Got a new boss after yet another re-org? You may have more control over the situation than you think. In her April 10 “It’s Race Day” video, Bobbie LaPorte shares the true story of one of her clients who used his personal agency during a time of transition to better position himself and his team to have more impact in their organization. You can do it, too! Watch now:

New Boss, New Possibilities: How to Make the Most of Reporting Change

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly leadership tip for 2023 called “It’s Race Day,” where I help you close the gap between thinking and doing. There’s a time to train and a time to race.

As we continue to see layoffs and reorgs, one of the more common “curveballs” to come along with all these is that you often end up reporting to someone new. Sometimes that’s a positive thing; maybe your new boss is someone you’ve admired and a talented leader who actively supports his team. In other cases, it could be a much less desirable change, a situation that could be seen as a step backward for you—possibly even a career derailer.

This was the exact situation recently with one of my clients. Like many of his peers port-reorg, he was told he had a new boss. This was not the first time (and likely won’t be the last).

Most leaders would just accept this news, resigned to a new reporting structure, almost numb to just one more change. They would probably also be happy just to have a job and think they would invest the minimum time getting to know their new boss (because, hey – there was probably another change just around the corner) instead keeping a low profile, staying under the radar.

But that’s not the approach my client took. He opted to use this as an opportunity to think about what the optimum reporting structure could be, to see if there were other possibilities that could increase the visibility and impact he and his team could have; basically, to take what others might consider a risk, and suggest an alternative to what he was presented with.

He was of the mind that he did have a choice in this matter, that he did actually have options—and he used his personal agency to influence where he and his team could land.

When I meet with leaders in this situation, I encourage them to ask these questions:

• Who else in the organization does your team support?
• Where does your work intersect with other functions?
• How could this change increase your value contribution to the organization?

Asking yourself these questions while things are in flux could mean the difference between just another stop on the reporting structure carousel and a path forward that creates real possibilities for you and your team.

And for my client? His team landed in a much more impactful, visible and highly resourced organization, with a leader who also viewed this change as an opportunity to increase his value and impact in the organization.

I hope your week is one of doing, of taking action. Remember: there is a time to train and a time to race. It’s Race Day.

It’s Race Day – Weekly Leadership Tip

The Importance of Knowing When to Pause: Lessons in Leadership

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly leadership tip for 2023 called “It’s Race Day,” where I help you close the gap between thinking and doing. There’s a time to train and a time to race.

In these weekly tips for 2023, my focus has been on acting vs. getting caught up in thinking, stalling, and ruminating about what move to make. But… there sometimes is a time to act, and a time to pause, consider the implications of an intended action, and perhaps wait… just a bit.

This was the case recently with a client. She was getting feedback from some of the more senior members of her team about how a peer exec in another area of the company was challenging and criticizing them in a way that seemed inappropriate – at the very least accusatory, even questioning their approach to their work.

Everyone in a leadership role in the company is under pressure to deliver in this growing enterprise. So, some pushback is not unusual, but this seemed not quite right, definitely not collaborative. More like, “you need to do it this way ‘cause I said so.”

My client was disturbed by this; her first reaction was to reach out to her peer exec and try to find out what was behind it. She felt they had an excellent working relationship and were completely aligned. But in a fast-paced, remote environment, these things can be tricky.

Knowing When to Pause

So, she decided to take a pause and approach this a bit differently since all of what she had heard so far was second-hand.

She decided to wait a couple of days, poll her staff once more on what they were hearing and then reach out to the senior leader who was being critical to make sure she had the full picture and could then have a fully informed discussion with her colleague.

Did this take longer than she would have preferred to take action and resolve this – as it was troubling to a number of people? Yes, but the process of getting to a positive action was important, and that was the determining factor in resolving this so that all parties felt heard and had agency in the outcome.

So sometimes, taking no action – at least not immediately – is the better course of action until you feel confident it is the right move.

I hope your week is one of doing, of taking action. Remember: there is a time to train and a time to race. It’s Race Day.

Transcript: Use Your Personal Agency to Move from Thinking to Doing

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly leadership tips for 2023 called “It’s Race Day,” where I help you close the gap between thinking and doing. There’s a time to train and a time to race.

The majority of professionals will make anywhere between eight and twelve career moves. Seems like a lot but there is so much opportunity that creates mobility in today’s market. Very unlike the career path I chose early in my career when I joined IBM right out of college at a time when most people considered that lifetime employment.

And you can bet that at least once during your career, you will land in a job where, despite your best efforts to really vet all aspects of the job, it turns out to be definitely NOT what you expected.

