Marcia’s Leadership Q&A
/Q. I’ve had a company for over ten years. We weathered the pandemic, though it wasn’t easy. We’ve never had a Strategic Plan, nor has my Advisory Board. What’s the value of developing one now?
Marcia Daszko’s inquisitive thinking is based in deep leadership knowledge. She engages everyone to think and re-examine their beliefs, actions, and outcomes. Through her powerful messages in Pivot, Disrupt, Transform, How Leaders Beat the Odds and Survive, no one stays the same. New opportunities are endless.
Call or text: +1 (408) 398-7220
Email: md@mdaszko.com
Q. I’ve had a company for over ten years. We weathered the pandemic, though it wasn’t easy. We’ve never had a Strategic Plan, nor has my Advisory Board. What’s the value of developing one now?
Q. Our organization has grown, and now there are more people available to do the day-to-day work that managers used to have to deal with. But many managers still have a strong tendency to take on the tasks. How do we break the “I’ll take care of it” reflex?
A. Great question, and I’m smiling! One of my mentors told me over 20 years ago, “a great leader is a lazy leader.” That’s a pretty surprising yet memorable comment, isn’t it? It’s also powerful. A leader doesn’t do the tasks that can be delegated unless it’s a time when all hands need to work together to get the job done. As people move from a more detailed and sometimes analytic role (like a sales person or an engineer) into management and leadership, it means the mindset and the role of the person also must change. Leaders need to think strategically, create and work ON the systems that the people work IN, anticipate and pursue opportunities, and develop the people. They delegate the work and create the environment where people contribute ideas and are self-motivated to contribute.
Q. It’s easy to get caught up in everyday work. How do you get off the hamster wheel to make time to plan and do something big or meaningful for the company?
A. Whether an executive, a manager, or a team member, it’s important to have a tentative plan for your day and week. Then adapt as needed. If you know what to need to accomplish, you can focus and prioritize. Look at how you spend your time. If you’re in back-to-back meetings, when do you read and respond to emails ,customers’ requests, think and plan, and do your work? Planning, communicating, reflecting on lessons learned, are part of the job. Schedule time for those essential tasks, too. You might need to schedule 30 or 60 minutes at the beginning and end of the day to keep information flowing. If you don’t Plan, you will be in Do-Do-Do mode all day long, just reacting and feeling drained and stressed by the end of the day. Schedule quiet time to think, plan and focus on the priorities. Use the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, a tool to continually improve. You work short term, but think longer term to contribute doing more meaningful and innovative work in the company and for the customers.
Q. I’m going to step down from the President position for personal reasons. I’m concerned I may miss it, regret my decision, or not agree with some of the decisions my predecessors make, though I’ve been grooming them for months. What do I do if I regret leaving?
A. It will be natural to miss the leadership you’ve had, the people you interact with, the challenges and routines, etc. Your work and position has been a big part of your life. It’s time to consider your transition. Reflect on your contributions, what you learned and the progress you made, your legacy, and the reality of the emotions (the good and the bad.) You may want to take a break for a few weeks or months before moving on to your new life or encore career. You may feel a loss of what you miss; it’s natural. Grieve what you miss, so you can move forward. Look forward to new opportunities, new routines, new experiences. An important step is to Let Go. Don’t look back or stay involved in the decisions (unless you’re called for advice.). Give the new leader space to lead, to explore, and to make mistakes, too. Most people have a transition time; take that time to adapt, and have some plans so you don’t go from working full-time to having nothing on your calendar. Give your new life space and an opportunity to be very self-satisfying. It has happened, but rarely that leaders are called back into a company to deal with a special project, to save it or turn it around (like Steve Jobs at Apple.). If that happens, assess the situation and consider giving yourself a timeline to make it a temporary time and not permanent. Think about the why before re-entering. Every situation is different, so there is not one answer, but keep in mind why you left and your life goals and stay true to those.
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. I’ve cleared my In Box and finished my calls at the end of my day. I’ve got 10 or 30 free minutes. What are the best things I can do?
A. This answer will be different for each individual. Time every day (even 10 or 30 minutes) for self-care is rejuvenating. I’ll share a few ideas, and see what resonates for you.
Over time, you might try different ideas. Be quiet, close your eyes, reflect on your days: did you accomplish what you planned; did you help someone; did you refer someone; what did you learn; what mistakes did you make; what will you improve tomorrow; what’s your plan for tomorrow?
Other options are to listen to a podcast or in Clubhouse; read an article; write a thank you card, a letter, a poem, or write in your journal. Do some physical activity, a video exercise class. Do something that you enjoy for yourself. Or do something special for someone else: send flowers and surprise someone
Think about the people who make a difference in your life, often times those closest to you and thank them and give them recognition, both children and adults.
Q. Sometimes it feels like work is all-consuming. How can I create more distance between my work and personal life?
A. Over the past year, people have experienced such different situations. Some have had to work less hours or leave the workforce due to family obligations. Some have worked less hours but improved their efficiency and productivity. Others have gotten consumed with work and Zoom meetings.
Part of work becoming all-consuming may be the habits you’ve created. If they’re not healthy, it’s time to break the bad habits and create new ones. When you think about your Wheel of Life, what are the parts that make up your life? Family, hobbies, friends, career, fitness and sports, health, finances, spiritual, school, romance? Are you dedicating your time and energy (not just your words) to the parts of your life that are important to you?
Schedule time to dedicate to the parts important to you. Put healthy limits on the parts that are consuming you. Schedule your work hours. Set up consistent habits so you feel a division of work and home life. Create some routine at the beginning and end of your day so that you prepare for your day.
