When you are a senior leader you are likely the one to encourage an environment that uses conscious leadership, or managing up, in order to create the relationship you want with your team and your boss.

I have had several clients in the last year where managing up became an important conscious choice. All are at the VP level of Leadership and have relationships with the CEO of the organization. One is supervised by the CEO, while the others are just below the level of the top leadership team.

The first client is a Global VP who has been constrained by poor communication, resulting in a lack of knowledge of how to meet expectations, or even what the expectations are. This has caused anxiety and lack of confidence, which has, in turn, affected her communication in meetings with top leadership. It was important for her to become aware of her strengths, and to bring those into her communication and expression of innovative ideas.

As I continue to work with these leaders, the common issue is predominantly a lack of aware self-definition and communication, which can be better facilitated by working with Core Values and Purpose.

In the second client situation, the expectations for the VP kept her online to deal with conflict and challenging conversations for others. This hindered the overall development of her sustainable communication, leadership, and vision for engagement. As she has set up conversations with her boss to further define her function, they are beginning to develop a partnership to solve problems that creates more support.

A third client has been exploring his desire to move up into top leadership. He has had an awkward time in the discussion of the future, and it seems that he and his boss have difficulty understanding each other. As he begins to consider and refine his vision, and what he would like to contribute to the company, he is experiencing better connection with his boss, and they are discovering new areas of mutuality as they discuss the future.

Here are some key activities to help you with Conscious and Effective Managing Up from an empowered position:

1. Schedule regular weekly or at least bi-weekly meetings with your direct boss to keep communication open, as a way for you to report in and as a way to receive information. Come to the meeting with a prepared agenda for what you would like to cover. If your boss wishes to drive the agenda that is OK but you want to know yours.
2. Consider your vision of your career tract and what you would like to be known for doing to make a positive contribution to your company. This moves you into a more proactive stance rather than a reactive one.
3. Create opportunities to become more aware of how others are receiving your communication, and seek their responses to your communication.
4. Become more neutral and exploratory when conversing with top leaders so you can learn what they want to be known for and what is important to them.
5. Find opportunities to discuss with peers or a coach what is important to you, your core values, and the purpose you see for doing your job.

We are creating a forum for the discussion of manifesting your leadership and managing up to create influence and impact. Please let us know your thoughts and experiences.

If you have a leadership question, challenge, or success you would like to share, please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you! – Patricia

I believe that the Collaborative Leadership Four Meeting model is the best for creating greater cross functional goal achievement with an organization, and more effective project management among leaders and their teams. Effective communication is an essential part of this collaboration, and meetings that communicate goals and initiatives must be deliberately structured to encourage input and maximize engagement.

Creating engagement and buy-in – perhaps the most important part of our meeting model is the Introductory Meeting. This is where team leaders set the new tone and expectations for meetings going forward.

Here are the steps for your first Introductory Meeting:

• Discuss the concept of using meetings to move into greater connection, accountability and solutions. Emphasize that practice shows that taking time to develop better communication, partnership and sharing of possible solutions will move strategic plans and goals forward with greater speed and empowerment for all involved.

•  Ask them to use the time between this introductory meeting and the first of the Four Meetings to consider what is going well and what is presenting a challenge to them.

•  This is a time to introduce the idea of presenting a report that has a focus on a win, as well as a current challenge, as a way of effectively utilizing the meeting and the team. This will replace the usual business report that is often read without comment. It sometimes takes some time to get people comfortable with the vulnerability of talking about challenges

•  This is an opportunity for the leader to demonstrate by having an example of what’s going well (a Win), and a challenge that is being presented; and what a next step might be. You can let them know that no one will question during the presentation. You can use ½ hour to have everyone give the same communication. There is no right or wrong way to do this. The important element is the communication and the willingness to do something different to enhance results.

For one global organization I work with, this model moved regional vice presidents and directors to greater communication and accountability, which resulted in creative solutions coming from everyone. The trust in the meeting and communication process, created greater trust with each other and in working together. Leaders now talk to each other more regularly. In addition, engagement in the strategic plan and implementation increased as the members of the team communicated more frequently with each other to create planning, and to share ways to move forward more effectively.

One VP told me that he used the model to lead his own group, and to assist his leadership team to manage their work teams to meet the goals that were set by the business. Trust to be authentic and to share the truth became easier and productive.

