Don’t Settle: Get The Career You Want

Reflections for a Brighter Career Path

As we usher in the new year, my hope is that you are returning from your holidays well rested and looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead. Too often the holidays are a short “breather” from people’s relentless, high-pressure job… hoping they can cope until their next vacation.

You would be surprised how many of my clients feel out of place and overwhelmed in their careers. They dread their “daily grind” at work because it is either too demanding, too unfulfilling or somewhere in between. History tells them that their mountain of workplace activities are rarely followed by valleys of rest, and the hectic pace takes a toll on their professional and personal lives. This is not something that more sleep, better nutrition or moderate exercise can fix. It’s the fact that they have settled and accepted their “grind” in order to maintain a certain lifestyle that is expected or desired.

To help my clients manage that hectic pace, we often start by profiling their personality and discovering their fundamental needs and wants. Using the Birkman Method—which establishes their requirements for specific factors such as esteem, structure, authority, empathy and change—clients discover what motivates (or hinders) them to becoming a top performer. In the end, by understanding their underlying needs, my clients make better decisions. This might lead to small changes at work or more radical ones. But they key is they have taken the time to reflect on what makes them feel accomplished and will therefore base future decisions—projects to accept, how to deal with their boss, etc.—on meeting THEIR needs in the long term.

So, the question comes back to you: Are you returning from the holidays revitalized or reluctant? If your answer is the latter, I’ve put together a few items for you to reflect upon. My hope is that it might give you some insight into making better decisions at work.

1. Define what success means to you. Success means so many things to so many different people. For some, it’s their job. For others, it’s their family, money, health, etc. If you wrote your own eulogy today, would you say that you have achieved success? Are you happy with your lot in life? And if not, what is it that would make you happier or more successful?
2. Understand your work-life balance. Working at a demanding, but well paying job might allow you to own a large house, enjoy several vacations a year, and live “comfortably”, but what if it comes at the expense of your family, friends or health? Is your current work-life balance sustainable? If not, what needs to change?
3. Does your workplace culture align with your needs? A highly accomplished friend confided that her new job was awful: even thought it paid well, the division in which she worked had an antagonistic culture with minimal accountability. We spend a lot of our life in a job. Enjoying work—or at least not hating work—is something we should all strive for.
4. Ask yourself what you want to do in five years? After several decades in the high tech world, I determined that coaching high performers was where I got my greatest sense of satisfaction. Slowly I moved from training and mentoring teams within my roles, to taking the big leap, going back to school, and becoming an independent leadership coach. Maybe you don’t have to make such a drastic change, but understanding where you want to be will identify what technical or soft skills you need to pick up in order to get to the next stage in your career.

To your Success… However You Define It!

January is a great month to think about your work situation. There are many tools you can use to reduce stress and get you through the hectic times. However, if you’re caught in the grind, it’s not too late to change your ways. In the immortal words of Steve Jobs: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

I hope that you have the opportunity to step back, reflect and if needed, to make the changes required. Whether you change jobs, upgrade your skills, tweak a few habits or totally reinvent yourself, you own the keys to your success.

Have you made changes that have made a difference in your life? I encourage you to share the secrets of your success to the rest of the community in this newsletter. Or better yet, join me in my free webinar, Defining Career Success.

Until then, be amazing! 

Free Webinar: Defining Career Success

• Feb 19^th, 2015 at 12:00pm EST (English)
  
• 20 février, 2015 à 12:00 HAE (Français)
• 45 minutes

Reap the Rewards of a Successful Career by Design, not Chance!

Most of my clients are very accomplished. Moving from one opportunity to the next, they have achieved success by following the doors that have opened in front of them. This has been a beneficial strategy for many until they reach a certain point in their life—often their 50s—and realize that despite their achievements, they are not where they thought they would be in their career. By following the path presented to them, they are frustrated, overwhelmed or simply unhappy with their current location.

Presented by Ottawa-based leadership coach Denis Lévesque, Defining Career Success is a free, interactive 45 minute webinar, where participants can explore what career success means to them and how they can focus their career on achieving long term success. Participate and you will:

• Understand your needs at work and their impact on your work experience.
• Identify your core values and effects when they are not aligned with workplace values.
• Recognize your career destabilizers and how to avoid them.
• Learn how to focus your decisions to map out your career path.
• Use your “eulogy” as a tool to focus your career.
• Write an action plan to start the process!