Maybe the person who sponsored your hiring leaves shortly after you arrive; or a key initiative you were hired to lead gets scratched; or the company misjudged the market and are now in survival mode, not thriving as you understood.

Whatever the challenges, circumstances, and disappointments might be, the weight of all of them can put you in a state of suspended motion: you constantly worry about what else might happen, about if you can turn this around; you ruminate and catastrophize; every small issue becomes magnified to the point where you don’t feel you have much control of anything, and you just – feel  – stuck.

It happens to all of us, and it happened to one of my clients recently. This accomplished, savvy senior leader with a strong bias for action was in a tough spot. There is no quick, easy answer to a (very common) situation like this, but I’ll share some of the guidance I offered to use her personal agency to get her from stuck to movement, from thinking to doing.

Use Your Personal Agency to Move from Thinking to Doing

First, it’s important to realize that this is just one point in the arc of your career..albeit a very challenging one. There were many positive experiences before this one, and there will be ones to follow.

Second, define the parts of this job that you do enjoy, where you are using your strengths. Spend more time doing those, if possible, so you can balance out the good feelings with the more frustrating ones and experience more satisfaction in the job.

Lastly, set a date – maybe 60-90 days out  – when some of the challenges will have been resolved, when you are possibly feeling more optimistic about the job. That establishes a formal checkpoint where you can reflect, reevaluate and decide your course of action from there…and creates at least one point of certainty for you.

In these continuing times of change, it does often feel like things are happening to you, not because of any action on your part. Don’t let that take over your thinking. You do have agency to act: use it where you can.

I hope your week is one of doing, of taking action. Remember: there is a time to train and a time to race. It’s Race Day.

Transcript: It’s Race Day: How “The 15 Minute Principle” Motivates Action

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly leadership tips for 2023 called “It’s Race Day,” where I help you close the gap between thinking and doing. There’s a time to train and a time to race.

One of the things I appreciate about living in the Bay Area is that we can get outdoors pretty much 365 days a year, which is great for walking my dogs in Golden Gate Park, training for my next Ironman race or taking my early morning walks to the beach.

Except… over the last couple of months we have seen record levels of rain, thunder, lightning, even hail. This is traditionally our rainy season – but c’mon.

So, when I am contemplating an outdoors workout, I now often find myself sitting and thinking: what if it starts raining when I am out there; what if I can’t finish my workout; do I have the right gear for whatever weather might hit?

These are legitimate questions…. but let’s face it, they really are just stalling tactics. Inertia sets in, my brain reminds me of prior negative experiences in inclement weather and I just can’t seem to find the will to get moving.

Instead of stalling, waiting, ruminating on what could/might/surely will happen, I just need to go.

The 15 Minute Principle

In endurance training we have something called “The 15 Minute Principle” meaning… if you start on any project or effort, once you get 15 minutes into it you are much more likely to finish, to see it through.

Your body settles in, your mind gets past the point of telling you to quit, the synchronicity of body and mind work to keep you moving, to support your intention. We know that momentum begets momentum; that once you reach that 15-minute mark, forces are set in motion to keep you in motion.  Really.

So, the next time you start to default to a mode of waiting, stalling, questioning why should invest the time to start on something that might not turn out exactly as you planned… just give it 15 minutes.

Now I need to lace up my running shoes, set my watch for today’s run workout and head out towards Golden Gate Park. And hope the weather gods give me a break.

I hope your week is one of doing, of taking action. Remember: there is a time to train and a time to race. It’s Race Day.

Transcript: It’s Race Day: Engage Your Team in Work That is Critical to the Organization that Would Truly Excite Them

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly leadership tips for 2023 called “It’s Race Day”, where I help you close the gap between thinking and doing. There’s a time to train and a time to race.

I am sure many of you are worn out and unsure from the last 3+ years of start-stop-start again on key projects that are important to your team. And for many leaders, this is heightened now when people are feeling unsure of their positions; they are thinking – can or should they commit to long-term projects; and maybe keeping a low-profile and doing low-risk work is a safer option.

It is completely understandable that your team might feel that way – but that is exactly the opposite of what you need them to do right now.

How do you engage your team in work that is critical to the organization that would truly excite them?

Consider these three steps to engage your team:

1. Line out some of the more significant projects that remain unfinished or are languishing on your long list of “To Dos.” Break them down into smaller, more manageable sets of work, or scale them down from what you had originally planned. Maybe not as ambitious as what you would like, but see what you can spin up that would be far better than waiting for everything to feel right.

2. Be very clear about how this work supports the broader company goals, particularly those that serve the evolving needs of the org over the next 12-18 months during these times of change. It’s important that your team sees how their work is connecting to the bigger picture and also that they are building sustainable skills for an uncertain world.