Then change your venue to begin your work day. Take breaks and get a change of scenery; take a walk or a drive for 10 or 30 minutes. Interact with different people. Then go back to work. Finish your day and shift your venue again.
Do something for yourself, with family or friends to take the mental break. Both routine and some creative outlets and variety will be refreshing and healthy. Keep trying new things and see what helps you feel better.
Q. What traits do you think most great leaders have?
A. There are hundreds of traits that great leaders may have. But the essential focus for leadership is not really about attributes. Thinking about leadership traits is a static approach. Instead, think about people continually developing their leadership as a robust and dynamic process. Leaders are creative, questioning, and continually improving their thinking and their actions.
Define some characteristics of leadership and look at how those can be improved over time. Great leaders have a confidante, a trusted advisor that continually teaches, challenges, and encourages them in a safe environment, yet beyond their comfort zone.
Q. What kind of duties and responsibilities are best left solely in the hands of a leader and not delegated to a subordinate?
A. Here are a few essential duties of a great leader that they cannot delegate. Leaders are accountable for the system (organization) and they can not hold individuals IN the system accountable for the results of the system. This is a huge differentiator that many leaders don’t get—the difference between accountability and responsibility. Leaders are accountable for the results because only they can change the System. They need to work ON the System to improve or transform it if they don’t like the various outputs and measures. Individuals and teams are responsible to contribute to improving the system (and processes) with management.
Leaders also cannot delegate the organization’s transformation. The CEO/President/Owner leads the transformation and cannot delegate that. CEOs of Ford, GM, Xerox, etc. have owned their own transformation—it’s how they saved and turned around their organizations. Transformation is not easy. The thinking is different and difficult, but also essential and satisfying work. Leaders create the culture through showing their leadership and communicating their values, priorities, and focus. Leaders also create the environment where people are self-motivated; that’s where the power is. Leaders don’t motivate people (sometimes they de-motivate them and let “best practices” and management fads creep into their organization. Those can cause internal competition and dysfunctional workplaces.). Leaders develop and invest in their people and grow the business.
Q. What’s the best way to cultivate a sense of self-awareness in myself as a leader?
A. As we’ve heard many times, “we don’t know what we don’t know.” It starts with what we believe. Many people believe that when they’ve graduated from high school, trade school, or college, they’ve gotten the diploma and they’re “done” with the bulk of their learning. But their journey of learning is just beginning. They embark into personal lives and careers—and maybe multiple careers over decades and meet leaders (good and bad) who become mentors. Deep learning begins when people want to explore who they are, what they want, and where they’re going. Leadership develops when they begin to ask more questions. Ask questions about choices, direction, and how they can contribute. How will they be authentic in words and actions?
Developing leadership (naturally what each person has within themselves) means continual learning, studying, having meaningful conversations, and most importantly asking questions and challenging the status quo. Great leaders don’t blame, judge, and make excuses. They are creative, search for solving problems with others, and see possibilities and opportunities. People have busy days, productive days, days of struggle, and days to reflect. To become more self-aware, listen more, read more, question more, experiment more, and make more of a difference. In doing these things, you learn more about yourself—and where you need to push out of your own comfort zone to grow.
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. How do I hold myself accountable to lead, set good examples, and maintain standards for the people in my organization?
A. Think about what you want to accomplish and what you want your organization to accomplish. The culture and the workplace you create and the way you interact with your employees and customers is a reflection on you. What do you believe, assume, and what do you stand for—intellectually, emotionally, and in action? Do your words and actions match? These are based on your values. You want your values to blossom and be reflected in your organization. Take them from the Me to the We. Identify a few essential values and live them and communicate them every day in words and actions. When there’s a misstep, learn together (don’t blame), and move forward.
Q. As the president and business owner of my company, I sometimes need an objective perspective. How can I find someone who can provide that?
A. People need resources and advisors through life, whether it’s a doctor, teacher, or advisor. Every team needs a coach. Every student needs a teacher. Some systems provide resources like a school coach or teacher. But if you lead an organization or business, you need to find someone who is sincerely committed to guiding and educating you. There are multiple ways to find a knowledgeable resource. A common way is to ask friends and colleagues who you trust for referrals. Another common resource that is growing in popularity because it’s at your finger tips is Linked In. You can search for advisors, reach their profiles, expertise, and testimonials. See common connections you have. Connect with them and have conversations and assess if they have the personality, knowledge and ability to build trust with you. If they are a trusted advisor, they will ask many questions and help you think at a new level. If they both provoke your thinking and make you uncomfortable, yet you feel safe, you may have found the match you need to explore new options and decisions.
Strange bedfellows have emerged in the past year as the world addressed the pandemic. For example, GM and Ford pivoted their production lines to make ventilators, and beer breweries shifted to produce hand sanitizers.
Pharmaceutical companies around the world began the race to create vaccines to protect society from COVID19 and its variants. Independently, corporations compete to win; they are rivals. First to market, best to market—who will it be?
The pandemic has driven all of the pharma companies around the world to discover vaccines that will be safe and effective.
This week we saw the Biden administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services identify and supply the funding so two typically rival mega-pharma corporations (Merck and Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson company) would collaborate, unite, and support each other. Together they will accelerate the vaccine production needed. Merck did not succeed in discovering their own vaccine, but they are scaling up their manufacturing capacity to deliver millions of vaccine vials for distribution to the people in need.