This engaging webinar will include a Q&A session. After the webinar, you have the ability to match up with an accountability partner to help you get started with your action plan and achieve your goals.

We will also have a draw for a free Birkman Debrief with Coach Denis, a $700 value! Registration is free! To participate, register here or email Denis directly.

About Denis

Denis Lévesque, is owner of Big Dashan, a leadership coaching, training and speaking firm. He helps those who feel stuck, bored or overwhelmed at work, build the clarity, confidence and passion they need to achieve their goals. With over 21 years of business experience, Mr. Lévesque helps rising talent improve their performance and their organization’s effectiveness and profitability. Fluent in both English and French, he holds a Bachelor of Commerce (U Ottawa), has obtained his Certified Executive Coach (Royal Roads U) and Professional Certified Coach (International Coaching Federation) designations.

Making a Smooth Transition from Technical Expert to Manager

Three Key Steps on Your Path to Leadership Greatness

Congratulations, you just got promoted to the manager role of your team! You are quite excited about the opportunity, the responsibility, the work and of course the salary. But do you really know what you got yourself into?

A big first step in any leader’s career progression is often the most difficult: moving from the technical to the management domain. It’s a tough transition and few people are prepared for it. Most managers that I have worked with (including myself) struggle between technical mastery and management work; a struggle that can go on for years or even decades.

As you start assuming your new “manager” identity, it’s easy to slip back into doing the technical work—especially when you’re not sure what exactly to do as a manager. It’s hard to remove yourself from something that has been your raison d’être for so long! But, for the good of your team and your own career progression, you need to change your habits and ignore your reflexes to do the technical work!

Based on my experience as a technical expert, manager and leadership coach, I’ve assembled three key steps new managers must focus on to ensure a smooth transition from their previous role as a technical expert:

#1. Adapt and Guide. Don’t Always Direct
The first step you must take is to adapt your style to each individual’s skill level, providing guidance, not step-by-step directives. With your new found responsibility, you might be inclined to increase the team’s performance by telling everybody what to do, or how to do based on your proven ways. After all, you’ve been doing this for many years… you know what works. However noble your intentions, consider it from the other perspective: what if a new manager was telling YOU, a seasoned veteran, how to do everything? The junior members of the team might appreciate this style as you are teaching them much needed methods and skills. Unfortunately, ‘other’ technical experts who have also been doing it their way for years may not always appreciate being told what to do and how to do it. Such a directive approach will lead to frustration and animosity. They might even view you as an incompetent leader since you only view your way as the right way.

Understanding each team member’s individual skill set and working within those parameters is vital to your efficiency as a manager and your effectiveness as a leader. Along the way, you may need to coach the individual to consider a different perspective or learn a new skill. This is expected and part of being a good leader. For new managers like you, however, the biggest challenge you will face is remembering the end result—and not the “how” it’s done—is now more valuable to you. It might be hard to see your team struggle, but as their leader, you must leave them the ability to resolve the “how” if they have the capacity to come up with the solution.

#2. Don’t Delay, Manage!
Delaying the transition to a true manager or director in your organization can be the career “kiss of death”. The longer you are labelled a technical manager, the more you will be pigeonholed for technical, non-management roles. Furthermore, when an opportunity does open up at a higher level, because you have focused more on your technical expertise, your lack of key management abilities such as vision, budgeting, conflict resolution, delegation, team building and strategy will be a glaring weakness when compared to other candidates. Your career progression does require you to demonstrate technical prowess; however, it’s those soft, “people” skills that separate the cream from the crop.

#3. Manage Performance Effectively
Managing people who were your peers just a few weeks ago is a challenge for most people. Some new managers will turn into micro-managers and infuriate their ex-teammates. Others will try to ignore poor performance to maintain relationships. This results in lower team productivity and low overall expectations. And as you know, the longer you take to address a behaviour or a problem, the more the team believes that this behaviour or performance level is acceptable. Neither micro-managing nor under managing is good for building a high performance team, or your career path. Finding that right balance to manage your team’s performance is your final step. Getting some coaching and training on this topic can be vital for a smoother transition into management, especially if you are leading your “old” team.

