Your Best Next Move: How to Lead When Priorities Keep Changing

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly leadership tip for your Best Next Move, where I help you see continuing curveballs as an opportunity.

We’re done reacting to them, or pausing, waiting for a new kind of certainty to return. This year I will help you actively use your personal agency to accelerate what you want to accomplish in 2022.

There are many “curveballs” that leaders face every day, but one of the ones I hear often from my clients is “shifting priorities from the top.” I am guessing that may sound familiar to you; maybe you’ve even done that with your team.

Let’s look at an example of how this might look in your organization.

You’ve been working on a strategic initiative with your team that has high visibility in your organization. Your team is energized and excited about their work on this important project; it has been their focus for several months now and your peers are taking note of the exposure this has given you and your team.

Your boss calls you to a meeting – which you think is to compliment you and your team for their hard work and the progress they have made. You walk into the office, ready for the high fives – and instead, he throws you a curveball. The project is now off the table…the CEO has a new focus and wants to take a different direction.

You are stunned. You know your team will be demoralized and demotivated, and you worry that the impact of this will reflect on your stature in the organization.

So now what do you do?

We all have to be prepared for curveballs like this. It is easy for something like this to happen when you are focused on this major project, keeping your team on track, executing on your plan. When things change – and they will – It’s normal to get thrown off, disappointed and discouraged. But this is just the opposite of what your team needs from you right now.

There are two ways you can respond.

1. You can look at this as a loss: “All that work for nothing,” fall back on your habitual reactions that create an “Oh well, business as usual; too bad for the team” kind of response.
2. Or you can take a different approach, one that comes from a mindset of possibilities.

What if you make this turn of events an opportunity to take the work your team has done to create a project that is really unique, something that stands out and will be appreciated?

What if you make this something that your team would feel proud of and would continue to give them visibility in the company? And instead of looking at the problem and wondering where the solution will come from, ask what are your strengths?…what are the best tools you have at your disposal that you can draw on to develop the best path forward?

I like to think of approaching situations like this as “stripping them for parts” — finding what is good and useful to help move you and your team forward.

These questions sound time-consuming but they aren’t… they just make us think differently, to balance loss with opportunity.

When we stop to think, to question whether our automatic responses might be the best way to go, we are able to develop a broader portfolio of options.

Whether it’s changing priorities from the top, or other curveballs that hit every day, it’s important NOT to default to what you might have done in the past; to be resigned to this and other changes; to give up your personal agency and think you can’t make a difference.

You can.

By just stopping to think about how you can respond differently; to give yourself time to think about how to make this a positive experience; to see it as a way to amplify the assets and contribution your team can make.

So, that’s my tip. I’ll see you next week. In the meantime, use your personal agency to make uncertainty a part of your success strategy for 2022.

Tips for Dealing with a Bad Boss

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly tip for your Best Next Move – where I help you have more agency in your work, acknowledge your capacity to act and see what you can do right now.

A few weeks ago, I shared the results of a survey about the state of the manager and employee relationship during the pandemic. Unfortunately, 2/3 of those surveyed said that their relationship with their boss had gotten worse during this time.

We know that inspiring worker’s job satisfaction is possibly the single most important thing a company can do – and bosses play a bigger role in that than you think, as evidenced by another recent survey on this topic by McKinsey, where 75% of the survey respondents reported that the most stressful part of their job was their relationship with their manager. Wow!

We’ve talked before in these tips about ways you can be a better manager – like checking in on people vs. checking up on them; understanding that people have different needs for things like autonomy vs. direction, and mining their untapped skills and talents to help build capacity for them and the organization.

But what if you have a bad boss? Look, there are bad bosses everywhere – and it’s not always their fault. Gallup’s research contends that only one in ten people possess the necessary traits that great managers exhibit, traits that include building relationships that create trust, and open dialogue and transparency.

One in ten – that’s amazing!

This past week I spoke with a number of clients who have very challenging relationships with their managers. It happens to all of us at least once, and often multiple times throughout our careers. Not surprising given that statistic I just shared. So, if this is your situation, what can you do when dealing with a bad boss?

So, here’s my tip (actually 2 tips)

1. Consider that this is just one point in time – on “blip” on the radar screen of your career. Sure, it is frustrating and puzzling for you, but there will be other opportunities and other managers down the road. So, don’t dwell on it too much: this too shall pass.

2. Always take the enterprise view – what is right for the business – in all of your interactions and intentions. If you always take that approach you will never go wrong (even if others think differently) and you will be building that important strategic view muscle that will help you handle future difficult situations more effectively.

I want 2021 to be a year of momentum for you, one of possibility thinking where you take advantage of the agency, we sometimes forget we have.

That’s my tip for this week. I’ll see you next Monday; take care of yourselves!

Why You Need to Share Your Successes and Self-Promote

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly tip for Your Best Next Move – where I help you have more agency in your work, acknowledge your capacity to act and see what you can do right now.

This past week I spoke with a number of clients who are unhappy in their jobs. This is not unusual, given the times and the normal movement talented professionals make in a dynamic job market. But there did seem to be a “theme” of people feeling unappreciated and undervalued.

If you remember last week’s tip, I shared the results of a recent survey where 50% of those surveyed said they were actively looking for a new job – mostly because they didn’t feel valued.

As a leader, it is important to acknowledge the good work your team is doing, to let them know they are appreciated and valued.

And as a manager, you are an important element in your team’s career progression. But neither you nor your team members can rely on their manager for career advancement.

