Great ideas. During the last several years while I was still working, instead of helping leaders develop the actual skills and behaviors they needed for the long term, I found myself squeezed into helping them learn how to “manage up” and to develop “political savvy”. They needed to learn how to do these things to get to the point where they could utilize the very collaborative skills you are referencing. Often they felt compelled to consolidate decision making around themselves rather than fully engaging their team. The wisest “two up” and “three up” leaders create the kind of environment that frees the leaders under them to be agents of collaboration.
That's very insightful, Craig. You're right - leaders who lead managers, as opposed to directly supervising a team, need to be mindful of the way their management approach filters through the organization. For example, we think of tight accountability as good, but if it translates into "protect yourself against the possibility of mistakes" then the side effects can be devastating.
One of the things I learned is that I needed to have ways of directly assessing how my leadership was filtering through the organization, yet without in any way undercutting the leaders to whom I had delegated. CEOs are sometimes more cocooned than they realize; if their information sources come through their direct reports alone, it will be filtered and sanitized.
Love this! Leaders need to be approachable with their thoughts and ideas. This can be applied to interpersonal relationships as well...listen well, be open-minded - willing to change mind then speak.
Fred Fetterolf, the late president of Alcoa, was a dear friend of mine and I had the privilege of serving with him on the board of an inner-city Christian school in Pittsburgh. At the end of a long breakfast, one of our last times together, I said, "Fred! I am just realizing we spent two hours together and I am pretty sure you didn't utter one sentence that didn't end in a question mark!" He said, "Dan, I already know what I know. I want to learn what YOU know."
Great ideas. During the last several years while I was still working, instead of helping leaders develop the actual skills and behaviors they needed for the long term, I found myself squeezed into helping them learn how to “manage up” and to develop “political savvy”. They needed to learn how to do these things to get to the point where they could utilize the very collaborative skills you are referencing. Often they felt compelled to consolidate decision making around themselves rather than fully engaging their team. The wisest “two up” and “three up” leaders create the kind of environment that frees the leaders under them to be agents of collaboration.
That's very insightful, Craig. You're right - leaders who lead managers, as opposed to directly supervising a team, need to be mindful of the way their management approach filters through the organization. For example, we think of tight accountability as good, but if it translates into "protect yourself against the possibility of mistakes" then the side effects can be devastating.
One of the things I learned is that I needed to have ways of directly assessing how my leadership was filtering through the organization, yet without in any way undercutting the leaders to whom I had delegated. CEOs are sometimes more cocooned than they realize; if their information sources come through their direct reports alone, it will be filtered and sanitized.
Love this! Leaders need to be approachable with their thoughts and ideas. This can be applied to interpersonal relationships as well...listen well, be open-minded - willing to change mind then speak.
Fred Fetterolf, the late president of Alcoa, was a dear friend of mine and I had the privilege of serving with him on the board of an inner-city Christian school in Pittsburgh. At the end of a long breakfast, one of our last times together, I said, "Fred! I am just realizing we spent two hours together and I am pretty sure you didn't utter one sentence that didn't end in a question mark!" He said, "Dan, I already know what I know. I want to learn what YOU know."
There couldn't be a better illustration of this mindset - thanks Dan.