Leading Your Team Well is Not Enough
The story of upwards, downwards, sideways leadership.
When I first took on my first leadership role early in my career it was a big step up. And what occupied my mind and my time was how I’d build relationships with my team, what we needed to deliver and being honest, whether they’d like me.
What I wasn’t thinking about was the leadership impact that I needed to have across the organisation and upwards too.
As functional lead heading up a Learning & Development, Recruitment and HR team I thought that this was my role. And in the early days I couldn’t understand why I came up against resistance and lack of engagement from colleagues to the changes that the organisation really did need.
I’d made, what I know now to be, a common mistake. I had focussed nearly all my energy leading one way; downward.
In business today successful leaders need to lead and manage in all and every direction.
Great team leadership is no longer enough.
As the leader of a function, your role is bigger than your team, it is to lead the organisation to drive change and transformation at a strategic level too.
But even today, however, much of the literature about leadership still focuses on leading ‘your people’ and the team relationship; leading downwards.
Now, when I work with newly promoted leaders, it’s not unusual to see a quizzical look when we talk about their role in leading the organisation and how they lead upwards; because we’re almost conditioned to believe it’s supposed to be the other way.
Increasing your focus on how you lead upwards and sideways as well as downwards will get you far.
What do you think that could do for you?
Here are six things to help get your juices flowing.
Positioning: How you see and describe your role sends signals to others about where you see yourself and your leadership role. Do you describe yourself as someone who ‘runs the communications team’ or do you describe your role as ‘building internal engagement across the business to improve performance or company growth’?
What is your default description of your role when you introduce yourself at meetings or interviews?
What would be one change you could make to highlight your strategic impact?
If you’d like help refining your description, send me yours and I’ll send you a suggestion back.
Map it: 76% of functional managers say they are well aligned with their leaders agenda. But just 46% of bosses feel the same way.
A few weeks ago we used the Eisenhower Matrix to identify your priorities. What happens if you map your bosses priorities onto this matrix? And your organisational priorities?
How clear are you on what success looks like for your leaders and your organisation?
What is urgent and important for those around you?
How does this unintentionally and intentionally shape your work?
What opportunities are there to increase your alignment?
Two-way streets: Leadership isn’t a one-way relationship. Make it easy for others to know what your priorities are, as well as what you like and what you need. It helps no one, not least you, to keep those around you in the dark.
Tell them about your style, your preferences for communication, and what you need to be able to serve them best. If you’re unsure, tools like Everything DiSC will give you quick and practical tips that you can share with others.
How much do you help your team manage you?
What three tips could you give others to help them work with you better?
What difference could that make to the outcomes you’re seeking?
Think: When you’re in a new role, building credibility and cross-business leadership is important, but it takes time. And when you’re new to a leadership role it is tempting to focus on doing what you know well, and holding back offering opinion beyond your area of expertise until you’ve built up your knowledge.
But what you do have already is a unique perspective that’s only yours; built on your bank of expertise, the insight you’ve gained in other roles & businesses as well as your unique position in the organisation. When contributing to others proposals consider:
What unique perspectives do you have that others may not?
What patterns do you observe?
What can you see coming on the horizon that you need to be paying attention to?
Read this: Leading, and managing up, isn’t always easy. First Round Review’s collection of tips from experienced leaders will give you plenty of ideas to experiment with.
Question: Where you spend your leadership time won’t always be the same and will likely flux week by week.
What has dominated your leadership direction this week? (and what about this year?)
Last weeks issue: The Art Of Delegation
Really appreciate the three questions in each section! They are great at helping me reflect and think about a tangible action I can take.