Hartford Business Journal

24 Hartford Business Journal • November 2, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com OPINION & COMMENTARY Greg Bordonaro, Editor EXPERTS CORNER Important leadership practices in times of crisis By Stephen C. Wakeen H ow do some companies manage better than others in a crisis? How is our new Zoom World af- fecting culture, accountability and outcomes in a coronavirus world? We can get it wrong to assume that Zoom will allow us to carry on as before. It will not. As useful as it is, when we Zoom, we lose important connections. It is harder to read body language. Group dynamics are lost in cyberspace. We feel far less hu- man connection. We do not have the whole pic- ture because we lack a daily social platform of spon- taneous thinking and creativity. In my execu- tive coaching business, I have often heard that employees feel unteth- ered in cyberspace. Building and maintaining culture is difficult. As for accountability, they do not know if employees are truly engaged. In other ways, employees have lost the boundaries between work and play, contributing to burnout. Regardless of company size, execu- tives need to be hyper-conscious of their leadership right now. If they expect to drive results, they need to cascade lead- ership through the organization. Cascading takes hold when the CEO establishes the differentiating behaviors that create the conditions for scaling leadership. If the CEO creates the right environment for the executive team, then the executive team can perform better together, and other teams will follow suit as these actions cascade through the organization. The best leadership practices of- ten begin at the executive level and cascade down the organization. Here are some ideas for consider- ation: 1. Scaling leadership is a critical job of the CEO. It's a leader's job to help scale the effectiveness of the executive leader- ship team. This is the beginning of the cascading model. Scaled-up leadership speeds results, aligns leaders, mitigates risk, creates clarity, and allows for nimble reactions to events. Some CEOs understand this inher- ently. You may recall Procter & Gam- ble CEO A.J. Lafley, who famously met with his chief human resources officer every Sunday morning to determine the needs and career development of the company's top 300 leaders. Lafley made leadership develop- ment a priority. 2. Create an environment for suc- cess at the executive level. Does the CEO nurture a high-per- formance environment among the executive team? A command-and-control CEO may demand what is to be done. Hard driving and relentless in the pursuit of success, the executive team mimics that behavior and drives their teams. This too often leads to burnout and a lack of good decision-making. The CEO who leverages the collec- tive intelligence of his team is more effective. The positive impact is felt throughout the company. 3. Encourage decision-making at and beyond the executive level. Research shows that leaders who push decision-making down the chain of command have more engaged employees. I encourage all of my clients to recognize "The Answerman" in themselves. Provide fewer answers. Ask more quality questions. Your team will naturally rise to the oc- casion and get more comfortable making their own decisions. 4. Encourage democratic partici- pation. This inclusive practice can have significant benefits, including high- er creativity from multiple sources and higher engagement. A case in point: One of my clients in- vites any employee to sit in on prospect calls. They are silent observers. They are given access to the sales calendar and schedule themselves on a call. Prospects are told about the practice at the beginning of the call. Most are truly impressed with this practice. It sends a message that the prospect will have the attention of the entire com- pany. And it reinforces the fact that a company expert in culture-building is walking the walk, talking the talk. Stephen C. Wakeen is the founder of Playbook Coaching LLC, an executive coaching firm. Stephen C. Wakeen EDITOR'S TAKE CT GOP should hope for a Biden victory C onnecticut has received mixed economic and fiscal news in recent weeks but the overall data paints a cloudy picture for the years ahead. The state, like others around the country, is headed for a slow job re- covery, uncertain and difficult business environment and budget prob- lems in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be up to the governor and state legislature to tackle those issues. We'll need a diverse set of opinions and viewpoints to confront the looming challenges. To get that we need a more divided state government, meaning Republican control of at least the House, Senate or executive branch. One thing that is certain to make that less likely is the reelection of President Donald Trump. No, this isn't another anti-Trump opinion piece, though I'm no fan of the current president. But the political realities in our deep-blue state is that Trump is extremely unpopular, and another four years of his presidency will make it harder for Republicans here to get elected for anything — be it the governor's office or a state Senate or House seat. We only have to look back two years to understand Trump's negative influence on Connecticut's Republican party. After eight years of an un- popular Malloy administration, which enacted two major tax increases, Republicans should have been poised to take over the executive branch and make further gains in the state legislature (the GOP in 2018 had split control of the Senate and was just four seats short of a House majority). Instead, a blue wave swept through the state giving Democrats domi- nant majorities in both chambers, and the governor's seat. Of course, Republicans have a chance Nov. 3 to make inroads in the state legislature, but it's not likely with Trump at the top of the ticket. Nate Silver's polling tracker website FiveThirtyEight gives former Vice President Joe Biden a commanding 25-percentage point lead in Connecticut. That doesn't bode well for Connecticut Republicans who will be listed down ballot. It would be wise for state Republicans to focus solely on local races, yet the party's official Twitter account has myriad pro-Trump and anti-Biden posts. I'm not sure that's a winning long-term strategy. The GOP will soon be looking ahead to the 2022 election, when Gov. Ned Lamont will be running for reelection and other key state House and Sen- ate seats are up for grabs. Two more years of Trump in the White House won't make him any more popular among Connecticut voters. It also won't help Connecticut Republicans broaden local support for the party. Meanwhile, Connecticut faces myriad challenges. A new report from UCo- nn's Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis says the state will struggle for a decade or longer to undo the economic damage created by the pandemic. Meantime, the 2020 Connecticut Manufacturing Report, compiled by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, recently painted a grim out- look for the state's manufacturing sector, concluding the industry needs more government aid to make it through the pandemic. The one bit of good news is that a recent surge in tax receipts has helped significantly reduce next year's projected $2 billion budget deficit, which along with a strong rainy day fund, should help prevent an imminent tax hike. The state's longer-term fiscal outlook is cloudier. A lot could change depending on whether the federal government passes another round of stimulus funding, which has been held up by partisan politics ahead of the election. That gives voters added incentive to cast their ballots Nov. 3. The future of the state and country are surely at stake.

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