It’s easy to ‘influence’ our subordinates and get them to follow. After all, we hold the purse strings, so they have a real incentive to follow, or at least to look like they are.
We’re tackling a more difficult challenge when we seek to influence peers and others who don’t have that same incentive to follow our lead and support our initiatives.
The truly great leader has an ability to lead upward as well. He or she constantly influences those higher up in the food chain, helping shape the directions in which they are leading the organization.
Some try to do this in the presentations they are assigned to make, and the meetings they have on their assigned projects, and that’s good. Others seek to have regular conversations with their bosses, getting really clear as to what keeps them up at night, which is also good.
The best is to give a lot of thought to where they would like to be heading, what they would like to see changed about the operation, the company or the mission, and then seek out and carefully orchestrate the discussions that can help lead to those changes. They spend a lot of time building relationships both across and up the organizational ladder, expanding their spheres of influence.
So think about this: How much are you ‘leading upwards’ in your own operation?
If the answer is “Not all that much”, what are you going to do to change that?
I never thought about leading upwards before. This is important to think about!
Sometimes it’s as simple as ‘coaching’ your boss.
I have also heard it described as leading from the middle of the pack.
Certainly you can call it that as well. The key is to not forget the upward direction.