I see new managers struggle with these dynamics all of the time. Don’t forget, these issues are quite common and part of your evolution up the career ladder. As a new manager, your supervisors saw your potential to lead. Your job is to avoid the common mistakes that can delay your progress as a leader. You can transition into your new role with less difficulty if you spend the time and energy acquiring the new skills listed above, and challenging yourself to be the best you can be.

For those of you who are senior executives, it’s easy to forget how difficult this transition can be. Your job is to help smooth the edges and provide some guidance along your new manager’s early leadership path. Until then…

Be amazing!

Do You Have The “Connection” To Be A Great Leader?

This is the final article of Ottawa-based executive coach Denis Lévesque‘s ARC of Leadership series.

The power of connection between people is an intangible asset that can create very tangible results. As I unveil the final element within my ARC of Leadership methodology—Connection—it’s important to reflect that having an Awareness of your strengths/weaknesses, a Resilience to change and a Connection to others are the three differentiating “human” skills that make a good leader, a truly outstanding one.

Leaders like you have a vision on how to move the organization forward. Yet the success of your vision is highly dependent on engaging key organizational people—your employees, partners, suppliers, customers, etc. You need these people to turn your vision into reality. So how do you get this buy-in? The answer is simple: you need to connect with them.

Making That Connection

Creating a connection requires building up trust with your different audience segments. You must reach out to these groups and convince them that what you are asking them to do will have a positive impact on them. Leaders can build this Connection between the vision and results by incorporating what I call the Five Pillars of Connection into their leadership style:

1. Possessing the Right Purpose and Intent
2. Connecting with Charisma and Inspiration
3. Being Mentally Present during a Conversation
4. Attending Key Events in Person
5. Optimizing your Communication Style

Is The Purpose and Intent of Your Message Clear?

Have you ever communicated a message you felt was paramount to your vision’s implementation… and your message was misunderstood or your intent misjudged? If that was the case, it’s unlikely you achieved your goals. To avoid these issues, you can gain greater transparency in your message’s purpose by considering the following:

• Be Clear.  Stating the intent and purpose of your message at the beginning of a difficult or important conversation is the key first step to clarity. Then, you need to stay true to this intent and purpose throughout the communication cycle.
• Get Personally Involved.  Leaders need to commit the time to important messages and initiatives and see them through to their realization. Getting involved, and not delegating, reinforces the perceived importance of this vision to those around you.
• Maintain Consistency.  Changing messages and direction for no valid reason affects one’s integrity. And integrity is critical to successful leadership.
• Build Relationships.  Human beings thrive on relationships. By investing time and energy on creating fruitful and meaningful relationships, we can better connect and understand each other. Most leaders have perfected managing key external and internal relationships. However, younger generations respect authority that is earned, not dictated, and leaders must learn to embrace this cultural change.

Be Charismatic and Inspiring

The second pillar to building Connection is your charisma and inspiration. The difference between an efficient leader and a super successful leader is highly influenced by the resonance between the leader and their employees. Charisma is particularly important during turbulent times when leaders need their people to give an extra effort to achieve results. Coupled with the ability to inspire your organization to “achieve the unachievable,” charismatic leaders will keep their company moving forward in the complex and chaotic sea of the modern market place.

Everyone can improve their charisma and inspirational qualities, by integrating the following within their leadership style:

• Identify the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) Factor. The leader who can articulate the link between corporate benefits and personal benefits to their employees will get their employees to move mountains. Make the message relevant and people will respond.
• Illustrate your Grandeur.  Leaders must create a personal magnetism; an ability to inspire and attract people to their cause. This requires a fine balance between technical mastery and being able to relate to people on a personal level.
• Show Your Emotions. Emotional Intelligence is a proven business game changer. It is OK to share your joy and sorrows respectfully and efficiently—it makes us more “human.”
• Create the Tribe. In the past, people had numerous communities (religious, charitable, sporting, family etc.,) to rely on when dealing with life’s ups and downs. Today’s fractured family units, fast-paced lifestyle and long work weeks have caused many to leave these communities. And the opportunity for human contact decreases with global “advancements” such as voice mail, smart phones, self-service everything and the Internet. Yet humanity remains “thirsty” for community… for finding common elements that make us stick together in good times and bad. For many, the workplace has become the source where their social needs are met. As a great leader, you must recognize the importance of creating a “fun” work environment where people can trust each other on a professional and personal level. If you can create a strong team atmosphere, you will drastically increase the well being of people at work, as well as their retention rates.

