Often in Leadership roles you are pulling the energy from within to drive change and move a strategy forward - but too much focus on your agenda means you can risk leaving the team behind.


This has happened to me - I was in a senior role with a tough change agenda and I was far too focused on the pressure and my desire to deliver to pay enough attention to the concerns raised by the team. I should have paused, I should have listened more and I should have made sure we were working together.


Is it easier to push alone or pull together?


It is so important that you take the team with you from the start, and work together to deal with challenges as they arise. In an HRD role your team of HRBPs are the ones sensing the mood of the business and can often see an issue coming well before you do . You need to make time to listen to them, ask their views and find a way to work together to overcome obstacles and unwillingness.


All members of the team should be considered and consulted, keep an eye out to make sure you aren't finding favourites or seeking out only the views which agree with your own.


Make sure you have connections with your team, and never be afraid to bring an issue to them when you are struggling, you are all in it together. It can be hard in the senior role to know what and when to share, but be brave on this - your team might surprise you.


If you need a confidential confidantes ear try to find it within your peers in another department, this can give you the place to air issues and work through any frustrations with your team. But for the rest of the time you need to be focusing on working with and alongside your team and never against it.


Ideas

Take a moment to reflect:

  • How strong are your team ties?
  • Do they trust you well enough to share their views - especially the challenging ones?
  • Do you actively ask for feedback and show you have fully considered it?
  • Who in your team has views most unlike yours?
  • When did you last ask them for their view on how things are going?


Actions

  • Book in team discussions in your diary
  • Ask for their feedback on a specific issue or project and act on it
  • Seek out those with views different to your own and invite their feedback
  • Make time to reflect on what you are hearing
  • Show them you have listened
  • Repeat


Reading Recommendations

Trinny Woodhall - Fearless and the accompanying podcast

Kim Scott - Radical Candour



Photo by Sable Flow on Unsplash