Going from a Director to a Vice President is a big jump – because all of the sudden how you lead becomes different. It is often hard to explain this to people, but at some point they feel it through critcism for Never being around, and in their frustration they say something like I was just there last week or maybe even You never invite me!
I have blogged often about followership – which is knowing the priorities/challenges of your own leader and being purposeful about meeting those as you communicate and work towards meeting your own needs/priorities. Here is a video from Quint Studer (The Studer Group) that talks about leadership rounding in healthcare. Most of you are not in healthcare, but it is a great example of a message that needs to be heard by the executive and the leaders that report to them. It does an amazing job of laying out the fears/frustrations of an executive and how some simple moves by front line leaders can help maximize the impact of a visit from a senior leader and help your own people connect with them in a way that will have lasting impact on your own team.
Check it out – and schedule a viewing with some leaders. It is a great investment of 28 minutes. Talent management is about having great conversations – this will start a great conversation.