.

5. Leverage the wisdom in the room.

Your team has extraordinary examples of doing the best they can with what they have from where they are. It’s likely that many of your team members have become “experts” in areas they never even dreamed about: balancing work with homeschooling; running effective remote team meetings; creative remote team communication …

What if you pulled together “expert” panels from across your teams in virtual breakout rooms and your virtual kick-off attendees pick the topics they are most interested in attending?

6. Make it tactile.

Yes, it’s a pain in the neck and not cheap to send a virtual kick-off care package to your team, but if you can pull it off, the effort goes a long way. One of our clients sent a box with all the swag they would have given in person—tee- shirts, a journal, and Legos to build metaphors of what it means to have a Courageous Culture.

Everyone wore their tee-shirt and laughed as they talked about courage, values, and practical ways to encourage micro-innovation and speaking up as they built metaphors out of Legos in breakout rooms.

7. Bring in speakers who know the art of live-online interaction.

Virtual kick-offs require extra effort to keep people engaged. Where some motivational keynote speakers might light-up the stage in a big ballroom, keeping people on the edge of their seat, it’s more challenging to hold people’s attention over a Zoom screen.

When bringing in an outside expert, be sure they know how to leverage interaction to draw your team into the story and keep them focused.

Your Turn:

What best practices have you seen in virtual kick-off meetings and large team events?  What’s worked well for you? We’d love to hear your stories.

And of course, if you are planning a virtual event, we’d love to talk with you about your goals and share some ideas. Just drop me a note at karin.hurt@letsgrowleaders.com

More Articles to Help You Plan Your Virtual Kick-Off Meeting

Authority Magazine: 5 Things You Need to Now to Successfully Run a Live Virtual Meeting

End of Year Meetings: How to Make Yours Remarkable

6 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Townhall Meeting

How to Start the Decade in Deeper Conversations

(From Zoom) Planning a Successful Virtual Sales Kickoff Event

The post Virtual Kick-off Meeting: Why You Should Have One and How to Make it Great appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

But now your team is looking at you and wondering if you get it.

They think, “If she really understood what was happening here, she wouldn’t be so calm!”

So, how do you manage your own stress AND encourage that sense of calm urgency on your team?

Manage Your Stress By Showing Up Excited, Not Excitable

The proverbial stuff had just hit the fan. I was stressed for “Mark” a Senior VP at a Fortune 10 company.

“Mark, are you okay? Are you stressed? What needs to happen next?”

He smiled, “Karin, I don’t get stressed. There’s no use in that. But as it turns out I’m a stress carrier.”

In humor lies the truth.

Mark had mastered the art of managing his own stress. He had what I call “excited without being excitable” nailed.  Deeply passionate about the work, nothing appeared to rattle him.

He approached this new challenge as if he’d seen it a thousand times before. His actions were values-based, consistent, deliberate, and timely.

And yet he knew that his calm words didn’t always have a calming effect on his team.

In fact, sometimes, the calmer he got, the wilder his VPs became—as if to make up for his lack of stress and outward frustration.

Stress was still rolling downhill, even though Mark had tried to stop it.

Excited Energizes, Excitable Freaks People Out

In almost every company I work with, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern—things are remarkably calmer on the executive “floor.” (Even if it’s not a real floor these days.)

The stakes are higher, the decisions more vital. These folks have farther to fall, and yet when the going gets tough (for the execs who’ve mastered executive presence) the volume doesn’t amplify.

In full disclosure, I didn’t learn this early in my career. For a long time, I believed my excitable nature proved I cared. I confused stress with passion. Fired up is different than freaked out. Know the difference in yourself, and in those you lead.

Your team longs for calm in you—and in them.

How to Encourage Excited vs. Excitable

So how do you grow leaders who emulate calm, in a frenetic context?

1. Acknowledge reality.

More than anything, your team needs to know you get it. Otherwise, they think your head is in the sand. When you calmly state the issue and the implications, your team gets to exhale. They’ll move from trying to prove that the fire is real, to trying to figure out how to extinguish it.