No one can wait for someone to “figuratively” tap you on the shoulder and offer you a new opportunity or promotion. You can’t abdicate your career development to someone else – nor can you assume that your boss knows all the good work you and your team are doing. You need to be the architect of your career – no one else can take responsibility for this but you.

I know you are saying to yourself, “Come on, Bobbie – I know that!” Okay, but are you doing anything about it?

You need to be actively and intentionally “promoting” yourself in the organization – yes, there is that word again — self-promotion – which in my mind means sharing your successes with people who matter. If you are doing that – then hats off to you. If you’re not, you need to start now.

I know everyone is busy – this last year has been difficult with more demands on your time than ever. And it is challenging to find time with your boss, your boss’s boss, or other influential people in the company – because you no longer enjoy those important corridor conversations you used to have in the office.

So, here’s my tip:

At the end of each week – take two minutes to take stock of what you’ve accomplished. It could be a major project milestone or something as simple as a successful conversation with a client or co-worker. Inventorying these accomplishments will give you perspective on the work you and your team are doing, and as importantly, stories to share. Then find a couple of opportunities in the next week to share these examples with people who have influence in your organization. You will become more comfortable doing this and they will view you differently.

And as a leader, you have a responsibility to share successes with your organization, particularly now. Success buoys everyone in the company. We all need to hear and learn from other’s successes. Yes, this is self-promotion, but in a way that serves the organization while also serving you and your team.

I want 2021 to be a year of momentum for you, one of possibilities thinking where you take advantage of the agency, we sometimes forget we have.

That’s my tip for this week. I’ll see you next Monday; take care of yourselves!

How Leadership Lessons from COVID Can Help Your Success Moving Forward

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly tip for your Best Next Move – where I help you have more agency in your work, acknowledge your capacity to act, and see what you can do right now.

Does it feel to you like we have rounded the turn on recovering from the pandemic? It sure feels that way to me.

Over the last week, I’ve seen countless news stories about Covid cases decreasing while vaccinations are accelerating; major companies are announcing that they are reopening their offices; people are telling me about their vacation and travel plans for the summer. And my first Ironman race of the year in June in Hawaii was confirmed.

So while we will never return to what was “normal” before, it does feels like we are on the road to restoring some sense of “normalcy” to our daily lives.

There is no doubt that the last year has changed all of us. It is positive that we have changed some of our routines for the better; we have institutionalized new, positive ways of doing business and of working together and have built new self-awareness that has helped us see our humanity and connect with others in new ways.

But..there will still continue to be uncertainty and anxiety about the future. The challenge is that it is our nature to want to return to what is known and comfortable, what is easy and reasonable; and we can’t do that – nor should we.

As a leader – think about the ways you have grown personally and professionally; the deeper relationships you have formed with your team, colleagues and family; the new innovations you have implemented in your work and all the successes you have achieved during the last year of unrelenting challenge.

So how do you sustain all this progress and not slip back into autopilot… into our old habits and routines?

Here’s my tip:

At the beginning of each day, take one minute to look at your schedule for the day and pick one meeting or conversation where you can intentionally apply what you’ve learned over the last year: it could be listening more, or tapping into some new skill or talent you’ve discovered in one of your team members, or connecting with someone on a more personal level… or something else….just one minute to take one action. That is one step, one “best next move” that will help you amplify and sustain all the positive change you have created in the last year.

I want 2021 to be a year of momentum for you, one of possibility thinking where you take advantage of the agency, we sometimes forget we have.

That’s my tip for this week. I’ll see you next Monday; take care of yourselves!

How Leaders Can Initiate a Conversation of Possibility

Hi, everyone. Bobby LaPorte here again with my weekly tip for your best next move, where I help you have more agency in your work, acknowledge your capacity to act and see what you can do, right now.

You know, we all recognize that working remotely has changed the manager, employee relationship forever. For many leaders, it has provided an opportunity to strengthen their relationship with the people that work for them to connect in a new way.

For others, any strain or challenge in the working relationship between a manager and employee has often been magnified in our virtual workplace. Over the last year, we’ve received all kinds of advice about how to show empathy, to check in versus checkup on our teams to keep them productive and engaged.

But the sad truth is that for many, it’s still not working. Here’s a sobering fact. In a recent survey of 2000 workers conducted by a national HR software firm, two-thirds of the workers said that things with their boss had become worse during the pandemic. And more than half said that as a result, they were actively looking for a new job.

Discouraging, but maybe not surprising. It is possible to repair strained relationships, using many of the techniques and practices you already know. Such as:

• Formal employee engagement programs
• Redefined performance review conversations
• Formal leadership training to become a more empathetic leader

These all take time and many leaders need to act sooner rather than later.

Here’s my tip:

There was one simple, yet powerful question that you could pose to everyone in your organization, and that question is: “What skill or talent do you have that you’re not currently using in your job?”

That may seem obvious, but we rarely ask this specific question. And it’s a question that shows interest, that gives you insight into what your employee loves to do, but it’s not able to do in their current role and then initiates a conversation of possibility for what they can contribute and for how you can mine new talents on behalf of changes in your organization.

So the next time you made it with someone in your organization, simply ask that question. It won’t resolve relationships that have been neglected or beyond repair, but it is a simple, actionable, first step that can send a strong signal that you value the team and that you care about them.

You know, that I want 20, 21 to be a year of momentum for you when a possibility thinking what you take advantage of the agency we sometimes forget we have.

Alright, everyone, that’s my tip for the week. Have a great week. Take care of yourselves and I’ll see you next Monday!