This change in focus can create some discomfort as people move out of the comfort zone of protection and presenting a good picture. A leader must assure team members that challenges are part of growth which allows us to step into new territory with a sense of support rather than being judged and evaluated personally.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

• Make Collaborative Leadership and team alignment a priority and communicate that to your team

•  Set up a team meeting to discuss and to introduce the process

•  Know that the team alignment process with a consultant and with the team during regular interaction will take time which will be made up by creating more efficiency and implementation with a new mindset

•  Give yourself as the leader the coaching and reflection time to develop new goals based on the fact that 21st century business demands collaboration

•  Be open to new ways of thinking and doing and to your own leadership expansion

•  Know that empowerment of the members of your team will create more time for strategic thinking and interaction with other business leaders

Stay tuned for more on the Four Meeting Model; we’ll be taking a closer look at the elements of the First Meeting next time.

Would you like to see the Four Meeting Model in its entirety? Request a copy here: Send me a copy of the Collaborative Leadership Four Meeting Model.

Do you have a leadership question, challenge, or success you would like to share, please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you! – Patricia

During these events the main opportunity is to communicate and to connect, and I was particularly interested in the Negotiation break-out session which allowed us to look at negotiation from a personal point of view.

As a promoter of communication, connection and relationship, I had a surprise during an exercise that was part of the negotiation session. We were asked to take some money out and to develop a partnership. One person in the partnership gave the other person their money. Then we were asked to negotiate to have our money returned. The person who had our money was encouraged to be honest and to return the money only when they felt there had been a successful negotiation. I presented what I thought was a very effective argument for returning my money. I gave some good reasons and explained my situation. She said no, and when the feedback occurred, she felt that she had not been engaged or that I was concerned about her perspective.

As we reviewed, I saw that in my rush to prepare a good presentation, I had overlooked what I know is the most important part of negotiation; creating a connection through communication and relationship. The power of engagement and the use of inquiry were vitally important for a successful negotiation.  Throughout the week, there were many other opportunities to practice creating connection through inquiry.

As many of you are moving into the end of the final quarter of the year, it is important to create an environment of negotiation and cooperation to achieve the foundation you envision for meeting the goals for next year.

As you engage in meetings with your vision as a leader, remember that engagement is the most powerful asset you can have. Take the time to use the Essential Parts of Speech as you prepare for meetings and discussions:

• Framing
• Inquiry
• Advocacy
• Illustration

1. Framing: Prepare a brief introduction as you share your vision for the meeting:

a. What is the purpose of the conversation?

c. What do you want to discuss?

b. What is the outcome you would like to see?

c. Illustration can be part of the initial framing to create greater clarity

2. Inquiry is next: Make sure not to talk too long before pausing to engage others

a. Ask questions about how others respond to what you are presenting

b. Create a safe environment that encourages honesty; and state your desire to engage those in the room as they are vital to the results

c. Ask questions to create clarity so that others feel comfortable asking for more clarity

3. Advocacy is contained in almost every discussion. It is important to say what you envision as the result of what you believe to be a good step forward. Advocacy can be like the elephant in the room when it is not stated clearly and your agenda put on the table.

4. Inquiry is used throughout to create engagement.

A suggestion as you move forward is to always consider the engagement aspects first as you are looking at goals or initiatives. Below is a five-part self-inquiry that will help you create more focus on people to achieve greater success.

Engagement Assignment:

1. A business goal that I would like to accomplish this year is:
2. How can my peer colleagues or other members of my team enhance and develop my vision?
3. What can I do or say to engage others (see above)?
4. What do I want to hear or experience to be more engaged myself?
5. How can I motivate myself to be more engaged with others?

Have a good couple of weeks and I look forward to connecting again soon. In the meantime, if you have any questions, challenges or successes you’d like to share, please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you! – Patricia

I recently spoke with a fellow consultant who has invited me to speak to a group of CEO’s about Collaborative Leadership and about how to keep the leader involved with the team as they move forward on the implementation plan. It is important to allow the leader the opportunity to consult and to hear progress rather than to enforce accountability. In collaborative leadership, accountability is a supportive process created through accountability partnerships where there is an opportunity to report action steps , discuss and solve challenges and finally to celebrate completion.

So often teams get lost in the action process and are not encouraged to seek support especially in some highly competitive situations. The accountability partnerships change this. These partnerships are created in the second meeting of the four meetings mentioned above:

• Each team member selects someone that they have not had that much opportunity to work with.
• They set up a schedule for a 15-30 minute meeting with the partner and create several goals that they are working on during the next week.
• The meeting occurs mid-week to see how everything is going.
• Then they report back to the team during the next full meeting about completions and challenges.

For full description of the Collaborative Leadership/Team Alignment process be sure to visit the Library Page of  our website and select the article entitled, The Full Team Alignment Process, pdf.

The most important thing to remember is to engage everyone in implementation and in the development of their own leadership in the process.

Do you have a question, challenge or particular success story you would like to share? Be sure to leave a comment, I would enjoy hearing from you. –  Patricia