BREAK ON THROUGH (TO THE EXECUTIVE SIDE)

Huge hit by the Doors and a fitting title to describe how ?the doors of perception“ open when transitioning from mid to executive role. Majority may have thought mid-level was the toughest until they’ve gotten to the upper one and saw the bigger picture clearly for the first time. Especially in time of crisis management with the effects of digital transformation spreading across ALL industries, and COVID-19 global outbreak affecting ALL economies, no one has the luxury to stop professional development and self-improvement, not even the experienced executives.

Executive search consultants play an important role in this process: providing reliable guidance to candidate(s) throughout the whole process; it’s the core value of our business. Being part of this, one question constantly lingers on my mind: What question should I be asking you that I’m not?

When working with candidates who lack executive experience, I think it’s important to thoroughly cover the whole ground. I must possess all relevant information in order to properly navigate the expectations from both sides. This is the point of the process in which everyone feels vulnerable and not quite open to disclose all necessary information. It is a big career step, and each individual is unique in their own way, therefore they all handle it quite differently. 

Here are 3 things you should know how to handle if you feel ready for the executive level:

1) Careful what you wish for! Executive role comes with full responsibility and you may not be ready for everything that comes with it, especially nowadays when, on top of all previous disruptions, we’re prepping our businesses to respond to the economic shock of coronavirus outbreak. If you got to this point you’ve certainly mastered the results and “how” to get here, but have you considered “why”? Before you make any further advancements in your career, make sure you have a deeper understanding of drives and motives behind this decision, it will help you define your leader identity and shape your future leadership style. Since you already have the necessary knowledge, experience and skills, now it’s time to consider other (less tangible) necessities like motivation and ambition. If money is the only answer or the main source of your motivation, I’m afraid you’re in the wrong lane. For example, incentive programs proved to be a useful motivator in attracting talent, but it is a different story when speaking of talent retention. Employees mainly leave because of various other reasons: bad relationship with boss, dysfunctional team, unclear company strategy, faulty internal organization, etc. Advancing to the executive level will certainly earn you more money, but will it be enough for you to stay? It is very important to know why executives leave companies, whether it is because of a headhunter’s call or there’s more to it (and usually there is). Therefore, in this stage it’s more important to know why you want to advance to the upper level in the first place and to make sure that your future role is in line with your personality and your less tangible traits.

2) It’s lonely at the top (but the view is spectacular). Having made that shift from peer to boss, leaders often feel lonely and isolated in the workplace. Besides, loneliness isn’t just leaders’ problem; you may have experienced it before and found a way not to let it bother you. When advancing to executive level the number of peers exponentially decline and it will trigger your feelings of loneliness and isolation, but there are many ways to surpass this problem: creating tightly-nit organizational culture, executive consulting and couching, formal and informal hanging out with executives from other companies, conferences and other get-togethers where one can bounce ideas off someone facing similar challenges. Some of these solutions will not be at your disposal for certain period of time due to coronavirus outbreak, but the seriousness of this situation is exactly what will bring executives closer together in sharing information and experiences on how to get through these difficult times. As a leader, you ought to have developed an advanced coping mechanism(s) because you will find yourself in difficult situations and will have to make some tough decisions, just keep in mind that majority of your best decisions will be co-created by your colleagues in your organizational ecosystem. Yes - ecosystem, because in 2020 there is little room for a traditional top-down approach following some standard hierarchical organizational pattern. Organizational culture is the biggest stumbling stone of all transitions (or transformations), and to run a fully functioning and healthy business today you need an organizational ecosystem with agile structure based on innovation, modern technology and social capital. In order to bring forth such culture, you should adopt flexible and purpose-driven decisions, acknowledging the talent within your organization and engaging all employees to build a stronger collaboration at all levels. This approach doesn’t undermine your position of decision-maker, but rather creates a culture of accountability and ownership in your organization. This is particularly important when operating in times of social discontent and disrupted economy because it makes you and your organization more resilient to changes. In crisis management this gets to a completely new level: the quick pace of decision-making just adds up to the overall pressure, layers of management that usually slowed it down lose its buffer and even lower-level managers act with minimal supervision and requiring fast response. Good leaders quickly stand out in these situations, not because they take strict control and only give orders, but because they know how to empower other employees to act diligently, efficiently and responsibly in difficult times.

3) Fight or flight. Humans (and animals) have an innate physiological and psychological response to stressful situations that results in fighting back or retreating. In business, as well as in everyday life, when facing highly stressful situations our brain triggers fight-or-flight response, and decisions we make in those critical moments show our mental attitude (and aptitude) for protection and performance in threats, challenges and opportunities. It also shows whether we are cut out for the leadership role. With the time and the course of our professional development, we train our brain to develop more nuanced responses, but all of them fall under two categories: positive and negative, or rather optimistic and pessimistic point of view. Also, we have an innate tendency to attribute causes to our actions, explaining them as completely in or out of our control. For the past few years, I was interested in exploring how attributional style develops in organizational structure and its relation to leadership styles, but unfortunately there aren’t many official studies on this topic. I believe it is particularly important for the executive profiles in any business organization to possess positive mental attitude and to utilize their optimistic attributional style to enhance performance and improve decision-making process. It might prove to be of utter importance when dealing with possible post-pandemic economic scenarios to develop an optimistic business recovery strategy. In the first article I posted here on LinkedIn (Think Big by Teodora Cosic) I used personal example to stress the importance of positive mindset for success. Why that matters? One of the most important decisions you will have to make as a leader is what will be measured to determine success – success of the business and success of an individual. In the end, don’t worry if you don’t score high on optimism – it can be learned!