Building Your Connection to Others

So far, I’ve talked about a leader’s need to speak clearly with purpose and intent, and the importance of adding charisma and inspiration into your communications. It’s also important for leaders to integrate the third, forth and fifth Connection pillars into their leadership style:

• Staying focused when talking to others.
• Taking the time to physically meet with your constituents
• Paying as much attention to WHAT you say as HOW you say it.

In my upcoming book, I will fully discuss all five pillars required for Connection. Keep these five pillars in mind and your ability to connect with your audience will have more impact and therefore be more successful. Until then…

Be amazing!

Must-Have Components of Timely Execution

This is the final of three articles on the topic of Resilience. As part of my ARC of Leadership framework—an Awareness of your strengths/weaknesses and your perception by others, a Resilience to difficulties and change, and a Connection to stakeholders—executives and managers like yourself can master these human elements to move your leadership performance to a higher level.

Mastering Resilience is so critical because it’s a skill leaders need to keep their organizations competitive during today’s complex and fast-paced business environment. To date, I’ve reviewed the first three of Resilience’s four fundamentals:

• #1: Proper risk management
• #2: Effective personal “brand” alignment
• #3: Prompt reaction

Today, I will show you why Timely Execution, the fourth fundamental, is important to mastering the art of Resilience.

#4: Timely Execution

Timely execution is “walking the talk” while the “talk” is still strategically relevant. It’s your ability to quickly execute the identified plan and take advantage of opportunities or manage issues. To master this fundamental, you must consider the following components:

Be Decisive.  As leaders explore alternatives, it’s easy to get caught in analysis paralysis and risk doing nothing. Or, risk waiting too long and the opportunity passing. To be decisive, you must think through the impact of your decisions and consider Resilience fundamentals such as risk management, personal brand alignment and prompt reaction.  Eventually, you will have to determine when you have enough information to make a decision. Could you move forward with 80% of the information and manage the risks? Or do you need 100%? The opportunity cost of over analyzing can be disastrous for any business involved in a rapidly changing market place. Lost time can mean lost money, especially in difficult times.

Be Persistent.  There is nothing more damaging to corporate momentum, than a leadership team that starts a major initiative only to drop it a few months later. Employees recognize this pattern and react accordingly by dismissing the importance of new initiatives, which they view as time wasters. Putting your energy into all aspects of execution demonstrates the corporate importance of an initiative. Don’t assume that delegating the task to your right hand is enough. Be there! Be present! Change is hard work and your perseverance will pay off in spades.

Work Smart and Work Hard.  During these difficult times, people need to see that you are fully dedicated to making your initiative happen. An engaged leader reaches out to their employees and motivates them to achieve. Engaged leaders understand what’s going on at the shop and executive levels, and everywhere in between. This type of engagement takes hard work, but during turbulent times, it’s a major catalyst in getting your team to perform quickly and effectively.

Resilience is A Game Changer

Resilient leaders have the ability to bounce back and lead in new directions, be transparent and empathetic in difficult times and find opportunities in a chaotic market. Proper risk management, effective personal brand alignment, prompt reaction and timely execution are the four fundamentals you need to build a resilient organization. Then, when that next wave of change or obstacles approaches your company, you and your team can take advantage of the situation and use it to leapfrog ahead of your competitors. It’s a game changing skill.

Next month, I’ll discuss how a Connection to your stakeholders—employees, board, suppliers, customers, and community—completes the ARC of Leadership and makes you a better leader. Until then…

Be amazing!

