Month: September 2020

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School’s Open(ish), Lead Carefully

A simple action taken now can make a world of difference.

Two months ago, I launched a small study to learn more about how my clients and some former trusted colleagues were leading under pandemic conditions.  I asked them specifically about what was working most effectively with their remote teams.  The significant and common message in almost every one of their responses: actively demonstrate empathy, compassion and flexibility.   These are some very commercial executives and they emphasized understanding and kindness as keys to getting results in the face of great stress on their businesses. 

When asking executives, you might expect a high-minded and strategic response. In this case, they agreed on simple action: Just make time to listen.  

That was July.  Now factor in the difficulty for working parents as they try to navigate the safe return of their children to school.  The situation is fluid and there are many approaches.  Some schools in my area are meeting in-person (with precautions), others are still 100% remote for all students and there are many flavors of hybrid schemes to reduce the number of students and teachers on site at one time.  It is not an easy situation for anyone involved and it is turning up the seemingly relentless stress level on families with working parents. 

So, I emphasize the need for leaders of remote teams to take simple action: 

  • Make dedicated time to listen to each of your team members and see how they are holding up (especially working parents). 
  • Put it on your calendar this week to check in.  Repeat periodically.
  • See where your understanding and flexibility can help.  This may be just the right time.
  • You’ll need a healthy team for sustained performance. 
  • Act.
  • If you are already doing it, good.  Keep doing it.  Don’t stop.  Not yet, anyway….
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Tom Seaver’s lessons for every aspiring professional

I know that holding up sports figures as role models is fraught with peril, but you could do a whole lot worse than emulating my childhood sports hero, even (especially) in your career:

Embed from Getty Images

In my practice, I work with executives and companies that are seeking ways to improve their performance and effectiveness.  The sources I use in my work can be found in my experiences, my post-graduate work, my training as an executive coach, and numerous research studies, articles and modern management books. 

But honestly, Tom Seaver provided some simple and clear examples of professional behavior for all of us:

  • Intimately know your competitors’ strengths & weaknesses before taking the field.
  • Objectively evaluate your own performance and make adjustments.
  • Highlight the value in the contribution of your teammates.
  • Arrive early, rested and prepared for your days’ work.
  • Constantly evaluate / moderate your own emotional state during the game.
  • Grade yourself critically on consistency and form.
  • Focus on your game and your performance overall.
  • Talk about performance.  Always.
  • Show respect for your competitors – especially the greats.
  • Be happy with your achievements, but really cut loose and celebrate when the whole team wins.

Yesterday we lost Tom Seaver at the age of 75.  As a kid growing up in the early 70s in a NY suburb, Tom Seaver was everything to me and my friends.  We read every article we could find about him in newspapers, magazines and books and fought for number 41 on every baseball team we played on (I only got it twice).  When he pitched, we watched him on television, and on rare and very special occasions, saw him play in person.

It is clear that he had some God-given natural gifts (he often spoke of being grateful for his talent), but it was his focus, work-ethic and habits that turned him into one of the best and most consistent performers of all time. 

I had a few friends who respected him but felt he was “aloof” in interviews and later as a commentator.  I always looked at it differently.  I like to think that Tom was always preoccupied with performance and with excellence. 

Rest in Peace, Tom Seaver. 

Thank you for being one of my best teachers growing up, even though neither of us knew it at the time.