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COVID-19 Leadership: Are You a Success or Failure? 3 Action Areas!

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The Point: Grade yourself on your COVID-19 Leadership – Are you a success or a failure? You work your entire career to build your leadership brand. Day after day, week after week, and year after year you put forth a valiant effort (or, what we’d like call your “Blood, Sweat, and Spears!”) However, it only takes a moment to wipe out your leadership brand. And with the pandemic gripping the economy, the spotlight shined brightly on your leadership brand. Are you a success or failure so far? In this post, we’ll explore COVID-19 Leadership and determine if you are a success or failure as well as provide three action areas… Enjoy!

COVID-19 Leadership – Are You a Success or Failure?

As we prepare to turn the corner into 2021, I would ask are you a success or failure during these COVID-19 Leadership times? The Greek Philosopher Socrates is quoted as saying “Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it.” 2020 was supposed to be a difficult year for leaders at all levels, as forecasters predicted an economic slowdown a year ago in 2019. Well throw on top of that economic financial recession the suffering and death resulting from the pandemic. COVID-19 has been a time where leaders have potentially experienced both of Socrates tragedies… Simultaneously!

If your heart’s desire as a leader is to be the best leader possible, the actions you have taken and are taking in response to this most disruptive leadership challenge will shape your leadership legacy. You may have achieved success in previous years, making what now seems like the “right” call (or decision) after “right” call. When times are good, it’s easy to get it “right” as a leader. However, now that we’re in a medically induced recession, the “wrong” call or decision is all too common.

The Reason It’s Lonely at the Top – Decisions

Leaders who consider themselves as employee-focused and friendly found themselves in the unenviable position earlier this year of making “tough” decisions. But some leaders chose to make these “tough” decisions actually an “easy” decisions or easy way out of bad business decisions. For example, after considerable review of their organization’s financial performance, many gathered their team members on virtual conferences not to announce a way forward but to share their decision to furlough (i.e., fire, layoff, dismiss) otherwise loyal associates with little to no sensitivity. Worse yet, some other leaders elected to adopt the strategy of “no action” and did nothing (Yes, doing nothing is a choice and therefore a decision). It was only a small minority of leaders who elected to pursue the aforementioned way out or forward (Truly the “tough” decision!)

As the pandemic gripped the globe, I was asked to act as an outside leadership and change consultant on several C-suite level COVID-19 taskforces for our clients. In this role, I had a front-row seat on vastly different crisis leadership approaches. Those differences prompted me to ask the C-suite leaders I worked with what they were learning as a leader from the pandemic. Not only were these C-suite leaders eager to discuss their strategies and insights, including their uncertainties and fears, but they also wanted to hear what other leaders were doing (Perspective on not only successes, but failures as well). These discussions seemed positive, productive and progressive, allowing the C-suite leaders to reinforce certain behaviors moving forward as well as discard others. With doubt, uncertainty, and a lack of clarity we both found value in taking the time to reflect and strategize for a better tomorrow today.

The Power of Zoom

These C-suite leader conversations as measured through Zoom-metrics have consisted of 2,000+ Zoom meetings and 200+ Zoom webinars being conducted on a variety of topics (Leadership, Change, Strategy, Accountability, Delegation, Sales + Business Development, Marketing, Human Resources, Operations, and Finance). C-suite leader attendees were from a variety of industries (Automotive, Banking/Finance/Insurance, Biotechnology + Pharmaceutical, Government – Federal and State, Retail, and Technology – Hardware and Software) representing for-profit and nonprofit organizations, and were geographically dispersed across North America, South America, Europe and the Middle East.

It’s important to note a finding that presents itself in these difficult leadership times, that being leaders – especially high performing ones – are extremely harsh critics of their own performance. While most organizational stakeholders (representing company peers and subordinates) would gage the C-suite leader’s performance as Above Average on a five-point Likert scale (Excellent, Above Average, Average, Below Average, and Very Poor), most C-suite leaders ranked themselves as Below Average (with the harshest of critics ranking themselves Very Poor). That’s right, these seemingly superior C-suite leaders who during previous times reflected little/no self-esteem or self-image issues, now during COVID-19 were convinced that they were not leading up to their fullest potential (perhaps the key is developing “self-compassion” skills as Margaret Wehrenberg Psy.D. shares in her Psychology Today article titled, “What to Do When You Are Your Own Worst Critic”).

COVID-19 Leadership: Are You a Success or Failure? 3 Action Areas

So, during this COVID-19 Leadership moment, do you consider yourself a success or failure? The aforementioned conversations focused on leaders, regardless of their success or failure orientation, excelling in three (3) broad action areas. COVID-19 leaders want to be known for leading with:

  1. Courage (Having created environments with effective Strategies, Action Plans, Goals, Communication, Organization Alignment, Operational Excellence, and Organizational Proficiency)
  2. Poise (Having created environments with Contingency Planning, Organizational and Team Member Prioritization Rankings, Science versus Art, and Championing Ethical Leadership), and/or
  3. Dignity (Having created environments present with Calm, Morality, Compassion, and as odd as it sounds Love)

SUMMARY

I would ask you the same questions I asked these C-suite leaders in closing:

  • What do you want people to say about your leadership during the pandemic?
  • How sure are you that you will be perceived that way?
  • Most importantly, what can you do today to ensure your desired legacy is realized now and into the future?