How Leaders Can Harness the Power of Change (Resilience Part 2)

The following is the third article in Denis Lévesque’s ongoing ARC of Leadership series.

 Creating A Resilient Organization

In today’s hyper competitive business world, one thing you can bet on is that change will accelerate and make the marketplace more complex. You can also bet that leaders who take advantage of change and create an adaptable organization will enjoy greater success than those who don’t.

The question is, how can leaders make change—a terrifying black hole of uncertainty for many—a driver to greater success? Resilience to change is one the three “human” elements I coach executives to embrace on their road to higher personal and corporate performance. An Awareness of your strengths and weaknesses and a Connection to stakeholders are the other two elements which comprise my ARC of Leadership methodology.

As I mentioned in my first article on Resilience, a resilient leader integrates four fundamentals into his or her leadership style to create an adaptable organization that is ready for new opportunities. The four fundamentals of Resilience are:

• Proper Risk Management
• Effective Personal “Brand” Alignment
• Prompt Reaction
• Timely Execution

Resilience Fundamental #1: Risk Management

Last article, I discussed how education and knowledge, managing your business relationships and having a mitigation plan, are key to proper risk management. In today’s article, I will go into detail on the second and third critical fundamentals of Resilience: alignment and reaction.

Resilience Fundamental #2: Effective Personal Brand “Alignment”

The second fundamental needed to master Resilience and harness the opportunities of change is to align your public brand or image with your desired image. Being a credible leader who walks the talk is one of the most powerful—and difficult—means to inspire change. Most successful leaders or companies surround themselves with clever people, and it’s the smart ones who will be the first to see a disconnect, or a synergy, between what you say and what you do… and then follow accordingly. To achieve that alignment, build your credibility and then influence behaviours, leaders must embrace the following:

1. Demonstrate Your Commitment. A public AND internal commitment and dedication to the tasks, strategies and objectives of the organization is key for any leader. Leaders who spend time publicly communicating their company’s mission and are present within the organization to articulate the vision and answer employee questions are true leaders. They have a pulse on the marketplace and are in touch with their staff… and vice versa.  So when the time comes to react and implement change, employees will not be surprised and will understand the context of the conversation. If you only show up to deliver bad news, people will become defensive and resistant by the sheer sight of you coming their way!
2. Be Positive. Have you ever seen a leader that concentrated on the negative events or possibilities? It’s very depressing to hear we’re doing a bad job with little hope for success. Good leaders are able to acknowledge the current struggle AND take the time to weave in positive messages of hope and achievement to their organizations. If you can highlight what is going well and communicate positive opportunities in times of chaos, people are much more motivated to keep struggling on through the tough times of change.
3. Radiate Confidence. Leaders must communicate their confidence in the people, the processes and themselves to get the job done during times of uncertainty. A key assumption here, is you have assembled a team in whom you are confident… and if you have not, well, then you have other issues to manage! Your confidence needs to be communicated throughout every aspect of the company and marketplace.  If you don’t believe in yourself or your team, this will be perceived and will diminish the impact of the actions taken during difficult times.

Resilience Fundamental #3: Prompt Reaction

The third fundamental of Resilience is your ability to react in difficult times. As a leader, how you react to change—be it quickly, slowly, or not at all—will have a major impact on how your organization also reacts. Do nothing and the changes or difficulties will be accepted as inevitable. React slowly and in small increments and you risk impacting your corporate culture… which is very difficult to change later on. Prompt reaction is what you should strive to achieve. In general, employees, customers and suppliers value leaders who react quickly and bring along a “take charge” attitude. They value it because they see you, the leader, addressing the issues and feel more comfortable that the change can be dealt with effectively.

