DIY leadership development: Develop relationships across the organisation.

AKA develop your internal reputation and network.

Why?

Good relationships facilitate future support and creates advocates. Being able to get something done is not just about your individual capability but also about your influence with the stakeholders and teams that you depend on.

Relationships affect the ability to influence stakeholders and teams you depend on

From What Great Managers Do Daily:

“Employees who had networks 110% or more larger than their manager are 50% more likely to be disengaged and twice as likely to view leadership unfavorably.”

In other words, employees want managers who can provide greater influence than they already have themselves. This isn’t the only value of a manager but it’s a significant part of it.

How?

• Be trustworthy (do what you say and do it well).
• Be visible in public forums by asking intelligent, challenging, respectful questions. Do not just ask trivial, joke questions — otherwise, you’re just the court jester, not an up-and-coming leader.
• Volunteer for important (even if boring) projects. NOTE: avoid volunteering for low value side projects.
• Be useful to rising stars and influential mentors.
• Connect with others during regular cross-department leadership meetings and other cross-department social events.
• Involve other leaders when solving problems.
• Proactively share information with others who would benefit from it.
• Use personal interests to connect with others (aka communities of interest)
• Use functional interests or expertise to connect with others (aka communities of practice).
• Allocate explicit time for networking. Make networking part of your daily habits.
• Don’t wait until you need help to engage with your network. Take every opportunity to give to or receive from your network.

References

• What Great Managers Do Daily
• 3 Things Managers Should Be Doing Every Day
• How Leaders Create and Use Networks