Marcia's Leadership Q&A

Send your leadership and team questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com.  She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com

Q. What are some of the issues executives need to address in 2021?

A. Issues that challenge executives are the health of the business: identifying their priorities and planning how they will achieve their goals. These topics demand a high level of interactive communication, decision-making, and delegating with clarity. Smart leaders will keep high-touch with their customers and employees, too. As one of my favorite quotes goes, “Everything we do, we do through people.” Don Petersen, retired CEO, Ford Motor. The pandemic has required people to adjust, but it also has taken a toll on people from computer fatigue, reduced in-person people interaction, fluctuating productivity, and unhealthy boundaries at home or at work. These all impact morale, retention, and employee engagement.

Great leaders will invest more in their people in 2021 in various ways. They will offer more personal development opportunities and classes that support their teams. They’ll invest so employees can purchase what they need to have a better working environment. They will be creative and engage employees in interactive, robust exercises on-line. Some organizations have announced No Meeting days so people can regenerate, take some time to re-energize in their own way, or have some quiet time to get their work done without interruptions. There are many possibilities.

Q. We’ve never experienced this kind of upheaval that has impacted society across all sectors. How will we rebound and operate post-pandemic?

A. We’ll rebound well, the more we believe we can do it together. It will be tough work! And here is a lot of tough work to do—the work that was happening when the pandemic hit and got sidelined (like other medical research.) It means every individual must think about taking responsibility for him/her/self and some responsibility for their neighbors and community. Thankfully, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Three corporations have announced the development of vaccines with higher than 90% safety in their clinical trials, and the FDA will confirm that within weeks. A military general with a specialty in logistics will lead the roll out of the vaccine distribution plan.

As Alan Weiss commented in his weekly Morning Memo (Nov. 23, 2020): “If we can do this in the face of serious illness and deaths, sheltering and lockdowns, isolation and shortages, we can certainly fix our infrastructure, improve our schools, provide quality healthcare to all, and develop an intelligent immigration policy.” Our work continues as we need to transform broken systems. The question is, what leadership foundation, thinking, and plan will you have in place for 2021 and post-pandemic? The time is NOW to do your strategic thinking and planning. Time is of the essence! If your sense of urgency is a “wait and see” attitude, you’ll be struggling in 2021, not leading. It’s a choice!