360 leader leading up session handout

360 Leader - Leading Up

Follow Me I'm Right Behind You



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Revision Date 6/7/2015

Table of Contents 360 Leader 3

Leading Up 3


360 Leader

Leading Up

Leading Up NOT Kissing Up! I worked with a client recently who told me that whilst he was enjoying all this ‘leadership stuff’ he had a problem: He had no-one to lead. And he wanted to know ‘where do I start?’. And the answer is “with yourself”

Start leading you! If you wouldn’t follow yourself. Why should anyone else follow you?


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From Today Matters: Decision making is OVERRATED. We overate what happens when we make a decision. Oh, made that decision and life’s changed. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But decision managing is underrated. How we manage the decision we make is going to determine the success of that decision. You need the discipline to follow through DAILY on the decisions you make. Let me share an example. Many people make a decision to diet to lose weight. Great… decision made. But the decision is just the start… it needs follow through and the daily discipline to make it work.

1. Manage your emotions.

Good leaders know when to display emotions and when to delay them. Whether you display or delay your emotions should not be based on “what will make me feel better?” rather, it should be based on “what does the team need?”

Have you ever tip toed around someone? Poking your nose around the door to your bosses office and thinking, no not today.

1. Manage your time. 1. Actually you cannot manage time. Time

ticks on by whether you manage it or not. What you can do is manage your priorities:

2. Manage your priorities


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80% of your time and work in your strengths

15% of your time and work where you are learning

5% of your time and work in those other necessary areas

Manage your energy. Beware the ABCs of Energy Drain

Activity without direction - Doing things that do not seem to matter. Burden without action -Not being able to do things that really matter. Conflict without resolution - Not being able to deal with what’s the matter.

5. Manage your personal life. Success is having those closest to me, love and respect me the most.

If you are struggling to lead others, check how well you lead yourself. Have you ever tried to herd cats? It’s not got a lot to recommend it either. But that’s what it can feel like when you’re trying to lead yourself.


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The Elevator Principle

Some people bring you up

Other people bring you down. Everyone has someone in their lives who, when you see them, they just drain all your energy and enthusiasm for life. They are the energy VAMPIRES. The moment you spot them, you go ‘oh crikey, not them, what are they going to take this time?’ Duck or run, but if they spot you already…

How many of you have someone in your life that when you spot them you know they are just going to suck life right our of you?

How many of you are sat next to that person right now ?

If you are going to be a lead from the middle of the pack and influence people above you, you are going to have to be a load lifter. How often you lift that load is going to determine the response form the leader above you.


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1. Do your own job first.

1. I had a staff once who was really enthusiastic and always asking “How can I help you?” It was great at first and I thought how keen he was. Then later I realized that he wasn’t getting his own job done. So when he would come and ask me “How can I help you?” I responded, “You can help me by getting your own job done”. He didn’t really want to help me, he just wanted to be a pal, To be around me and learn. Well that’s great, but get your own job done first, OK?

2. When you find a problem, provide a solution. 1. Finding problems is not very impressive.

It’s easy to find problems. Impress me, identify a problem and they have given some thought to it and propose a solution.

2. I had a boss in Saudi Arabia, another John, and his refrain to me as a young middle leader was “bring me solutions not problems”. And I learned to do just that. Whatever the problem I found, I would think of at least 3 solutions. And I went from suggesting the solutions to identifying which of the 3 was the best solution to saying here are some possible


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solutions, but this one is the best AND Can I do this? Now I was lifting the load.

3. Tell leaders what the need to hear, not what they want to hear.

1. This is not ‘venting’ what you want to say. Nor is it ‘kissing up’.

2. If you know something, it’s your duty to tell your leader.

3. It’s no use saying after the event. You know John I just knew that was the dumbest thing to do.

4. Stand up for your leader whenever you can. 1. Colin Powell – When we are debating an

issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I’ll like it or not. Once a decision has been made, the debate ends, loyalty now means executing the decision as if it were your own.

