The best leaders lead other leaders within their organisation to maintain strong company culture and achieve desired outcomes. Striking the right balance in leadership can be a complex proposition, but it is one that the best leaders must learn to navigate.
The thorny question in regards to leading management teams is, “How much leadership do your leaders need?” All too often, businesses find themselves at one extreme or another. In some cases, top leadership excessively micromanages their leaders, essentially trying to create clones of themselves and limiting their capacity for innovation and actual leadership.
On the other end of the spectrum are those who essentially abandon their leaders, not providing any guidance whatsoever. In both extremes, leaders are set up to fail. Finding the right balance is crucial, but the actual right balance can vary significantly from company to company — and even person to person.
Adapting to workplace needs
Effectively leading your organisation’s leaders requires adapting to the specific needs of your workplace. For example, leading in complex environments, such as logistics, can see success or failure hinge on even the smallest details, requiring more oversight for new managers.
As Marc Phillips, senior operations analyst at RoadRunner Auto Transport, explained during a recent conversation with me, “Generally speaking, the more complex the project or work environment, the more a senior leader needs to know. Even so, senior leadership needs to avoid the temptation to feel like they need every single detail. They should be readily available to provide assistance when their leaders need help, but trying to oversee every aspect of the task just isn’t manageable.”
Open lines of communication, founded on respect, are essential. You need to give your leaders the leeway to let you know when current leadership support isn’t working.
Mark Phillips
Continued Phillips, “There’s a reason you hired these other leaders in the first place — to take some of the load off your plate. If you continue to try to oversee every little detail and micromanage them, you aren’t accomplishing that goal.”
For workplaces that see varying levels of complexity, setting clear designations for what senior leadership needs to know or be involved with and which activities can be left entirely to lower-level management can help set boundaries that empower, rather than restrain leaders.
“Open lines of communication, founded on respect, are essential,” Phillips says. “You need to give your leaders the leeway to let you know when current leadership support isn’t working. The amount of senior leadership involvement they need can vary from project to project, but it will generally decrease the longer they’ve been in their current role. You must have a culture where leaders feel comfortable coming to you when they need guidance, and have the ability to let you know when they can handle something on their own.”
Principles For Successful Leadership
Taking on a new leadership role can be overwhelming. That’s why the best leaders of leaders focus on modelling strong leadership behaviour in how they act. Your example isn’t going to create clones of yourself, but it will set expectations for the type of behaviour and practices your business tries to cultivate.
For new leaders, especially, individualised coaching can be vital. Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Amy Gallo recommends an apprenticeship model in which you work alongside your leaders to explain the what and why of your leadership style:
“You’re not going to sit in on all of their one-on-ones (hello, micromanaging!) but you should make time to do things like participate in their team meetings, watch them give feedback, or conduct job interviews. Whenever you’re observing them, give immediate feedback as long as it’s not in front of others in a way that undermines them.”
This individualised coaching, when paired with formalised training, can help leaders learn key principles while still allowing for some room to implement their own personal style. For the most part, your coaching should be more like advice, rather than a mandate on how to lead.
As part of successfully adapting to the needs of your specific workplace, you should strive to know the team of the leaders you need to lead. This also requires a careful balance. You need to know your leaders’ teams well enough that you can adapt your coaching and feedback accordingly, but you can’t get so involved that you undermine their leadership.
By understanding your leaders and their teams, you can set up appropriate guide rails that allow you to personalise your coaching and set clear standards and expectations for your leaders, while still giving them enough freedom to truly lead their team. At the same time, you must make sure that you are a readily available resource that they can turn to in times of need so they never feel like they have been abandoned.
Setting Leadership Up For Success
While there isn’t necessarily a one-size-fits-all answer to how much leadership your organisation’s leaders need, being mindful of these principles can go a long way in helping your entire team succeed. By adapting to the needs of your workplace and individual leaders and balancing the principles of freedom and coaching, you can ensure your leadership has the necessary foundation for lasting success.
By lifting your leaders, you’ll ultimately be able to lift your entire organisation.
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