The Strategic Compass is a powerful inter-dependent strategy tool that can be used to drive toward and accelerate successful results in any or across organizations and industries. The Compass has five interactive parts. It quickly helps leaders to:
focus and prioritize
ask and answer the essential questions, and
communicate to the teams the extraordinary results they need to achieve.
When the compelling aim is clear, great leadership communicates it to the people who can collaborate and deliver. By what method will they achieve the aim? What values will they stand for in action, not just words? Who will they serve and what do those customers/patients/members/students need? How will leaders measure progress and success?
Strategic Compass
Whether an organization has its annual goals to achieve or a global pandemic and crisis is threatening survival of society as we knew it, leaders can focus and address their issues. The Strategic Compass is an imperative guide.
There are times for competition, but there are more compelling opportunities for cooperation and collaborations. Businesses may compete, but during the times they collaborate, we all may win. When the Compelling Aim is enormous and too large for one organization, leaders who merge resources, creativity, and brain power, create more successes. Another example is climate change. It will take millions of people working together to reverse the impact of global climate change.
When you’re faced with challenges and crises, look at the bigger picture to discover the power of Win-Win-Win results. Use your leadership and courage to answer the questions on the Strategic Compass, and optimize (not merely maximize) your results.
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
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.
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.
2021 will be a year of thoughtful action for leaders and their teams.
Strong Connections
It means creating a stronger link with:
Customers
Collaborative team members
Partners
Suppliers
Your coaches and mentors
Investments Are Essential!
2021 will be a Year of Investment! Invest in:
Yourself; your self-care, your learning; your time to be humble and grateful;
Rapidly developing your staff, your teams, your colleagues, and your partners; educate, develop skills, and strengthen their communication and team-building.
Deeper commitment to communicating in multiple ways to all of your team, in every corner of your operation;
Your systems and processes! What do you need to do to optimize your System (not maximize!) and quickly improve your processes? The status quo and small improvements are not enough.
Your infrastructure; build out more foundational systems for scaling growth into the future. The time is now!
Reduce the Built-In Flaws, Complexity, and Waste
Organizations are full of waste (estimating 60-80%.) Ensure that you’re reducing waste and increasing productivity:
Conduct a Team Audit. Are your teams all focused to support the Aim of your organization? Are they making progress at the speed you need? If you have too many teams that are struggling, you’re zapping the energy of your resources. Focus on a few, and disband those that are unproductive.
Post-pandemic planning and 2021 Strategic planning are different. Are you ready to implement both—at the speed that you will need?
Teams are burning out, zooming hour after hour (executives, managers, and employees) are exhausted, and often are too afraid to speak up. I’ve developed new team education, processes, and policies that can increase your meeting time productivity and reduce the time in meetings by 40 to 60%. Help your teams!
The challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic demanded unprecedented responses last year that few leaders had ever had to make. Across all sectors, leaders faced new dilemmas on an hourly or daily basis.
Pivotal leadership — the ability of leaders to pivot and adapt as their world is disrupting around them — is essential. What does it really mean?
“Pivot” means to make a fundamental, often abrupt and rapid change in direction.
Leaders had to take the essential step to pivot in 2020, to either survive or thrive, and they’ll have to keep doing it this year.
As Covid hit, some executives immediately closed their companies and furloughed their employees. Others adopted a “wait and see” stance, assuming the pandemic would end soon.
But pivotal leaders quickly assessed the situation, sensed what their constituents needed, and responded. They gathered rapid action teams, brainstormed ideas, and created solutions. They designed, focused and applied on the move.
Pivoting takes vision, rapid decision-making, and ubiquitous communication. It’s a commitment to experiment and take immediate action. Time is of the essence!
Leaders who pivot have a compelling, focused aim, and a solid foundation of management thinking to draw from.
We saw auto manufacturers GM and Ford pivot and produce 100,000-plus ventilators for hospitals. Distilleries made hand sanitizers. Luxury clothing manufacturers produced PPE gowns and masks. Schools pivoted to virtual learning, healthcare to telemedicine, and millions began working remotely.
Why pivot? Current needs aren’t being met. The status quo doesn’t work. Leaders see a need and boldly jump into action.
People who continually generate the most creative ideas are the most resilient and likely to pivot, survive and thrive.
I reached out to several executives to find out more about the challenges they faced early on in the pandemic and how they applied pivotal leadership to adapt their organizations. Here are their stories.
“We’re doing things we’ve never done before,” said Chris Boyd, a senior vice president and area manager for Kaiser Permanente, who led Kaiser’s Santa Clara facility when Covid-19 first hit. “For healthcare the pandemic got very real, very quickly.”
Immediately, the leaders at Kaiser identified its needs: Safety, personal protective equipment, a command center, and accelerated and widely dispersed communication.
“At first, the projections were so dire, but we succeeded in doubling the capacity of the hospital,” Boyd said. “By the second surge, we were well prepared.
“Communication was crucial, and it had to be different for everyone. We did video visits with patients to video broadcasts to employees, but we also needed contact with others who were not at a computer. Executives took a beverage/snack cart and visited staff to address their fears.”
Great leaders are always pivoting, creating, innovating — finding new solutions and markets. They see a crisis or amazing possibilities and bold opportunities.
Serial entrepreneur Toby Corey founded GetVirtual in March 2020. The Santa Cruz-based organization connects small businesses affected by Covid-19 to tech-savvy university students who could help pivot the businesses online with digital tools.
TOBY COREY
In March 2020, serial entrepreneur Toby Corey founded GetVirtual.