To increase your capacity to react promptly, integrate the following into your leadership skill set:

1. Be Empathetic. When anyone learns about or is confronted with a difficult reality, many people go into a state of shock or even denial and avoid dealing with the issue as long as possible. Experts agree, that we can better manage shock and therefore move forward by releasing the energy, anxiety and stress it creates, as soon as possible. Obviously, it doesn’t look very professional if a CEO is crying in public or during a town hall meeting; however, as a leader, acknowledging  this “pain,” you validate that it’s perfectly normal to be anxious and stressed out about these changes. Your empathy makes a huge difference in getting people feeling comfortable that you understand their pain, and they are much more willing to get “on board” to move forward in your desired direction.
2. Accept The Reality. Many organizations and leaders keep resisting change in the marketplace or its corporate culture. McDonald’s is a good example of this. For many years McDonald’s made small changes to their operations and marketing, with constant menu tweaks in hopes of expanding their customer base. Finally, they realized they needed a full-scale overhaul if they wanted to stay competitive. Because they resisted the changing marketplace for such a long time, they had to completely change their brand image to retain and then expand their target audience. McDonald’s now offers a healthier menu, a more refined café-like experience, has updated their interiors and exteriors, and provides free wi-fi. Although these changes are expensive, I do applaud the leadership team to have the strength and courage to fund such a major initiative. On the other side of the coin, a company like Nortel was not resilient at all. They failed at making the transition from Bell Northern Research, a government-sponsored organization, to a commercially-viable entity we all know as Nortel. Their government-based mindset and resistance to being nimble in the highly dynamic and customer-focused marketplace, lead to the end of this once great organization. The lesson here is, change is inevitable, how you deal with it is not!
3. Mind Your Health. Although we all understand the impact alcohol or recreational drugs has on our ability to properly assess and react to a situation, there are other health-related factors to consider. Lack of sleep, prescription drug side-effects and our general level of health all have a major impact on our energy level and clarity of thinking. Take the time to rest, exercise and eat well; it will pay off in terms of your mental endurance and personal productivity.

Effective personal brand alignment and prompt reaction are the second and third fundamentals of Resilience. Last article we discussed the first fundamental, risk management, and next article, we’ll look at the final fundamental, timely execution. I encourage you to focus 5-10 minutes a day in exploring these two fundamentals in your journey to mastering the art of Resilience. Until then…

Be amazing!

Resilience and the ARC of Leadership: How Change and Uncertainty can Drive Success

The following is the next article in an ongoing series in which Denis Lévesque unveils his ARC of Leadership methodology.

Why Leaders Need Resilience

Last newsletter, I introduced the ARC of Leadership concept. It’s a framework I developed and use to help good leaders become outstanding ones. By mastering the “human” elements of leadership—an Awareness of your strengths/weaknesses and how you are perceived by others, a Resilience to difficulties and change, and a Connection to stakeholders—executives and managers like yourself can achieve a higher level of performance.

In this article, I’ll explain how the element of Resilience makes you a better leader, and go into detail on the first of four critical fundamentals you’ll need to master. If you need to brush on the element of Awareness, discussed in an earlier article, please click here.

Resilience refers to your ability to overcome difficulties and use defeat or failure as a springboard to even greater success. It’s a very fast-paced world today. Change happens all the time, and as the pace of change and complexity accelerates, there is a greater chance of failure. Think of Nortel, Yahoo and RIM—just a few years ago, they dominated their industries: now, they are gone or struggle to remain relevant. Constantly changing demographics, technology, competition and growing globalization have taken a heavy toll on them.

So how do leaders keep their business relevant and competitive in these turbulent and fast-paced times? They must be aware of their leadership strengths and weaknesses, and, they must be resilient. Leaders who can bounce back and lead in new directions, show empathy, are transparent in difficult times and can find ways to see opportunities in a chaotic market are the winners of today and tomorrow.  One thing you can bet on is that change will accelerate and become more complex. As a leader, if you can “master” or capitalize on change by creating a nimble and adaptable organization, your have created a tremendous advantage for your company.

To master change, leaders must consider four fundamentals within the element of Resilience:

1. Proper risk management
2. Effective personal “brand” alignment
3. Prompt reaction
4. Timely execution

Resilience Fundamental #1: Proper Risk Management

Your first step to increased resilience is to master your risk management skills.  Preparation for a difficult moment or change helps you navigate an obstacle much more easily. Increased confidence and clarity of thinking will allow you, the leadership team and your company, to take swift action as it recognizes opportunities lurking within the risk.