5. Ask your leader how you can lift their load.

2. Be willing to do what others won’t Few things gain the appreciation of a top leader more quickly than an employee with a ‘whatever it takes’ attitude

Take the tough jobs. The ability to accomplish difficult tasks earns others’ respect quickly. Succeed with difficult people.


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Put themselves on the line

Do more than expected

Typically, expectations are high at the top, low at the bottom and mixed in the middle.

One of the ways we teach leadership is through the game of golf. One of the reasons we use golf is because in the game of golf, it’s you and physics. Anything another player does has no impact on your game. It’s delightful, because, for many who join our golf advantage workshops, this is the first time that they will perform in front of everyone and be completely unable to blame anyone else.

One of the games we play is called red ball. At the beginning of the challenge, my golf pro’s give a red golf ball to a player in a foursome group, the person with the least golf experience. They don’t know why. But on the very last hole of the challenge, they learn that whatever everyone else has done during the round, now it’s only their score that counts. Their group could have a brilliant scratch player or even three of them. But now the outcome for the team comes down to the person with the least experience. Some red ball players relish the idea. Others just want to run away. This is truly about this idea. The job is tough – there’s a lot of pressure and for this inexperienced player, it is tough period. Their group mates might be helpful or difficult. Some might encourage and coach, others get exasperated and even angry when this inexperienced player fluffs a shot. The red ball player is truly on the line. No-one can help now. Those that relish it and have learned how to manage their mindset during the workshop… they do much more than even they expect. Those that just want to run away… well this is their true character. They will never make good 360 leaders because they give in too easily.


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There’s been a debate about leadership versus management for, well for ever really. So let’s get some clarity.

People more than projects

Movement more than maintenance

Art more than science

Intuition more than formula

Vision more than procedure

Risk more than caution

Action more than reaction

Relationships more than rules

Who you are more than what you do


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Leaders think longer-term

Most people in organizations have a short range plan and a long range plan. Their short range plan is to stay afloat long enough to start working on their long range plan.

See the wood for the trees. Leaders see within the larger context.

Most people evaluate events in their lives according to how they will be affected. Leaders think within the broader context. They start by asking, How will this affect my people?

Leaders push boundaries. Some people ask questions – followers

Some people ask questions and have answers – smart followers

Some people ask questions, have answers and take responsibility – managers

Some people ask questions, have answers, take responsibility and influence others to follow – 360° Leaders.

Leaders invest in others


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The ONLY way to influence those above you is by connecting with them. Relationship skills define 360 leaders and separate them from other leaders. Remember, people won’t go along with you if they can’t get along with you. 1. Listen to your leader’s heartbeat.

1. Passion

2. Repetition

3. Mission

4. Request 5. Support your leader’s vision. 6. Promote your leaders dream and your leader

will promote you. 7. Every time another person in the organization

embraces the vision and passes it on, it’s like giving the vision “fresh legs”.

2. Earn your leader’s trust. 1. Trust is the foundation for every relationship

2. Remove trust for the relationship and that relationship is in trouble.

3. Learn to work with your leader’s weaknesses. 1. You cannot make someone feel important if

you secretly feel he’s a nobody. 2. Whatever you believe and perceive about a

person will be communicated. 3. In the same way, you cannot build a positive

relationship with your boss if you disrespect them because of their weaknesses. Everyone has weak areas or blind spots, why not learn how to work with them?


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You show value when you value your leader’s time. Invest 10X the time you want to spend with your leader.

So if you have a 10 minute meeting, that’s 100 minutes preparing. It’s a rule of thumb that works well. In fact invest 10X the time for every moment you take of another’s time. Teachers, trainers and coaches, we work on this basis. Or at least the better ones do. For every hour of workshop time, I invest 10 hours of preparation. The slight advantage for teachers and trainers is that we often repeat the same material several times.