The Santa Cruz-based organization connects small businesses affected by Covid-19 to tech-savvy university students who could help pivot the businesses online with digital tools. Students receive college credits from partnering universities (it started at U.C. Santa Cruz and has spread to other Bay Area universities), invaluable experience in entrepreneurship, and an opportunity to give back to the community.
“The need is extraordinary. Everything is a process,” Corey said. “There are already 100 students working with 100 small businesses. The students want to be social entrepreneurs, be intellectually curious, and experiment.”
Corey said that altruism is important and that Generation Z is especially altruistic.
“Modern thinking is mindful,” he said. “It’s paying it forward; we’re doing that. We inspire greatness, disruption and innovation.”
The mindset of leaders who are able to pivot are focused on growth, the future, and meeting new needs with bold solutions.
Kavitha Mariappan, Zscaler executive vice president, customer experience and transformation.
SCOTT R. KLINE
Leaders pivoted for the safety of their employees, contractors and customers, locally and globally. For Zscaler — a San Jose cloud security company that became 2018’s biggest Nasdaq tech debut — that meant also dealing with a new level of security.
“One pivot has been the rapid, higher-level emergence of IT for business continuity. IT has been a savior,” said Kavitha Mariappan, Zscaler’s executive vice president, customer experience and transformation. “Preventing disruptions, addressing threat activities (the Zscaler cloud processes 140 billion transactions per day), being resilient, and innovating are what we do to protect the ‘crown jewels’ and protect our customers.
“We talk to our customers about transformation, and pivoting is critical, for security, safety and scaling for the future,” she said. “The pandemic was a true test in leadership authenticity and empathy. It’s a time of growth. We accelerated our initiatives and invested more in our people, infrastructure, and customers. We have a ‘rest and recharge day,’ a day to take a break. We’re anticipating, ‘What does re-entry to the office look like?’”
The conferences and trade show sectors, as well as travel and hospitality industries, were impacted or devastated in 2020. The initial impact on global executive briefing centers where sales teams meet with customers was also felt.
Elizabeth Simpson, president of the Association of Briefing Program Managers, reported how rapidly her 600 business members pivoted with each other.
“It was a tsunami of sharing,” she said. “Members immediately asked for resources to go virtual. We didn’t have them, but two members responded with help for the whole community.”
She continued, “One of our members, Pam Evans, senior director of the Executive Briefing Programs at Palo Alto Networks, made a powerful pivot with her team. She met with the VP of sales to say, ‘We’re open for business. We can take care of our customers virtually.’”
Bob Linscheid, the new CEO of the Silicon Valley Organization, is the past president/CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, as well as CEO of Linscheid Enterprises Inc.
TOMAS OVALLE/ SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL
Bob Linscheid joined the Silicon Valley Organization last fall to help the wounded organization get on a new path forward.
After an internal upset caused the previous CEO to resign, Linscheid was tapped to be interim president and CEO. He said he is ready to make a pivot that heals the 133-year-old organization.
“My job is to find the SVO’s path to reconciliation. As the No. 1 most innovative city in the U.S., San Jose is expressing its needs.” Linscheid said. “I’m doing a massive amount of listening to 1,200 diverse members’ voices and processing a lot of information. We have problems to solve, and we’ll be stronger as a group to make a difference. Great leaders hang out in uncertainty, but will be the most innovative.”
San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan with linebacker Isa'ako Togia at CEFCU Stadium.
TOMAS OVALLE
From his first day four years ago, Brent Brennan, San Jose State University’s head football coach, began a holistic approach to develop the young men on the team.
In his first two years, the Spartans won just three games. This season, he took the team to the Mountain West Conference championship and won — something that hadn’t been done in nearly 30 years.
With 110 players, Coach Brennan defined success by many measures, not just on the scoreboard. They focus on academics, health, training, and engaging with the campus and community. The team supports other athletic events, delivers dinner kits, and visits schoolchildren.
“Football is the best sport to learn about systems and holistic thinking. The game is a good training ground to pivot. It’s the process, the struggle. The players need to lean on each other. The pieces come together,” Brennan said. “The mindset is (to) keep moving forward: Go to class, get stronger, make good choices, contribute to the community, deal with setbacks together. Their pivotal growth as a team came when they each started caring more about each other and giving to the team. They are more connected.”
What do you anticipate in 2021? Are you ready to pivot at the speed you will need? What leadership strategies and creativity do you need? Have you assessed your ability to lead and done your pivot audit for 2021? It will not be business as usual.
Pivoting means that leaders will transform and go where they never before imagined!
Marcia Daszko has been working with senior executives for more than 25 years. She guides leaders to pivot to survive, rapidly scale, and achieve bold results. The bestselling author of “Pivot, Disrupt, Transform,” she serves on various boards and has taught MBA classes at six universities. Contact her at md@mdaszko.com.
TOMAS OVALLE/ SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL
The challenges caused by the 2020 pandemic demanded unprecedented responses that few leaders had ever had to make. Across all sectors leaders from business to healthcare to education to non-profits, faced new dilemmas on an hourly or daily basis.
Pivotal leadership--the ability of leaders to pivot and adapt as their world is disrupting around them--is essential. What does it really mean?
Pivot means to make a fundamental, often abrupt, and rapid change in direction.
Pivoting is essential to survive or thrive. Leaders had to pivot in 2020 and will continue in 2021.
Some executives immediately closed their companies and furloughed their employees. Others adopted a “wait and see” stance, assuming the pandemic would end soon.
