Wait...who is leading who?

Colleagues,

MVP: Providing third-party examples of good leadership can facilitate leadership growth within an organization.
 
I received several questions last week from readers along a similar theme. Here’s one:
 
“I would love to know your thoughts about how you try to lead an organization strategically when your superiors are not leading with the same mindset.  I'm currently struggling to get my manager to see the need to train and listen to feedback from our employees instead of just harping on them for ‘not doing their job.’”
 
In an upcoming podcast, Dr. Ryan Donlan will talk about leading “up, down, and around.”
 
Leadership is not a hierarchical activity; leadership is a human activity!
 
Here one strategy and example for leading up:
Find a written, audio, or video example of what you are talking about, forward it to your superior, and say “I found this really interesting. Can we talk about this?”
 
For example, in last week and this week’s episodes of The Assistant Principal Podcast, I interview Dr. Sam Sircey, the principal at Owen High School in Fletcher, North Carolina. In both Part 1 and Part 2 (link), Sam gives several examples of how listening to her teachers helped her take actions that empowered them to grow and how this built a positive school culture.
 
Our reader could forward that podcast to their boss and say something like, “I’m really intrigued about how this principal handled working with a new group of people.”
 
This allows for a conversation about what someone else is doing, so it is not threatening or judgmental.
 
Today’s intention: Think about the idea of leading up. What are some things that you would like to be able to discuss with people “above” you? What resources or stories have you encountered recently that might facilitate such a conversation?
 
Cheers!

Frederick