When business organizations go through significant change – and most of the business organizations
in the world are going through major changes these days – leaders must work extremely hard to set and manage expectations through the change process. Last week while leading a Business Leadership training program for a group of Mid-Career leaders, I had the chance to listen to an executive leader share his expertise and wisdom with my participants about how to lead effectively during times of significant and disruptive change. What I found most interesting about his dialogue was that the theme was different. It wasn’t about how great he is, or what are things everyone needs to do to be a great leader. Rather, he shared his insights about how critical it is to create an organization where leaders feel comfortable and are enabled to “lead up” in an organization going through change.
This executive defined leading up as the process of moving from leading through authority to leading through aligned and systemic dialogues. “Most leaders are taught from the very first day they are ‘baby-leaders’ that leadership is all about telling people what to do. It takes about 25 years to realize that leadership is all about helping your people do what they do best and that includes empowering them to make the decisions that execute the strategy without being micromanaged.” He shared this as the secret to successful and meaningful employee engagement.
During our discussion, he mentioned five key factors that enable people to lead up. These include:
Don’t accept fact that leadership is a thankless job
The image of the leader is a stoic figure that selflessly does what it takes and is under-appreciated by everyone. That is sad and cannot be allowed to happen! Do not accept that leadership is a thankless job. Say thank you “up” and insist that your people feel comfortable thanking you for the work you do.
Establish real trust
People will lead up if there is a bond and establishment of trust. Real trust can only occur if you empower people to make decisions and make mistakes.
Fail fast forward
If people make mistakes, don’t use it as leverage to punish, use it as leverage to learn. Creating an environment to fail fast and move forward encourages the ability to lead up.
Be authentic
You can’t fake or BS authentic leadership; you are either authentic or you are not. One of the most important ingredients for empowering your people to lead up is creating an environment where everyone is authentic.
Be enthusiastic
Change is brutally hard and can push people into the valley of despair. Being enthusiastic can lift everyone’s spirits and help them see the light at the end of the tunnel. It also helps create an environment where people can lead up as enthusiasm can be contagious.
As this executive delivered his inspiring talk, I noticed the body language in the room and the eagerness to ask questions and engage. The defining moment came when one of the participants asked this leader to hop on a plane and fly 5 hours to share this same talk with his plant workers.
To nobody’s surprise, he said he would be there the following Thursday. He smiled and said, “That is leading up!”