But pivotal leaders quickly assessed the situation, sensed what their constituents needed, and responded! They gathered rapid action teams, brainstormed ideas, and quickly created solutions. They designed, focused, and applied on the move!
Pivoting takes vision, rapid decision-making, and ubiquitous communication. It’s a commitment to experiment and take immediate action. Time is of the essence!
Leaders who pivot have a compelling, focused aim and a solid foundation of management thinking to draw from.
We saw auto manufacturers GM and Ford pivot and produce 100,000-plus ventilators for hospitals. Beer distilleries made hand sanitizers. Luxury clothing manufacturers produced PPE gowns and masks. Schools pivoted to virtual learning, healthcare to telemedicine, and millions began working remote.
Why pivot? Current needs aren’t being met. The status quo doesn’t work. Leaders see a need and boldly jump into action.
People who continually generate the most creative ideas are the most resilient and likely to pivot, survive, and thrive.
Pivots Drive Transformation in Healthcare
As with any pivot, Chris Boyd, senior vice president & area manager at Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara said, “We’re doing things we’ve never done before! For healthcare the pandemic got very real very quickly.”
Immediately the leaders at Kaiser identified its needs: safety; PPE; a Command Center; and accelerated and widely dispersed communication.
“At first the projections were so dire, but we succeeded in doubling the capacity of the hospital,” Boyd said. “By the second surge, we were well prepared.”
“Communication was crucial, and it had to be different for everyone. We did video visits with patients to video broadcasts to employees, but we also needed contact with others who were not at a computer. Executives took a beverage/snack cart and visited staff to address their fears.”
Great leaders are always pivoting, creating, innovating—new solutions and markets! They see a crisis or amazing possibilities and bold opportunities.
Pivot to Social Entrepreneurship and Survival
In March 2020, serial entrepreneur Toby Corey (US Web founder, Solarcity, Tesla) founded GetVirtual. The Santa Cruz-based organization connects small businesses affected by Covid-19 to tech-savvy university students who could help pivot the businesses online with digital tools. Students receive college credits from partnering universities (it started at UC-Santa Cruz), invaluable experience in entrepreneurship, and an opportunity to give back to the community.
“The need is extraordinary. Everything is a process,” Corey said. “There are already 100 students working with 100 small businesses. The students want to be social entrepreneurs. Be intellectually curious and experiment. Altruism is important. Generation Z is very altruistic. Modern thinking is mindful. It’s paying it forward; we’re doing that. We inspire greatness, disruption, and innovation.”
The mindset of leaders who are able to pivot are focused on growth, the future, and meeting new needs with bold solutions.
IT Pivots As Saviors for Business Continuity
Leaders pivoted for the safety of their employees, contractors, and customers locally and globally. For cloud security company Zscaler, that meant also dealing with a new level of security. “One pivot has been the rapid, higher-level emergence of IT for the business continuity. IT has been a savior,” Kavitha Mariappan, executive vice president, customer experience and transformation, said. “Preventing disruptions, addressing threat activities (100 billion per day), being resilient, and innovating are what we do to protect the ‘crown jewels’ and protect our customers.”
“We talk to our customers about transformation, and pivoting is critical, for security, safety and scaling for the future. The pandemic was a true test in leadership authenticity and empathy. It’s a time of growth. We accelerated our initiatives and invested more in our people, infrastructure, and customers. We have a ‘rest and recharge day,’ a day to take a break. We’re anticipating, ‘What does re-entry to the office look like?’”
Executive Briefing Centers (EBCs) Go Virtual
Industries such conferences, trade shows, travel and hospitality were impacted or devastated in 2020. The initial impact on global executive briefing centers where sales teams meet with customers was also felt.
Elizabeth Simpson, president of the Association of Briefing Program Managers, reported how rapidly her 600 business members pivoted with each other, “It was a tsunami of sharing! Members immediately asked for resources to go virtual. We didn’t have them, but two members responded with help for the whole community!” She continued, “One of our members, Pam Evans, senior director of the Executive Briefing Programs at Palo Alto Networks, made a powerful pivot with her team. She met with the VP of Sales to say, “We’re open for business. We can take care of our customers virtually.”
Pivot to Healing and Innovation
Interim President & CEO Bob Linscheid joined the Silicon Valley Organization (SLO) to help the wounded organization get on a new path forward. After an internal upset caused the previous CEO to resign, Linscheid is ready to make a pivot that heals. He is listening to the 1200 diverse voices of the members in the 133-year-old organization.
“My job is to find the SLO’s path to reconciliation. As the No. 1 most innovative city in the U.S., San Jose is expressing its needs.” Linscheid said. “I’m doing a massive amount of listening to 1,200 diverse members’ voices and processing a lot of information. We have problems to solve, and we’ll be stronger as a group to make a difference. Great leaders hang out in uncertainty, but will be the most innovative.”
Pivoting a Football Team
From his first day four years ago, Brent Brennan, San Jose State University head football coach began a holistic approach to develop the young men on the team. In December 2020 they won the Mountain West Championship (for the first time since 1991.)
With 110 players, Coach Brennan defined success by many measures, not just on the scoreboard. They focus on academics, health, training, and engaging with the campus and community. The team supports other athletic events; delivers dinner kits, and visits schoolchildren.
“Football is the best sport to learn about systems and holistic thinking. The game is a good training ground to pivot. It’s the process, the struggle. The players need to lean on each other. The pieces come together. The mindset is keep moving forward: go to class, get stronger, make good choices, contribute to the community, deal with setbacks together. Their pivotal growth as a team came when they each started caring more about each other and giving to the team. They are more connected.”
