By Janet Britcher
Performing well, meeting targets, providing expertise and being productive – what more could be needed to succeed as a leader?
A surprise for many leaders when they reach a certain level is that they also need to manage colleague relationships well.
Jennifer was pleased that she was hired as a Software Engineering Director in a pharmaceutical company, as she had been frustrated by the lack of advancement at her old company. Things went well for several months until she noticed she was being left out of planning meetings. She would find out about projects after they were designed, but she felt strongly that her value-added contribution was to influence the direction at the early design stage. Otherwise, the software was awkwardly working its way around the science and the business, instead of providing a scalable well-designed infrastructure to support growth.
Jennifer started complaining to her manager, Alfred, about being left out. It greatly constrained what she could do, and she was concerned she would, therefore, produce a less valuable output. One that wouldn’t be as flexible, and that she wouldn’t feel as proud of. She also realized her staff would experience the negative repercussions. Alfred said she had heard Jennifer was not constructive in the design meetings; that she advocated for her own ideas; interrupted others, and didn’t inquire about priorities and criteria. She tended to offer only one recommendation without offering opportunities to discuss and modify based on others’ input. She used jargon which left others out of the conversation.
At first, Jennifer was defensive. How could her colleagues hamper her best designs and then complain about her? It really wasn’t fair. But as Alfred provided more examples of dialogue that Jennifer admitted was accurate, she agreed it was time for reflection.
To be effective, leaders must be able to recognize when they are too zoomed in – in this case to an inflexible design without collaboration – and conversely, when they are too zoomed out. They must be able to quickly reframe their perspective and to look at a familiar situation from a fresh, more empowering and effective point of view.
Jennifer was too zoomed into her own department’s goals and design ideas, and not conveying a collaborative approach, even though her intention was to offer great solutions. She realized that her enthusiasm and confidence in her area of expertise had been expressed too aggressively for this culture. That assertiveness had previously been rewarded, but now she needed to zoom out and communicate in a way that conveyed respect for the other department heads, their areas of expertise, their preferences, and the company’s overall goals. She wondered if that was the same issue that impeded promotions at her old company. Her actions may not have been conducive to developing dialogue that conveyed an interest in others’ outcomes.
It’s essential as a manager, not only to use your expertise but also to remember that managing relationships is an important part of the job. Pay more attention to strategy for a whole program or business unit, not only your own department. Effectiveness at this level of leadership begins with a shift from advocacy to inquiry. Instead of imposing certainty about a recommendation, start with questions about others’ priorities, and goals. Convey an understanding of being on the same team and demonstrating a genuine interest in others’ expertise. Jennifer’s case illustrates what a difference this can make.
Some tips for developing colleague relationships:
- Express genuine curiosity in others’ goals and priorities
- Appreciate that others have expertise in their areas of specialty
- Offer more than one recommendation when proposing a project or change
- Invite modifications to your recommendations
- Translate jargon into business language
- Convey your understanding of overall company goals to peers and colleagues
These skills will result in greater success and job satisfaction and will raise the chances that leaders can continue to advance.