2. Stay consistently true to your values.

Great leaders stay true to their values when the going gets tough. If “customer service is our most important thing” has been your rallying cry and you start short-cutting when budget (or boss) pressures loom, your team will be confused at best. Don’t change course. Instead ask, how do maintain our commitment to a great customer experience with these new parameters?

3. Encourage innovation and creative problem-solving.

Chances are that someone is sitting on an idea that is so crazy it might just work. Give them an opportunity to share. Then help them calm down, ask great questions, and consider how they could best execute.

4. Use failure as learning.

When the going gets tough, our tolerance for failing decreases. And, even in many well-intentioned leaders, it fully disappears. Ironically, it’s when times are tough that we need to fail gracefully, learn, and move on. Compounding setbacks take their toll on an already stressed team and it can easy to stop trying anything new.

5. Stay real.

When the going gets really tough, your team wants the truth. Share what you can and help them to make informed decisions.

Stay excited. Resist excitable—for you and your team.

See Also: How to Manage Your Stress When the Sky is Falling (Harvard Business Review)

The post How to Manage Your Stress Without Frustrating Your Team appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Formal 360-degree feedback tools are an amazing way to find strengths to leverage, areas to improve, and maybe even expose a blind spot or two.

If you don’t have access to a formal 360-degree feedback program, there’s another way to get the feedback you crave.

You don’t have to wait for HR.  You can build your own Do It Yourself (DIY) 360 Degree Feedback Process to gain important insights to guide your development.

We often include DIY 360-degree feedback in our long-term leadership development programs. Participants frequently tell us they like this approach even better than a fancy 360-degree online tool because it encourages them to have much-needed, real-deal, one-on-one performance conversations with their manager, peers, and direct reports.

The upside (or downside), depending on your perspective, is that it’s not anonymous. So you’re having real courageous conversations, that you can build on over time.

Want More Feedback? Ask For What You Need

Identify Blind Spots, Build on Your Strengths

At the end of this article, we’ve included instructions for a DIY (Do It Yourself 360-Degree Feedback) that we use in our programs.  But before you go there, here are a few simple foundations to consider.

1. Ask for the Truth

Set up some time with your manager, peers, and direct reports to really ask for feedback. Avoid the generic, “Do you have any feedback for me?” Or letting them off the hook, by accepting “You’re doing everything just right.”

Ask questions about areas you’re specifically looking to improve.

• “What specifically do you think I could do to run our project meetings more effectively and efficiently?”
• What are one or two ways I could improve our one-on-ones?
• I’m working on my approach to building rapport with customers. What’s one change I could make that would have the biggest impact?
• “I’ve been under a great deal of stress recently, and worry that I might be rubbing some people the wrong way. What’s one thing  I can do to improve the way I’ve been communicating with you?”
• “If you had one piece of advice that could really help me take our team’s performance to the next level, what would that be?”
• I’m working on communicating with confidence. What’s one thing I could do differently to show more confidence in our meetings?

2. Say Thank You

When someone shares a hard truth, especially about you, thank the person for having the courage, taking the time, and caring enough to share it with you.

3. Respond

If you ask for input through DIY 360 feedback, take the time to respond. Even if the ideas aren’t actionable, when you acknowledge that the ideas were heard and considered, you increase the likelihood of hearing more in the future.

4. Never, Ever Shoot the Messenger

If someone has the heart and courage to bring you a difficult truth, even if you vehemently disagree, keep your cool. If you attack them, they won’t bring you another concern.

5. Find Your Truth-Tellers

There are people who understand their team, environment, or processes and are willing to voice their observations. Find these people, keep in regular communication, and let them know you value their observations from the 360-degree feedback.

6. Check Your Behavior

If you suspect you are not hearing the truth from those around you, it is time to examine how you are interacting with others. Be sure you are paying attention to the items on this list.

If you are struggling to see it, ask others for input, find a mentor, or consider a leadership coach.

7. Model It

The best way to get people to tell you the truth is to build a reputation as someone who tells other people the truth. Start from a place of deep caring with their best interest at heart. If you want more truth-tellers, be a truth-teller.

