This has come up recently with several senior exec clients, so I thought it worth mentioning.

It’s not difficult to imagine that the higher your ascension in an organization, the greater your potential for impact.

But that very ascension is also what increases your risk of receiving less input.

Which means that when you need it most, information, ideation, and challenge to your thinking may be scarce or absent.

Some suggestions:

  • Create vehicles for input. If you don’t already have my Magnificent Leadership® Meetings Format, hit reply and I’ll get it to you.  Clients say that it works.
  • Make input the expectation from your team rather than the exception. Exercise their muscles of contribution over and over again, and they’ll know that you not only welcome their best thinking, but expect it.  Also: Actively solicit input from your peers and superior.  How?  Design opportunities to elicit it, such as breakfasts with your organizational peers.  Ask open-ended questions.  Listen intently.  Speak last.  And have someone conduct 360s.
  • Emphasize the import of having received input whether you implement it or not.  And if you do alter your position or chart a different course, be sure to give credit.

The cautionary tale is of the leader who believes themselves well-informed and thoughtful when in fact, they are isolated and oblivious, surrounded by followers who defer.

Be intentional, create vehicles and opportunities for information sharing and contribution, and you’ll do it differently.

 

For more on working with me directly to build a Self-Correcting Team℠ that can anticipate, pivot, and execute with you, drop me a note: sarah@sarah-levitt.com or contact me here.

And stay tuned for an update on new opportunities to work together in the new year.