3. Finally, consider the experience, domain knowledge, and untapped skills of your team members that could be deployed on this project. By linking the assets each team member brings to the work – particularly skills that they feel they would like to use more of – you are not only helping them see their potential contribution to the project but also connecting them to their strengths, which we know from Positive Psychology is a powerful approach to helping people see what’s possible during times of change.

This may not be the perfect solution to moving your work and team forward – but remember, there is no room for perfection now. Only doing…..not just thinking.

I hope your week is one of doing, of taking action. Remember: there is a time to train and a time to race. It’s Race Day.

Transcript of “It’s Race Day: Use a Possibilities Viewpoint When You Get a New Boss”

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly leadership tip for 2023 called “It’s Race Day,” where I help you close the gap between thinking and doing. There’s a time to train and a time to race.

So, I’m sure I don’t have to remind you about how challenging the last three years have been – across all the domains of our lives. And the change and uncertainty are going to continue – at both the macro-environmental level and on the ground in your company.

We are reminded of this almost every day as more and more companies cut costs and people.  As leaders, we may believe that by now we are change-hearty, but often we are not.

One of the changes that can rock any experienced leader is unexpectedly getting a new boss. What do you do if the person you report to suddenly changes? Maybe you weren’t the biggest fan of this person, or maybe you had built a solid relationship with him – he was a big supporter of yours, actively advocating for you and your team.

Now you are back to square one, alone on the island. So, what’s your next move? Do you hesitate, not sure how to approach your new boss? Try to stay off the radar until he approaches you?

Think that if you just wait awhile, he will settle in, and things will somehow return to some form of what they were like before?

You can’t blame PTSD on this type of reaction; you know better. When this happens, you need to act and develop a plan to take advantage of this change. Consider – how would you define your team’s value contribution to the organization? What are you and your team working on that he should know about; what insights can you share about the leadership team and other internal relationships that will be critical to his agenda?

This is the perfect time to close the gap between thinking and doing.

Let me share a relevant, personal story from my Ironman experience. Our training program ramping up to race day is 9+months long…plenty of time to build the physical and mental mindset to prepare for Race Day. We prepare for most contingencies, but you never know what might happen.

In one of my races, they changed the route for the run the morning of the race.  My first reaction was one of panic: I don’t like surprises that can throw off my plan. I knew the course, had planned for how I would manage myself on it, had actually trained ON it. Now all that planning was thrown out the window. It’s still the same distance..the unknown can be scary, paralyzing.

But it was RACE DAY. I had not choice but to rely on my training, my self-confidence, the resilience I had built up over the course of the last 9+ months, through all the surprises and detours along the way.

Here was an opportunity for me to put all my preparation, self-knowledge and skills into play. To just go for it, looking at this from a “let’s see what is possible” viewpoint.

With a new boss, you need to do the same. There’s a time to train and  a time to race. Remember – it’s Race Day.

Related posts you might like:

I GOT A NEW BOSS—AGAIN!

GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START WITH A NEW BOSS

LEADING THROUGH THE CONTINUOUS CURVEBALLS OF CORPORATE REORGS

CONFIDENCE KILLERS AND HIGH CEO TURNOVER

Bobbie LaPorte’s 2023 Weekly Vlog Series “It’s Race Day”

Getting Leadership Focused to Act

A belated Happy New Year to all of you. I hope your holidays and break were great. Now it’s time to get back to work.

We are beginning the 4^th year of my weekly vlogs, designed to provide some short, practical advice and guidance to help you navigate the volatile road ahead.

And the last three years have definitely been full of real challenges: unrelenting uncertainty, permanent changes in how we work and live, dealing with the “stop and go” of all of our various activities and responsibilities.

In my view, this is how it’s going to be. We are in an extended period of unprecedented instability, of disruption at scale. If you’ve been following my work for a while, you know that my approach for leaders in this environment is all about seeing this time as one of opportunity, of seeing what is possible.

I think it’s time to close the gap between thinking and doing. We can’t keep waiting for things to return to some semblance of what’s normal. It’s time to act.

You also may know that I am training for my 7^th Ironman triathlon. Like any endeavor you may be involved in as a leader, training for an Ironman is a long process – one that has helped me learn to navigate uncertainty.

Recently when I logged into my training schedule that my coach completes each week, I saw this:

And that’s when it hit me: there is a time to train and a time to race. I need to focus and act. It’s Race Day.

So, starting next week, these weekly videos will feature tips that focus on helping you act. Not waiting…not stalling…not taking small, incremental steps.

It’s Race Day.

See you next Monday.