How to Get Started: A DIY 360 Degree Feedback Tool

We’ve included a step-by-step approach to completing a Do It Yourself 360 Review below.

Click on image to download our DIY 360 feedback tool

Following Up With the 360 Feedback You Received

Once you’ve collected the feedback and consolidated the themes, don’t forget to “respond with regard” by circling back with those who generously shared their insights.

Consider these prompts to prepare for your response.

“Thanks so much for being part of my DIY 360 Feedback Review…”

• My biggest takeaway is ______________
• One strength I’m going to continue to build on is ______________ by doing _________________
• One thing I’m going to work to improve is  __________________  by doing ___________________
• I could use your help with __________________________

See Also: Why The Best Leaders Crave Feedback

What Employees Are Yearning For in Their Remote One-on-Ones

Your turn. Have you ever utilized a DIY 360-Degree Feedback? What best practices do you recommend?

The post A Practical and Free Way to Get Great 360 Degree Feedback appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

You don’t know what you don’t know, and even what you DO know you know, could change.

In a recent conversation, “Joe,” a senior leader in the assisted living industry, recounted his first days of the COVID crisis in what turned out to be an early hotspot.

In those first few days we had so little information about this virus or how it spread and no guidance on what to do next. The only thing we knew for certain is that our residents were the definition of vulnerable—so I told my staff ,”Close the doors. No more visitors. Period.”

“But the families will be angry,” my staff warned. “Yes, they will—our primary mission is resident safety, I repeat close the doors.”

“But, what about …” (insert all the reasons why a bold, decisive move like this will be unpopular.   “I hear you. Close the doors.”

He shared, “I’m certain that early decision saved lives.”

A courageous culture needs clarity.  Knowing your values. Understanding what’s at stake and being willing to lead decisively with the information you have at the time.

And, staying curious and open while the situation evolves and be open to ideas of what must happen next.

5 Ways to Lead Decisively When You Don’t Know

When leading during times of uncertainty and change, it’s easy to feel like you don’t know anything. But you do.  Start there.

1. Ground yourself in your values.

decisive leaders lead consistently and ask for input

The most decisive leaders we know have a clear set of values that guide their decision making. The wafflers are the ones who are more focused on optics or popularity than doing what is right.

2. Stay focused on what matters most.

Joe could act decisively because he knew saving lives trumped satisfaction ratings or anything else. Of course, he cared about his residents and their families. He understands the importance of quality of life and the need for human connection. All that matters, a lot.

And in this moment, saving lives came first. In a time of crisis, being laser-focused on what matters is key when you have to make a quick, tough call.

3. Make the best, next, small, bold decision.

You don’t have to make all the moves to act decisively. Your equivalent of “shutting the door” doesn’t have to be for a month. But, 48 hours can buy some time to get more information. You can tell your team, “I don’t have all the answers. And our direction may change. But for today, this is what we’re going to do.”

4. Show up with confident humility.

We were talking with “Jane,” another healthcare leader who had been given an enormous responsibility for operational safety during the early COVID preparation.

I was given a yellow vest to wear which meant that if there was a tough decision to make, it was up to me to make the final call. Sometimes this meant I was being asked to make decisions in departments where I was not the functional expert. I had to show up confident, people needed to see that in their leader—but also incredibly humble, to ask a lot of questions of the right people and to really listen to their point of view, including watching the looks on their faces while I weighed options. And then take that information in to make the best rationale call.

5. Prepare for the pivot.

We’re all living in a world where the news could change tomorrow. Leading decisively at a time like this also means being willing to remain detached from the decision and be ready to pivot when new information comes along. It’s okay to say, “Yesterday I said we were going to do this ___ and that made sense with what we knew at the time. And now we also know ____. So here’s what we’re going to do now and why.”

And sometimes…

“Let’s wait and see” is also an appropriate answer when you just don’t know. Some decisions don’t need to be made right now. Deciding when to decide is also a decision worth making.

See also: How to Change your Mind and Not Lose Their Trust and Support

How to Disrupt the Disruption and Help Your Team Move Forward

You can download a FREE chapter of our new book Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates here.

The post How to Lead Decisively When You Don’t Know What’s Next appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.