Directional Leadership and the power of managing all 360° of your sphere-of-influence
Many, if not most leaders, regardless of expertise or tenure, are likely proficient in at least a few of the essential domains of the 360° of directional leadership, but very few are sufficiently proficient at managing across ALL domains – managing up AND managing down AND managing across AND managing within. Here are some tips:
A Primer on Managing the Full 360° of Your Chain-of-Command
1. Managing UP – the most UNDER-UTILIZED direction in which to lead.
The Sphere: With bosses, more senior executives, board members, company stakeholders and influencers – and the direction of leadership that leaders mistakenly think they have little, or no, control over, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
The Negative Impact: Creating unnecessary conflict; diluting organizational focus; poor decision-making.
2. Managing DOWN – the most OBVIOUS direction in which to lead.
The Sphere: With direct reports, other employees, and support staff directly or indirectly affiliated with you and your organization – and the direction of leadership that may seem easiest, but is actually quite difficult to do consistently well.
The Negative Impact: Increasing employee stress and strain; obstructing their productivity; eroding their trust/loyalty.
3. Managing ACROSS (internally and externally) – the most consistently DISCOUNTED direction in which to lead.
The Sphere: With peers, and externally, with vendor contacts, customers, and other industry professionals you may, or may not, consider colleagues – and the direction of leadership that can help make you surprisingly more effective and successful because pretty much everything that you want to accomplish is going to require significant lateral/horizontal collaboration to achieve.
The Negative Impact: Weakening camaraderie; playing bad politics; derailing others’ initiatives; failing the gain the support you need to further key goals and objectives.
But to be truly successful, leaders must not only excel in these three domains of directional leadership they must master the full 360°, which includes a critical, game-changing, fourth domain:
4. Managing WITHIN – the most consistently POWERFUL direction in which to lead.
The Sphere: Your private thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes that determine the choices you make and behaviors you engage in – which is what makes it, decidedly, the most challenging, but direct route to accelerating your overall Executive Intelligence, impact, and influence.
The Negative Impact: Not recognizing your impact; not taking responsibility for your impact; Not having sufficient F.O.C.U.S. in what you do.
LeadershipTraction demystifies the full 360° of directional leadership – through a variety of counter-intuitive leadership concepts and practices – to help leaders create the specific conditions needed to accelerate their progress and achieve increasingly greater leadership traction and professional (and personal) success.
Contact LeadershipTraction today to find out how.
❝ Success is a science.
If you have the conditions, you get the result.❞
Oscar Wilde
Leadership Haiku, the Book
The elements of 360° Leadership are further articulated in Barry’s book, “Leadership Haiku: Increasing Your Impact And Influence 17 Syllables At A Time.” Get your copy at Amazon.com.
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