2021 Pivots
What do you anticipate in 2021? Are you ready to pivot at the speed you will need? What leadership strategies and creativity do you need? Have you assessed your ability to lead and done your Pivot audit for 2021? It will not be business as usual.
Pivoting means that leaders will transform and go where they never before imagined!
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
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.
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!
November 2020
Q. If 2021 is another year of uncertainty (and it will take time to get us past the impact of the pandemic and the economic hit), how can we best prepare?
A. Get your team very focused on the business (or parts of the business) that best makes a difference to your customers. Let other projects that don’t add value fall by the wayside until you have the resources to pursue those. Second, together have conversations with your staff regularly about ways to improve the business. Bring problems to the teams and have everyone contribute to solving the problems. They’ll feel more engaged when they contribute and during challenging times, and the company can use all of the ideas it can get!
Q. How can we reduce the fears that people have about the rest of this year and 2021?
A. Identify what those fears are. Share them. While there is uncertainty about the future, there’s always uncertainty. It’s just at varying degrees. Together brainstorm and discuss what you do know! You’ll find that that list is long. From that foundation, you can plan the actions you will take. More productivity will emerge from having control of what you do know. Then you can anticipate and consider your options. The more you communicate effectively (short, focused, action-item meetings), the greater difference you can make Together.
October 2020
Q. My team feels disconnected from our customers. What are people best doing to keep in touch?
A. It’s fascinating during these times when communication is paramount that some customers feel that their vendors and partners have disappeared. Others find that they are in constant contact and well-supported. During these first eight months of chaos, teams either stepped up, assessed the new situations, and pivoted to meet customers’ needs, or they hunkered down.
We’re more than eight months into this pandemic. Organizations need to pivot and escalate to meet clients’ or a new market’s needs rapidly. Communicating frequently with various methods (calls, emails, text message, newsletters, Zoom meetings, webinars) are all possible. Use a variety and see what works best for your customers.
Q. With so many issues bombarding my executive team and our project teams, how do we decide where to focus?
A. Being able to prioritize and focus is a path to developing great leadership. Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur with a long To Do list, or you’re managing 10, 100, or 1000 people, there are only 24 hours in a day and only a few issues you can focus on. To decide what to prioritize and where to focus your time and your organization’s time, start with your Aim and its link to your Customers. What are you trying to accomplish to serve your customers? That’s where you begin.
Make time to listen to your customers. Start everyday with that focus. Read their e-mails and talk to them. If you spend several hours a day focused on communicating with customers and then planning with your team how to deliver what they need, the clarity of how to lead your people and manage your business should become very clear. Then step back and think, Will this take us into the future? What’s your vision in the short and the longer term?
October 2020
Q. Our society is full of opposites, and it overflows into the workplace. It has resulted into people withholding information, competition, and lack of collaboration. How do we unify our team?
A. Fear drives people to take an emotional stance. Often people go in opposite directions based on their reactions and perspectives. Your role as the leader is to unite people with a unifying purpose. People split apart when they focus on either what they may lose or what they most hope for. You can create harmony by bringing the extreme factions together. Begin by acknowledging the perspectives of all of the people. They are both right as individuals, but they need to act as a team. Understand that now the team is looking at either/or, good/bad, or win/lose perspectives.
Leaders pivot and refocus the team on the issues that they care about and need to accomplish together—what are the problems that need to be solved? Together they need to work to find the answers. They need to also agree on who they are serving. When the people can work together, they can optimize the system and the results they need to achieve. Optimization is key and leads to improvement, innovation, and transformation.
Q. Some of my employees are adapting to the changes in their lives to stay inside during the pandemic and due to the West Coast wildfires and air quality. Other employees are still struggling, overwhelmed, and stressed. We continue to be supportive. What else can we do?
A. Different people will pivot and find the opportunities during the crises that they face. They will make the adjustments in work or home that work for them. Those who struggle may put too many expectations and pressure on themselves. To support your team more, discuss with them what challenges they face.
Understand their workload and make sure they take breaks through the day and have the resources they need. Help them prioritize, and have a beginning and end to their day with distinct boundaries. Teams may want to achieve perfection. Reassure them that finding success, happiness, and customer satisfaction emerges from their happiness and the control they have. Keep them focused on what they control, and let go of what they don’t control or uncertainty.
Marcia joins Deborah Coviello on the The Drop In CEO podcast. They discuss the difference between motivating vs. helping emerging leaders self-motivate, redefining outcomes, and the value of making education fun.
You’ll learn why leadership complicates the message of service. Marcia will share tips on how to make simple changes in order to help team members understand and align with the organizational mission.
Email newsletter - September 15, 2020
Marcia answers leaders’ questions. Send your questions to md@mdaszko.com.
A. Embrace this opportunity! The more you mentally and physically prepare, the deeper your emotional experience can be. A sabbatical is a dedicated time (generally 2 to 12 months) to pivot. Go in a new direction where you focus your energy, time, interests and create a new purpose. It’s time to enrich yourself, achieve new goals, learn new skills, travel, volunteer in a foreign country, write a book, or hundreds of other pursuits.
The choice is yours. It’s a time to focus and create a new opportunity. Examine a deep passion you have. Logistically to prepare, plan where you will take your sabbatical—in the den or across the world. Preparing your living arrangements, finances, family and friends’ interaction, all need to be considered and addressed. Think about how your work will get done while you are gone and how you will re-enter with your team. Think about the end of the sabbatical: what is your vision? If you begin with a few ideas and also leave some open space for new possibilities, you’ll get more out of your time away.
