Your Promised Promotion
You’ve just got your 360° back. You’re brilliant, a star performer, stunning results, one to be watched.
But then you didn’t get the role. The one you were absolutely sure was yours. The one you were almost promised.
What happened?
They told you it was only a little thing, not a major issue, just a small outlier item.
Don’t believe them. You see…
“What we have here is a failure to COLLABORATE”
(With apologies to Cool Hand Luke)
Your COLLABORATION COLLAPSE
That’s right, on every other measure of your 360° feedback, you’re a fantastic leader. But for some reason, you’re not collaborating across the total business. You’re doing your own thing, stuck in your own world, making your own numbers, looking after your own team. And by the way, they love you, your own team scores are fantastic.
But you know what, it’s this very behaviour that’s derailing you. It’s your single focus on your team, your performance and your results. It’s causing you to feel static and not get the nod to that next role. It’s your “Collaboration Collapse”. That’s the problem.
What do you mean by derailing?
There’s probably a dictionary definition somewhere out there but here’s what I mean. It’s one of two things:
- You didn’t get the promotion you wanted. You’re like a religious holiday. You keep getting “passed over”.
- You literally go off the rails. Drink, drugs, dragging the chain, no energy, no hope. Sick and tired of being sick and tired. What happened to all that potential, all those possibilities.
So where to from here?
Well, you could go backwards (and there’s a time for that). Look at how your parents divorced, how as the eldest, you had to bring up your other three siblings, how you had no time to look up and smell the roses. Or was it the marriage break up, three years ago, that drove your trust levels into the ground?
Or was it……………..
Yeah, we could go on forever but it’s really not going to get you anywhere.
So let’s acknowledge all that:
Got it!
Yep, it’s tough.
Yep, it’s understandable.
Yep, it explains your past, BUT…
Not your Future
Do you want to get:
i. Ahead?
ii. More possibilities?
iii. Greater meaning and joy in your work?
iv. Stunning functional and whole organisation results?
v. A brilliant reputation as a leader?
vi. A greater sense of purpose in your work?
vii. Relationships that last a lifetime?
viii. Real meaningful work?
ix. The best feedback and personal development you’ll ever have?
Want all that? Really? Then here it is in one word:
COLLABORATE
“Nobody makes it on their own”
Paul Mitchell
Ok, how do I get to play?
There are many paths to the Crescendo of Collaboration. For now, here are four simple strategies that have helped the thousands of leaders I’ve worked with over the years.
Strategy 1: Make it a Priority
That simple. The reason you’re not collaborating is that it’s not a priority for you. You say you’re just too busy. I say BS.
It’s just that collaborating is not on your TO DO LIST. It’s not TOP of the POPS, Numero Uno, your #1 Priority.
Decide, for at least the next three months, to be “THE WORLD’S BEST COLLABORATOR”.
Strategy 2: Think About Your Southern Cross
In the BlessingWhite Leadership Development Programme “Why Should Anyone Be Led By You? What it takes to become an Authentic Leader”, we go into this in a little more detail.
In summary, get yourself in the middle of the Star Formation of Southern Cross Leadership.
This immediately gives you the stakeholders you need to be collaborating with.
- Below is your Directs or your team: a no-brainer.
- Above you is your Boss: Another no-brainer.
- The Star out to one side: Your Customers, Suppliers or Governance bodies eg. Taxation Department
- Either side of you are your Peers: Now this needs more focus. A lack of peer collaboration and partnering is often a major derailer.
- The star above your Boss, your Boss’s Boss: Very important.
- Also, your Boss’s peers.
- And finally (and for me the most important), the North Star: family, friends and community.
I know what you’re thinking: “Come on Paul, where am I going to find the time for all this?”
Start with one group. I usually don’t recommend you focus on your own team. That will happen almost automatically. In Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team, he talks about the decision of which is your “primary team”, the one you lead or the one you are a member of?
Great question.
If you want to be (and be seen) as a better collaborator, then make your #1 team the team you are a member of, not the one you manage. Put as much energy into collaborating with this team as you do you your own.
My BIG bet, however, is once you have ritualised one on ones with your directs, start pro-actively diarising time with your peers.
If you want more information on Southern Cross Leadership, here’s a video I did a few years back: Southern Cross Management [VIDEO]
Strategy 3: Diarise it
Never underestimate how simple this strategy is. Maybe start with once a month, a one on one with each major collaborative stakeholder, done on a regular basis. And put it in the diary as a priority. The regularity is just as important as the commitment.
“So it’s a priority, I’ve taken into account my stakeholders, I’ve diarised it, now what?”
Strategy 4: What do we talk about
Your focus should be on three things.
1. Getting your own (yours and their needs met)
2. Better cooperation between your two functions
3. Better results for the total organisation
Here’s one simple method.
EDI: An old favourite of mine
Just do an E.D.I. One of the human enterprise’s old favourites. Simply put, an EDI is a method of doing a process check. It stands for: What is Excellent? What needs Development? And What Ideas do we have?
Here are some example questions you could ask.
Also, here’s a video on EDI you can share with your team: Process Check [Video]
Action Steps
- Make active Collaboration a priority to you.
- Work your own Southern Cross.
- Diarise one-on-ones with regularity. Start with your Directs then, and very importantly, your Peers.
- Focus discussions on asking what’s important for them and how to get behind them, while simultaneously expressing what’s important to you and asking them to get behind you.
THIS IS NO MAGIC FORMULA, BUT I TELL YOU WHAT IT’S A REAL GOOD START (and you may just get that next promotion)
Please, let me know how you go. Send me a Linkedin message or email me on paul@thehumanenterprise.com.au I love hearing your feedback and stories.
Before I go, most of our ongoing work comes from sharing the love. Know someone who would appreciate being a better collaborator? Then share this article with them. Post it to your team on LinkedIn or wherever you like to collaborate.
Until next time…
Find the passion.
Develop the skills.
Make the numbers.
Make a difference.
Paul Mitchell
“APAC’s most respected transformational leadership performance coach”
Paul Mitchell (@Paul_S_Mitchell) is a speaker, author, transformational leadership coach and founder of the human enterprise. Through leadership coaching, leadership development programmes, keynotes and facilitation, Paul works with organisations to build cultures where everybody leads.
Want your leaders to have much higher levels of Engagement and Excitement in their teams through greater collaboration and community building? Contact us today to organise a free 20-minute exploratory chat about Why Should Anyone Be Led By You? What It Takes to Become An Authentic Leader.