Marcia's Leadership Q&As: Pivotal Leadership—the New Norm

Pivotal Leadership—the New Norm

Q. Planning for our staff returning to the office is a roller coaster ride, especially with the new Delta variant in full force. Simultaneously, employees are voicing resistance to return because they like working from home. What’s the solution?

A. Your question is relevant and timely. For any crisis or challenge, we have to think of the aim of the organization, and then answer, “what will we do to optimize our system? What are new ways to achieve our goals?” There are customers to serve, applicants to recruit, and employees and vendors to support. 

Finding the Win-Win-Win for each organization is a leadership challenge—how to optimize the whole. There are business needs that have to be met so that the company is sustainable. This is a time for pivotal leadership. More than ever, leaders need to discuss (and integrate the voices of the employees and customers) how they are going to create and manage all of the parts of their organization. Use a system diagram. Draw the organization’s interactions (not an Org. chart) and see how the work, information, and communication can flow. You’ll ask new strategic questions. 

More important, be open to new methods to accomplish your aim. The more creative you are, the more innovation you can offer. Strive for a happy, productive workplace.

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Q. Our corporation is looking at acquiring five to ten companies in the next year or two to help us scale toward our vision. What are the blind spots we should be aware of?

A. Great question!  So few corporations think through the M&A process. This leads to more than 80% of M&A transactions failing.  The sad part is, there’s such potential for success! The answer is easy; the work is harder, but essential. The issue is that often, corporations that acquire another corporation don’t do two fundamental requirements: 

1. They don’t think through the integration process fully (they focus on the financial success and capturing a skillset of workers they need); their potential success is immediately stunted. 

2. They don’t assess the leadership and cultural fit. If the two fundamentals are done, leadership (of both organizations) create an integration team. 

It’s mandatory to have an Integration Team with the knowledge to optimize the whole transaction—and then follow it through into the next year or two to ensure problems are addressed. They assess how the two organizations (and following on, more) will integrate from a leadership perspective, cultural perspective, and financial perspective. It’s like a three-legged stool. If you don’t have all three legs stable, you’ll fall and fail. But focus on optimizing all three parts, and you’ll have a great potential for long-term success. You need to become an Integration machine!

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. When should a team prepare for a crisis? Is it too early to plan for the next crisis, especially when we’re still in the middle of this one?

A. Great leaders, at work and at home, anticipate and consider challenges and how they will respond to them. Whether it’s pilots training to deal with a challenge in flight, families preparing for an earthquake or a hurricane, a driver being aware of the traffic, a company preparing for a pandemic or loss of a major client, people do a variety of crisis planning. Some companies had a plan in case they were ever faced with a pandemic. Did your company have a plan? Those that had one had created it with calm rationality and could quickly adapt it. Others had to rapidly pivot, or they struggled.

Thoughtful leaders at home and at work think ahead. They scan their environment for safety. What might they be faced with?  With your team, what do you need to think about, anticipate, discuss, plan and prepare for? It’s never too late to make a plan. That’s what leaders do. When it’s needed, leaders and their rapid action teams adapt and pivot, and respond. If an unforeseen crisis occurs, teams who have a foundation in leadership thinking, will respond rather than react or freeze in fear.

Q. What signs should a leader look out for that signal that they may not be the right leader for the job anymore or should take a different role in the organization and move aside?

A. It is not uncommon for a founder, owner or executive to move aside as an organization grows, needs to scale, or goes through transitions they have no experience in or are uncomfortable with. The enterprise may be moving and growing at a fast pace, building in complexity, or innovating into new areas of expertise. If executives feel overwhelmed, uncomfortable, fearful, or are micro-managing, they need to assess if they are continuing to find joy and satisfaction in their current position.

There are multiple ways to address this situation. Many young founders have a close mentor(s) such as a supportive CEO, Board Director or a professor who guide and advise them as they navigate and develop. Or an executive may have founded an organization and be passionate about product development, but may not have an affinity for running or growing a business. People have natural leadership within them and each person needs to decide where they can best contribute and feel fulfilled.