A. Some companies are scrambling to keep their businesses open, doing deliveries, pivoting the way they do business. Every moment is reacting, responding, and following their processes. They may take little time to plan, improve, learn, or develop new skills.
It’s challenging, but the organizations that navigate through crises do take the time to plan, strategize, communicate with each other, listen to customers, and invest in some new training or learning—even if it is only one hour a week. People need to develop new skills together. They need to feel progress and forward movement. Ask periodically, “what can we improve?” Then apply those ideas. Over time, the work flows better and better.
Email newsletter - September 8, 2020
Marcia answers leaders’ questions. Send your questions to md@mdaszko.com.
A. You’ve taken Step One—you are aware that you are holding your stress inside. There are multiple and quick ways to release the stress and get you to a healthier place mentally and physically. There are also many resources (articles, books, music) to support you.
Step Two is to make a mental decision to make changes. Commitment is essential. If you want different results, you must take different actions.
Step Three is to make a list of ways that you can try to take care of yourself and diffuse the stress. You might feel that time and personal space is in short supply (and it is), but everyone has 24 hours in a day. Think about your ideal day and work toward that.
Carve out time during your day for three deep breaths (in through the nose for 4 seconds, out through the mouth for 5+ seconds; you can do this in the shower or when you’re driving.) Take a few minutes at the beginning and end of the day and think about or better, write down what you are grateful for (it might take one to ten minutes.) If writing is an outlet for you, keep writing and let your ideas flow.
Step Four is to take your list of activities and schedule them. Alone or with family, schedule time to eat (not at your desk), take a walk preferably with nature, read (to a child), choose one of your hobbies and sports and do it. Self-care with sleep, healthy eating, and exercise are your foundation.
Step Five is ask for help: a partner, a colleague, a neighbor, a friend. If you need a free hour or evening, ask for help so you get some space. Then offer to help someone else. Build your support community at home and at work. Be creative. The more you adapt to challenges, the easier life flows.
A. First, there is a decades-old assumption that you can motivate others! Leaders don’t motivate others. Leaders create the environment where people are self-motivated! Repeat that! That’s where the power is! Managers may try to motivate people with fear, incentives, quotas—and it may work for the short term, but it’s not healthy or sustainable. If your team is slow, assess your own leadership.
How do you inspire, teach, develop, give them challenging work, show respect, and give gratitude? If you want your team to hasten their pace, are you clear about the purpose of the work? Do you continually communicate with the team and ask them what ideas they have to improve the work and connection with the customer? Are you creating the workplace where people can learn and work TOGETHER? If you have departments and silos and they don’t communicate, you’re on your way out of business. It’s time to pivot your thinking and your leadership. Action starts with you, in leadership.
Email newsletter - August 13, 2020
Marcia answers leaders’ questions. Send your questions to md@mdaszko.com.
A. Life is a perpetual pivot. It helps if we adopt that thinking. We are always adapting to changes in life, so it’s great to look ahead and prepare for the changes you know about. You’ve probably been adapting over the months, from working in bed in your sweats to creating a comfortable workspace with better lighting, seating, computer set-up, plants and pictures.
Think of your work style and your environment. What can you enhance to make it more effective for you? What do you want to upgrade? What will be some of your future needs? It’s helpful if you keep some variety in your setting.
Build in some of your routines (start time, ending time, break away from your office and do a 30-minute lunch and walk or yoga class.) Then build in some variety every day to keep you fresh. Connect with someone you haven’t talked to for a while. Make a plan for the week-end and mix up the activities. The key to being resilient and productive is to not get into a rut; be creative! Do at least one new thing a week!
A. Productivity begins with clarity about what you need to achieve, how you will accomplish your tasks, and what resources and support you need to be successful. You and your team can initially make your Plan about what you want to accomplish and who will do what. Identify the timeframe and expectations. Communication that is effective for all of the team members will help remove barriers and allow the team to feel supported. Identify your needs and ask how you can support others.
As you do your work, have a Plan for your day and build in some structure as well as some flexible and break times. Remove distractions. Tackle the harder tasks first while you have energy and also have time to reach out to other team members if you need help or questions answered. When the “must-do” priorities are done, assess your progress, what can you adjust and improve in the future, and reflect on the learning and contributions you’re making. Communicate with your team for fun, for progress, to plan, and to celebrate progress and results.
Email newsletter - July 30, 2020
A. Zoom fatigue (from any platform) has become an unexpected side effect of remote work. There are countermeasures team members can take to monitor and reduce the fatigue or stress. It also means that you have to implement the tips for reducing the fatigue, not just think about it or think that it sounds like a good idea. It means having healthy boundaries for yourself.
Here are a few tips! See what works best for you. Before getting on a Zoom call, take a few minutes to prepare yourself. Get a beverage, go to the restroom, and do some breathing exercises (simply do deep inhales through your nose and long exhales out your mouth) several times. If you’re leading the meeting, prepare an agenda and do a quick review of it as you begin Start with a focused warm-up. You might ask for people to describe in two words how their week-end was or how they feel today. If you ask an open-ended question such as, “How are you or how was your holiday?” you might be 30 minutes into the meeting time before that stops. Instead, schedule a time for a luncheon or Happy Hour for the team or employees to join if they choose.
Another tip is to schedule meeting for 50 minutes, not 60 minutes so you have breaks and meetings aren’t back-to-back. Then people can refresh, summarize notes, or prep for a few minutes for the next meeting.