Consider the following real-life example. A chip manufacturer had a fire in one its major plants. The cleanup and repairs were estimated to take minimal time with a minimal impact to their customers—mainly cell phone manufacturers.  Unfortunately, it took NINE months for the plant to resume full productivity.  The repercussion of this event was very favorable for one of their clients and devastating to another. Why? Because Company A managed the risk and made alternate plans, while Company B decided to wait until the chip manufacturer was back on track with production. Instead of sitting back and assuming the supply interruption would be quickly fixed, Company A worked closely with their supplier and understood that the supply lines would be affected for a significant amount of time. By assessing the risk, they recognized from the beginning that unless they sourced parts from other plants, they themselves would face grave production issues. As a result, they realigned their supply chain to the supplier’s sister plants and other chip plants and their chip supply was uninterrupted for that nine months. By the time the executives at Company B learned that the “short interruption in supply” would take months and months to fix, all available supplies from the supplier’s sister plants and other competitors were already committed to Company A. By not understanding the risk and managing it proactively, Company B was hopeless to replace the production with other suppliers and they lost a tremendous amount of sales, momentum and market share. This is a great example of how a resilient company properly managed the risk and used it to their advantage.

In order to increase your risk management capabilities, consider the following lessons from the above example:

• Education and knowledge is critical: Company A knew the ramifications of having a supply interruption, so they investigated to learn as much as they could about the situation. The more you know about the market, the people, the products and the services you are offering, the more you can react successfully to change and risk. Information gathering—internal and external information and intelligence—also allows you to recognize the market shifts or situation shifts and prepare accordingly.
• Manage your Business Relationships: By working closely with the supplier, Company A understood that “minimal impact” to their supply chain was unlikely and therefore needed to change suppliers. Proper Business Relationship Management (BRM) like this, provides an incredible advantage during critical transitions or times of change. The more you can leverage your current relationships to help your company, the more efficient the reaction. During times of “calm”, that is when you need to plant the seed and “nurture” new and existing relationships with suppliers, partners, clients, staff, etc.
• Have a “Mitigation Plan” in place: Securing alternate suppliers gave Company A a huge competitive advantage over Company B. As you gather information and knowledge, mitigation planning will help you react and execute faster, with better clarity.

As the leader within your team or company, it’s critical you instill resilience within your organization. Risk Management is the first fundamental of Resilience. I encourage you to focus 5-10 minutes a day in exploring this fundamental and gathering the information you need to manage your risk.

Next article, we’ll explore Resilience fundamentals #2 and #3: effective personal brand alignment and prompt reaction. Until then, Be Amazing!

—

Denis Levesque, CEC, PCC, is owner of Big Dashan, a high-performance coaching, training and speaking firm. He helps those who feel stuck, bored or overwhelmed at work, build the clarity, confidence and passion they need to achieve their goals. Fluent in both English and French, Mr. Levesque helps rising talent improve their performance and their organizations’ effectiveness and profitability.

The ARC of Leadership: How Improved Awareness Leads to Higher Performance

The following is the first article in a multi-part series in which Denis Lévesque unveils his ARC of Leadership methodology.

Assessing Your “Personal Brand”

I’ve always thought that good leaders were a lot like good drivers.  A good driver is very aware of their surroundings. They aren’t distracted by activities such as texting or a GPS. If they need to change speed or direction, good drivers use a framework of procedures—shoulder checks and mirrors—to minimize risk as they make adjustments on route to their destination.

Good leaders are like that too. They know that changing corporate direction or speed can be dangerous unless you use the right tools and procedures to manage the risk change brings. Good leaders aren’t distracted by unnecessary noise: they are very aware of what is happening around them and use that knowledge to drive successful change.

Self Awareness is all about knowing what you are good at, where you need to improve and then going about and making those improvements. It’s about being a good driver in your business role. Awareness is also the first of three core elements in what I call the ARC of Leadership. A leader can use these three critical “soft skills” to enhance their current skill set and take themselves and their company from pretty good to really amazing!

Being self aware—understanding the nuances of your messages and how others perceive you—is a challenge for most. But the reality is, a leader’s “personal brand” has an enormous impact on an organization’s effectiveness.