Don’t make your boss think for you. How leaders think when they are asked questions from leaders in the middle:

If they ask questions because they can’t think – then we’re in trouble

If they ask questions because they are lazy – then they are in trouble

If they ask questions so that everyone can move faster – then we’re headed in the right direction

Bring something to the table. When you’re spending time with your leader, bring your idea or your thinking with you.

Give a return on your leader’s investment. In my mentoring workshops for mentee’s I suggest that they prepare fully for every meeting with their mentor (who may or may not be their line manager, but usually is) And I suggest that they approach it like this:


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Here’s what you said last time we met Here’s what I learned

Here’s what I did

Did I do right?

Can I ask you more questions?

Know when to push and when to back off. This is part of conflict agility. When do you push forward?

When to push: Do I know something my boss doesn’t, but needs to know.

This comes back to telling your boss what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear.

Is time running out. The broken glass on the ground is from the window of opportunity that was slammed shut

Are my responsibilities at risk?

If you have been entrusted with a responsibility and are having difficulty, it is better that your boss knows about it and has the opportunity to help you rather than fail miserably alone.

When to back off Am I promoting my own agenda?

If you’re promoting your own agenda. Doing your own thing. If you’ve said it a couple of times and they don’t seem to catch on… they probably don’t want to catch on…. Back off.

Have I already made my point?


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“You do not lead people by hitting them over the head – that’s assault not leadership.” – Dwight Eisenhower

Does my request exceed my relationship?

I was working with a Malaysian company and the Chairman’s son and daughter were in the ‘high-potential’ group I was coaching. And as is quite common when such situations occur, they had an air of superiority because of their relationship with the big boss. Quite often they would both step beyond normal boundaries in their relationship with their direct bosses, which was inappropriate. Not only is it inappropriate in that they were trying to abuse a family relationship, but by stepping beyond the relationship level with their direct boss, they were actually antagonizing their own direct bosses who would often respond by deliberately undermining their power whenever they could. They were not making friends and influencing people, rather they were building a culture of nepotistic favour and would become reliant on positional power in the future. Now I pushed the matter with them both and the chairman (their father)… why, because my responsibilities were at risk. This time they listened, but on other occasions in similar situations in Malaysia, in Indonesia and even in Singapore, after stating the case I backed off without the right result. Why? because I had already made my point and to push more would have been MY agenda (I don’t like nepotism… I didn’t get where I am today because my father paved the way and neither should anyone else.)


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Go-to players produce when the pressure is on

There are many different kinds of people in the workplace, and you can measure them according to what they do for the organization: Never deliver – Detrimental (on the payroll but waste oxygen) Sometimes deliver – Average (they delivered yesterday, great, today, nah… they’re average) Always deliver when in their comfort zone – valuable

Always deliver regardless of the situation - Invaluable

Go-to players produce when the resources are few. Go-to players produce when the momentum is low. 3 kinds of people when it comes to momentum. Momentum Breakers – they can STOP it. Hey things are going well here, let me see if I can crash it. Momentum Takers – they don’t stop momentum, they just suck all momentum out of the air. Momentum Makers – and go-to players are momentum makers.


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Goal oriented people might achieve their goals. Growth oriented people achieve more than their goals.

The better you are, the greater your value today

If you’re looking back on yesterday and still thinking what a great job that was, then you aren’t adding much value today.

The better you are, the greater your potential for tomorrow.

I’m often asked by leaders who take our GAPPS3 assessment about their potential. Since we have a potentiality index, which we know is remarkably accurate. And especially if it’s a little


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low, or they’ve already reached it. And I ask them, what have you done today that makes you better than yesterday. Those with little more potential always say nothing, those with great potential can tell me the often many things they are doing better today than yesterday, and also they share what their plans are for tomorrow too.

The better you are, the greater the potential of others for tomorrow.

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you are a leader, success is all about growing others. And the time to start that is today. Jack Welch

Which of these practices are you going to put into practice tomorrow?

360 leader leading up session handout

Documents

decision making

decision managing

great decision

energy vampires

abcs of energy drain

daily discipline

personal life

table of contents