Jan 26, 2022
Michelle Cox is an executive life and leadership coach. She helps executives level up their business to create a bigger impact, and increase engagement and productivity while surpassing their key performance indicators. As a business strategist, she is in the corner of C-suite executives, helping them (and by extension their teams) grow. She’s here today to talk about how executives can make a bigger impact– in a time when they’re facing more challenges than ever. Michelle says what’s keeping her clients up at night is the challenges that come with working remotely. Leaders can see their teams meeting goals, but they are struggling to really build relationships and collaboration among teams. The social aspect of the workspace is really limited in a remote workplace, so Michelle helps leaders figure out how to keep that social element alive. Instead of just diving into the agenda during a virtual meeting, Michelle says it’s important to show up to those virtual meetings in the same way we did in-person– greeting each other, asking about your weekend or your family. That workday small talk that helps build connections among colleagues is still as important as ever. In order to insulate yourself from “great resignation,” those connections are just one piece of the retention puzzle. Leaders have to build authentic relationships and be honest about the challenges they are facing. It can’t all be sunshine and roses; when you’re vulnerable as a leader, your employees will pay you back with their trust and loyalty. Another important piece is development. That means really finding out where your people want to go (both personally and professionally), then giving them the tools and resources to get there. It’s a risk because a well-developed employee may leave; but it’s also an insurance policy because they may choose to stay because you’ve invested in their future. And then if they do leave, they’re going to speak highly of you and your company to anyone they meet. With these components in place (along with fair compensation), you won’t be a victim of the great resignation. Everything the executive does impacts the levels under them, which is why Michelle believes development falls into the lap of the executive leader. It’s like a butterfly effect. If the leader values development, everyone below them will as well. Like Anthony, Michelle doesn’t believe human resources should be responsible for development. She doesn’t believe that’s what HR is there for. She thinks HR should be used as a resource. Once you get the necessary resources from them, it’s up to the executive to implement those tools. Michelle coaches on 5 different areas of leadership: Life, work, relationships, and organization. When you have all 5 components in place, you’ve created a powerhouse for goal achievement. Anthony asked for clarification on the areas of life and relationships. In terms of the personal, all aspects of your personal life impact your professional life and vice versa. That means you need to really be following through on what matters to you in your personal life. You want to be a part of your community? Then you better be doing the work to build those connections among your community. You want to lower your cholesterol? Then you better not be eating taco bell every night of the week. Michelle said the relationships have to be authentic. Ask powerful questions and really engage with your employees on a deeper level. Your people want to be seen and acknowledged for who they are, not just what they do. It’s not a real relationship if the extent of your interactions is a high five because an employee closed a deal. Instead, praise them for their hard work. Tell them that you see and appreciate the resiliency and focus it took to get that deal. The same is true for your personal relationships. You have to see and engage on a deep level with everyone in your circle. Even with these five pillars in place, people still fail. Michelle says that happens when people haven’t put in structures sufficient to their resistance. That means they aren’t preparing for the roadblocks most likely to enter their path. For example, if you know you have a busy week, you have to prioritize and say no to the things that aren’t important right now. If you don’t do that, you will take on too much, and you risk not achieving the most important tasks. It’s about really putting structures into place to set yourself up for success. When people hire Michelle, she provides a level of objectivity and shows them what’s getting in their way. Michelle’s website Michelle on LinkedIn