Throughout the day schedule breaks for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour. Get up and move away from the computer. Change the scenery by going to a different room or go for a walk around your yard or around the block. With even 30 minutes, you may be able to take a short drive.
Periodically, give your eyes a rest by looking away from the screen. Blink more often. Look across the room; look outside and to the horizon. Take a nap for 15 minutes or at lunchtime to refresh. The most important thing is to take breaks, walk around, do some self-care, exercise, and change your scenery. If you tend to sit at your computer and be on calls four to sight to ten hours a day, this will be a major, but much needed pivot for team members.
A. At the beginning of every meeting or interaction (by phone, virtual platform, or socially distant in-person), be clear about your aim. What do you need to accomplish together? What help do you need? What problem are you trying to solve? Many people assume these answers, but the reality is that often people are unclear about the direction the company is going, what the team needs to do, or what’s expected.
Communicating purpose saves so much time! It allows for better productivity and great worker satisfaction. Clarity allows workers how best they can contribute. When people understand what to do, why they’re doing it, and then can create together the solutions, work, information, and communication can flow. People excel when they can ask questions, discuss options, look at data in context, and make decisions to apply. Through these times, making a difference and experiencing personal satisfaction to help others contributes to more open, healthy communication. Ask questions, listen, laugh, share, include people, be creative! There are so many ways to communicate!
Email newsletter - June 30, 2020
Marcia answers leaders’ questions. Send your questions to md@mdaszko.com .
A: Cash flow is paramount for organizations. But this is also the time to examine your leadership and your culture. Based on those, leaders have choices to make. Some companies reacted and laid off employees immediately. Some companies put their employees’ well-being first and closed down quickly to keep their staff safe. Financially some have no-layoff policies and financially ensure their employees stability. After looking at many factors, leaders make decisions about how to keep the operation sustainable.
Some owners will suffer in the short-term to ensure the company survives. For example, sales may be slow now. But if business comes back in three, six or twelve months, managers do not want to lose staff that they have invested in. Some companies have cash reserve. Others have only enough for a month or two. Does it make sense to borrow? Have you applied for the government funding? If it looks like your business will survive but be temporarily doing less work, think about where you make investments. Gather the people together to learn and work together. Get ready to re-open. What needs to be different?
A: You’re very fortunate. Think ahead to 2021. Assess the reality of where you are today. Then gather the managers, your teams, or the most creative people in the company together. Lay out the issues, and ask the question, “How can we revive, thrive, and survive in 2021?” Put them in groups across the company (not by department) because people will speak up more easily. Have a few sessions.
Encourage people to share ideas, and let them be as wild as can be! A wild idea from Sandra may not work, but may lead Brian to think of an even wilder idea that can work! What does your company see as needs of your customers? What do they see as needs outside of your current customer base that you could meet? Create a new market. What are problems your company can solve? Get people working together.
A: If cuts need to be made, who can participate in those decisions? Depending on the size of the company or department, there may be options. Perhaps everyone can take a 20% pay cut and executives can take 40%. Can people take their vacation now? Are there people who want to go part-time? If there is no work that you typically do, can you use this time to invest in classes, train employees with more skills, or coach teams to prepare for the future? Can cleaning, re-organizing, repair work, painting, or redesigning the offices be done now? There might be another company that is booming. Can your employees go help out that company during their surge in business? Keep looking for options. If you have to do layoffs, can you or another profitable company support your workers to volunteer in the community? Keep being creative!
Dynamic podcast with InsightOut host: Billy Samoa Saleebey
It was a deeply moving experience to share ideas with Billy Saleebey about how to pivot leadership and organizations to thrive. Have a listen and explore your thinking about these provocative ideas. Enjoy!
Apple: https://apple.co/3i3Hcx9
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/388sfoP
Google: https://bit.ly/2YAWgdR
Email newsletter - June 23, 2020
One of my closest friends, Jill from Minnesota called me this week. Before I barely said hello, she was already talking to me, “Marcia, I didn’t think I’d like your book. I don’t really read those kinds of books (non-fiction, business, leadership?) But I LOVE your book. It’s like it was written yesterday! You’re talking about things that are real, that we’re facing like the riots and things I face in work and life! I love the stories already.” After a few minutes, she said she had to go; she wanted to continue reading.
THANKS, JILL FOR SHARING AND ENJOY!
You can make a difference and have an impact. Most of the time you do the best you can. Others do, too!
It may be rare that by one moment of kindness, one kind comment of encouragement, one thank you, one hand-written card, you can positively influence someone’s career, direction, or life.
In challenging times, the support you can give that takes one minute can be meaningful for a lifetime to someone else.
Remember the time when:
You asked someone’s advice and then did something amazing with it?
A teacher or coach encouraged you, and it helped?
Your coach complimented you on your teamwork or efforts?
A mentor asked you questions and you discovered your passion?
Your friend referred you to someone who helped you?
Your parent had your back?
Remember to appreciate and encourage a child rather than criticize and put them down.
Remember to give the space to others so they can do some self-care (time for a nap, exercise, read, journal, daydream.)
Remember to make a phone call and spend time with those who you take for granted.
Book Marcia for your local and global events and conferences:
Virtual and live keynotes, workshops, live streams, open Space facilitation.
Hire Marcia as your expert meeting and inspiring speaker on the virtual stage, in your Zoom meeting, at international conferences and summits. She serves global audiences and the Silicon Valley, San Francisco Bay Area (Santa Clara, San Jose, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Napa, and Monterey) in California.