A few months ago, I was coaching a high energy, smart and driven leader. She was very good at what she was doing but did not find that her team was achieving its full potential. After a short journey in coaching, she discovered that she should stop fixing all of her team’s problems and let them find their own solution. This advice is quite obvious from a distance; but when you are in the middle of this situation, most people consider doing the work as more efficient… at least in the short term.  The moment she stopped fixing problems and started to coach her employees, her team started improve. Initially, because she changed her style so drastically, the team struggled. However, within a short time, the team was able to deliver at the high level she expected of them.

Five Steps to Increase Your Self-Awareness

The road to greater self-awareness begins by assessing your personality and performance: your strengths and weaknesses, how you come across in the organization and how people perceive you. Unfortunately, most people are devastated when their limitations are aired and therefore internalize little of the “beneficial insight” from feedback such as a 360 review. It’s not easy to hear someone identify your weaknesses!

So how do you increase your level of self awareness to become a better leader? Big Dashan suggests the following five ways:

1. Hire an executive coach.  The role of a coach includes gently raising a mirror in front of you so that you can clearly see your own traits. Done objectively and gently, you will be amazed at the insights discovered.
2. Use personality tools.  There are a plethora of tools which help to categorize the dynamics of your personality, communication style and even conflict style.  These tools help provide a peek into how others may perceive your actions.
3.  Ask for feedback! Asking the right question can deliver a lot of great information. But make sure you are ready for the feedback! It’s not always easy hearing about ways you need to self-improve. Don’t be defensive (and definitely not vindictive) when someone offers their honest opinion.
4. Slow down and don’t stress.  We are all very busy. The demands of a job, family, volunteering, etc., can leave little time to do much, let alone think clearly. When we operate at 150 km/hour, our mind is just processing the tasks right in front of us.  This leaves little space to just watch and learn.  Sometimes, the answers are right in front of you, but you are just too busy to observe them! So schedule some down time or thinking time each week. Many of the biggest breakthroughs have happened this way!
5. Take care of yourself. Always take the time to get enough sleep, eat well and exercise. A healthy, well-rested body allows you to think more clearly when you are self-assessing.

The ROI of Self-Awareness

So why go through this exercise? What makes the pain worth the gain? Will better self-awareness really improve your leadership skills? In one word, “Yes!” A higher self-awareness provides you with the following:

• Increased Confidence. Increasing self awareness, increases confidence on what you are good at and what you should delegate.
• Personal Brand Management. We all “show” a certain way… you need to ask yourself if this is the “picture” you want others to know you by. By developing self-awareness you can better manage your personal brand.
• Higher Efficiency. When you know that you have difficulty in certain areas of your work, you can now delegate, outsource or work on it. This will have a positive impact on your productivity.
• Greater Trust. If people understand who you are, and know what to expect from you, you will develop trust within your team. Trust is a cornerstone for getting your team on side to implement plans and move your company forward.
• Improved Bottom Line. As a leader, you need to understand how your skills and style positively impact the bottom line… and how they impede it. By overcoming your “impediments,” you will relate better to your employees, management team, partners, clients, etc., resulting in increased speed of execution and lower operational costs from everyone involved.

Just as the expert driver uses their mirrors and shoulder checks to understand what is going on around them, a good leader will use similar tools to drive their business forward. It is difficult to hold a mirror up and see our weaknesses, but increasing awareness is vital in this hyper competitive world. Having an awareness of your strengths, as well as your areas for improvements is a critical element of great leadership. Luckily, everyone around you can clearly see your faults and weaknesses… so all you need to do is have the courage to ask them!

I encourage you to be brave and look in that mirror and check behind you. You’ll be amazed at how that awareness will improve your skills as a leader. Until then, Be Amazing!

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Next month, Denis will continue to outline his ARC of Leadership methodology. In the second part of his ongoing series, he will discuss how leaders require Resilience to thrive in our complex and changing business world. 

Denis Levesque, CEC, PCC, is owner of Big Dashan, a high-performance coaching, training and speaking firm. He helps those who feel stuck, bored or overwhelmed at work, build the clarity, confidence and passion they need to achieve their goals. Fluent in both English and French, Mr. Levesque helps rising talent improve their performance and their organizations’ effectiveness and profitability.