The answer is yes. Leadership happens in moments; moments of sense-making, moments of relationship-building, and moments of decision-making. Your way-of-being is your overall state at any moment of the day. It determines how you adapt, respond and lead at any given moment.
The leader-of-leaders role is the most significant position in any organisation. With design and decision rights and the ability to influence broadly across an organisation, and even beyond to external stakeholders, the leader-of-leaders role is at the epicentre of staff morale, discretionary effort and staff retention – it can make or break an organisation.
As a Leader of Leaders, one transitions from managing day-to-day operations to shaping strategic narratives and the broader organisational direction. This blog illustrates this transition, some of the challenges, and practical guidance for becoming a leader who effectively shapes outcomes.
If we look at an organisation as the human nervous system, the leader-of-leaders role acts within an organisation much like a synapse does within the brain. The neurons represent the people within an organisation responsible for applying their professional knowledge and skills to produce products or services.
The leader-of-leaders role is the most significant position in any organisation. With design and decision rights and the ability to influence broadly across an organisation, and even beyond to external stakeholders, the leader-of-leaders role is at the epicentre of staff morale, discretionary effort and staff retention – it can make or break an organisation.
To be effective as a leader of leaders, it is essential to create a space to think. Too often, a leader ends up caught in the detail of a project and during this time they can fail to recognise what is ahead. Leadership is complex and there is ambiguity that comes with the role each and every day. To navigate the conceptual chaos and seek clarity, you need to be able to have time to reflect and consider decisions relevant to the business.
Natalie Robinson, founder and CEO of OneUpOneDown, recently joined Overworked to Incredibly Impactful to share her insights into the challenges and opportunities of leading start-ups and small businesses. Having also participated in a Being Leaders program, Natalie discusses how the practical tools and resources from the workshops have helped to shift her mindset as a leader of leaders.
Navigating the transition to a leader-of-leaders role can be challenging. Your experience of this journey is normal and natural. The confusion is part of the process and is actually essential in making the change.
You will discover new perspectives and practices that will enable you to make the transition to being a leader-of-leaders.
The transition to a senior leader role is a significant and challenging step in one’s career. It involves moving from an individual contributor or mid-level management position to a position of higher responsibility and authority within an organisation.
Ian Lees, author of Becoming a Leader of Leaders, recently joined Overworked to Incredibly Impactful to share the inspiration behind his book, and to share his unique insights from over four decades of experience in leadership development.
One of the dimensions of the leader-of-leaders role that is easy to neglect is your role as a connector beyond your direct leaders and teams. As well as leading your immediate team, you are also a leader more broadly, connecting with your peer leaders, corporate functions and people and organisations beyond your own business.
Remember, you are now part of a wider leadership group that includes fellow leaders who also report to your boss in a formally structured sense. Your success as a senior leader in the broader organisation will now be determined more by how you engage with the other people at your level, and the culture you develop with them.
The transition to become an effective leader-of-leaders can be a demanding stretch. There are distinct phases you will go through on this journey and it can be helpful to have an understanding of these steps, to help you navigate your transition.
There are very good reasons why it can feel difficult to delegate. At the core of the leader of leaders’ role is the challenge of being responsible for outcomes and work quality that you don’t have direct control over. But good leaders are concerned about working getting done to a high standard.
One of the most common concerns that comes up in our work with new and emerging leaders of leaders is the fear and sometimes the terror of presenting to a group of senior executives. Leader of leader roles quite often sit just below the executive team.
The key to being an effective leader of leaders is to use your role to influence to integrate – to ensure that the work of your team stretches across and beyond the organisation with great impact. Be passionately interested in what is going on with your organisation’s strategy, the environment that it is working in, and the shifts going on in the wider world that will have an impact on it.
The Being Leaders program is made up of various modules, designed to provide practical tools for immediate impact. Each module is delivered online across 2 x 90 minute facilitated workshops, plus pre and post self reflection activities.
In an ever-changing and unpredictable world, a leader’s ability to adapt in the moment can make the difference between responding quickly and effectively to your environment or getting stuck in old ways that no longer deliver results.
What have been the biggest challenges you have faced in leadership transitions?
The abruptness of leadership transitions can be very hard for people to process. When new leaders are thrown in the deep end with little or no training, it can lead them to feel inadequate and overwhelmed. Many professionals find that leading a team is completely different from what they’re used to doing – even if they were very successful at their old role.
As a leader of leader, you will find yourself in ambiguous and uncertain situations all the time. Understanding and modifying your way-of-being in the moment can help you enjoy engaging with more senior leaders and gradually transform your inner world so that you perform at your best.
Empower your leaders with the tools and resources they need to excel in guiding other Team Leaders. Our comprehensive program helps leaders to become more impactful, delivering better results for the customers, organisations and themselves, without burning out.
Through dynamic and action-oriented group coaching workshops, leaders master essential leadership concepts and develop the core skills necessary for one of their career’s most significant transitions: evolving from a Team Leader to a Leader of Leaders.
