Leading Up Is More Critical Than Ever
As the marketplace becomes more complex and changes occur at a faster pace, organizations are becoming more decentralized. Therefore, it is essential for managers to be comfortable leading up, across, and down.
Managers in the middle of an organization have a vital role to play. They connect individual contributors who interact with clients to the operational and strategic leaders making important decisions about the company's direction. However, many organizations struggle to ensure that this valuable information is shared upward.
Consider these statistics:
75% of employees say they would prefer to stay with a company that values their opinions and addresses their concerns. (Source: Ultimate Software)
80% of the US workforce feels stressed because of ineffective company communication. (Source: Dynamic Signal)
Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6x more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work. (Source: McKinsey)
Take a moment to reflect on your company's feedback systems and upward communication. Are you maximizing your impact within your sphere of influence?
To ensure effective upward communication and feedback, there are five critical elements you must consider:
Reward all feedback: Encourage a culture where both "good news" and "bad news" are treated with respect and encouragement. As a leader, trust and respect should flow downward in the organization before it can come back up. Your subordinates need to trust that you genuinely want to hear the raw truth from them.
Set the expectation of feedback: Establish the expectation that every weekly team huddle should include each team member bringing at least one positive and one negative piece of feedback to share. During counseling sessions, actively elicit feedback. Additionally, consider implementing a digital tool that allows employees to provide anonymous feedback if they feel uncomfortable raising concerns directly.
Always respond to feedback: One way to unintentionally stifle feedback is by failing to provide a response from the company. If your team members' comments go into a void and are never acknowledged or addressed, your upward communication system will fail. Even if the answer is "no" or "we can't implement that change right now," it is crucial to provide a response and explanation. "It's not in the budget" or "we can't implement that change due to a vendor contract" are both valid responses. No response at all will kill your system.
Leverage your expertise: Managers and directors are experts in their functional areas within the organization. Use your insights to contribute to bigger picture discussions, such as market opportunities, potential pitfalls, and possible innovations. Your opinions and expertise can elevate a good company to greatness.
Involve multiple levels in planning: While it's essential to gather feedback on current operations, there is real power in involving multiple levels of management in the planning process itself. Often, junior team members offer valuable insights during team planning. Their different perspectives and engagement in the development of the plan lead to increased buy-in and improved outcomes. When I was commanding my Special Forces team in Afghanistan, we always included the entire team in planning. We conducted hundreds of combat patrols and missions. I can’t think of a single one that wasn’t improved by the input of my most junior Soldiers.
By incorporating these five critical elements into your approach to leading up and facilitating effective upward communication, you can create a culture where feedback is valued, trust is nurtured, and innovative ideas flourish. How have you seen these principles applied throughout your career?