Over the past few months I have been working with Kate – a leader within a hierarchical organisation. She was questioning how to bring her vision of the future, and the difference she wants to make through her leadership, where she is often faced with policy decisions made above her level. She felt excited about FED, but couldn’t see a way to be the leader she wants to be in the hierarchical context, and her energy for it was sapping.

Together we worked out that there could be ‘non-negotiable and negotiable elements’ within policy decisions – for example where there were clear goals and targets but no fixed plan of action, and where there might be room to co-invent and co-create a process for delivery together with the team.

Then came the ‘but’. She saw a new challenge in her own development. Firstly, having to lead ‘upwards’ and being bold in clarifying what was negotiable. Secondly, talking truthfully to her team rather than fudging the message or faking consultation. Kate saw she had to be straight with her team and help them understand the bigger picture. What helped her here was getting clear on what she really cares about, her values, and what she is leading for. Trust!

How could she have people feel trusted and trust her if she wasn’t practising straight talking with them? She knew that some people might not like that they could not influence certain decisions, indeed that they would feel like she had disengaged. So she set about engaging them around trust, of letting them know where she stood by way of what was negotiable and what was non-negotiable. The feedback she got was great. People thanked her for being straight with them, they got behind her, they felt engaged in her and most importantly they felt trusted and trusting. Far from her energy being sapped, she’s feeling re-energised and re-committed.

Leadership nudge: How can you be the leader you want to be from wherever you sit in a hierarchy? How could your leadership make a difference?

By Mike Eales

Learn more about the author of this article, Mike Eales

Michael Eales

I recently had a breakthrough in how I can use Future-Engage-Deliver. So far I have used Future-Engage-Deliver to look at the big picture, the long strategy of Leadership. However, while I was trying to work out how best to prepare myself for chairing a really important meeting it suddenly occurred to me that I could apply FED just as easily to this short term event. I took my role seriously, knowing that many hopes were focused on me and my being able to deliver as a chair.

First and foremost I reflected on what was the future that I wanted to be guided by in the meeting. I care deeply about the future of this organisation and what it stands for and wanted to have front of mind a clear, and big, picture of this organisation as vital and viable.

Secondly I thought about who I am at my best, guided by what really matters to me and having the impact that I seek to create. I thought about how I wanted people to feel in the meeting and what I could do through my own behaviour as the chair to have them feel positive, creative, connected and engaged. I then set myself the challenge to be more mindful of my impact in the moment. It is so easy for engagement to become a mix of good intention and post event regret.

Thirdly when I thought about the organisation and its future I knew it was important that people felt they could deliver. As a chair I realised that making time for and encouraging people to have the conversation at the meeting about what they could do was going to be part of their success, and that of the organisation.

The meeting went better than I could have expected, the feedback was great people shared their commitment to each others’ success and to the organisations’ success, they felt positive, re-energised and ready to make a difference.

I think this is a feature of all good approaches – the ‘hermetic principle’ that what applies to the biggest applies equally to the smallest situation. I shall be tackling more situations with this new ‘FED awareness’.

Leadership Nudge: This week take time to notice how you prepare for the smaller leadership tasks, like a meeting, using FED as a framework. See what other situations you can bring your FED awareness to.

By Mike Eales

Learn more about the author of this article, Mike Eales