Sam Palazzolo PS – If you liked this article, you’ll love my “Best Leader in 30 Days!” course! In daily 5-minute or less learning lessons, you’ll be on your way to becoming the best leader possible. For a limited time, you can access the course for FREE by CLICKING HERE

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I recently participated in a roundtable discussion on the topic of change leadership, and subsequently was interviewed about the Javelin Institute’s new program, “The BEST Leader in 30 Days!” (This program brings you 30 daily activities that’s recognized through research validation to equip you to be the BEST Leader possible… Not a Good Leader, or even a Better Leader… the BEST Leader!) If you’re interested in the program, you can email me at info@javelininstitute.org for more information. Here’s Part I of the interview, slightly edited for clarity and brevity:

INTERVIEWER: Sam, you’ve not only led change as a leader yourself, but also helped other leaders with change. Tell us a little bit about how in general you think about change leadership, and how you apply that in the businesses you work in/with?

SAM PALAZZOLO: Change leadership can be a complicated component of business success. Do it right, and the change leadership landscape will have plenty claiming stake in the successful outcome. Do change leadership wrong, and you’ll be looked at as sole proprietor responsible for the failure. I see many leaders who enter into situations of change without really having the skills or coaching to know exactly how to successfully change. The biggest component of change leadership to me is rooted in the leader. Specifically, does the leader have the perspective required to gather themselves from an emotional intelligence perspective. It’s very much an EQ moment versus an IQ one!

In my 2018 book, titled “Leading at the Tip of the Spear: The Leader” I examined how you can better lead others by leading yourself. As a matter of fact, my research concludes that if you can’t lead yourself, the likelihood of you successfully leading others ranges from slim to none. One of the insights that allows for successful change leadership is to have insight into where you want to go (Vision) and what change will be required in order to arrive at that destination. It’s easy for leaders to become impatient when leading change because while they can not only see where they want to go, but how they want to get there, they forget to share and lead others at a pace at which they can understand and withstand. In other words, those you’re leading need to not only understand/comprehend where they are going, but perhaps more importantly, what their role will be in getting there across a possible specific time interval.

INTERVIEWER: So, with change leadership in mind, how do you coach people?

SAM PALAZZOLO: At its simplest levels, to have success in change leadership, it’s important for leaders to know where they are, where they are going, and how it is that they are going to get there. Knowing these three aspects allows leaders to architect a plan for change. This architectural blue print will allow leaders to create a plan for change. This blue print is important because it provides stakeholders with a clear understanding of what is being built (Where they are going and how they will get there).

Having specialized in change leadership for the past two-decades, I know that change involves a series of phases that both leader and stakeholders go through. There will be successes, equanimity, and failures along the way. As a student of the J-Curve methodology, I learned that initial failure is typical and with proper corrections success can/will be achieved. Allowing leaders to see this realistic change leadership landscape prior to experiencing change provides the proper perspective. The proper corrections typically, but not always, come from communication gathered from direct-frontline associates affected by the change. Listening to their feedback provides leaders with context from which they can assess situations clearly for proper corrections. With this in mind, and it’s part of the “BEST Leader in 30 Days!” methodology, is conducting a daily reflection of your change leadership efforts/energies. Specifically, there are three questions that you’d want to ask yourself:

  1. What did I do today to further the (change leadership) initiative?
  2. What did I not do today to further the (change leadership) initiative?
  3. What will I do tomorrow to further the (change leadership) initiative?

INTERVIEWER: What are some of the mistakes you see leadership making in their attempts to lead? Specifically, what are the most common mistakes when leading change?

SAM PALAZZOLO: I’ve seen just about every type of mistake be made when it comes to change leadership. Typically, the mistakes cluster around the basic business building blocks of people, processes, technology, and/or financials. All too often leaders will fail to get involved those they expect to go through the change (so that they have input into what will happen on the way towards where the leader desires to go).

I’ve also seen leaders fail in change leadership when they put a “spin” on change. One leader, who’ll remain nameless, used to replace the word change with innovation. His reasoning for doing so was because he had read a study that showed people dislike change. While the study might be correct, changing the namesake doesn’t increase the odds of success. Remember, a duck is still a duck!

At a gym I worked-out in they had a huge sign on the wall that read:

“Until the pain associated with staying the same is greater than the pain associated with change, you will not do anything different.”

Think about that for a moment… If we associate pain with change and pleasure with staying the same, then you’ve got to be in a bad spot to want to change! Afterall, staying the same should be painless. But once staying the same is more painful, you’ll desire relief/change.

INTERVIEWER: You’ve had an impressive career to date (I don’t think you’re done yet by a longshot either!) You’ve worked with a Fortune 1 organization and now you’re working as a venture capitalist, consultant and philanthropist. Are there any differences between leading change at large vs. small organizations and for profit vs. nonprofit ones?

SAM PALAZZOLO: Thank you for the complement… I hope my career continues to grow/change in directions I can’t visualize at the current time. With that said, and to answer your question – Yes, there are differences. While the problem types are very similar (Think people, processes, technology, and/or financials), the scale is simply larger in big companies. This is the same regardless of entity formation (profit vs. nonprofit).

However, there is one key difference that I see play itself out time and again. That difference is that in smaller organizations the leader can make the difference. Whereas in larger organizations, there is less of a leadership impact, but the need to have good leadership in place across the organization exists. Think about it, if the organization is small and the leader is great, successful change leadership is relatively straightforward. In larger organizations, there are many more leaders to coordinate similar future change leadership vision with, and as such each needs to be able to share that vision precisely/similarly with their teams. Same vision and different share lead to unsuccessful change leadership typically (a disaster!)

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