3. 360 Leader - Leading Down
360 Leader
Leading Down
Leadership is traditionally thought of as a top-down
activity. The leader leads, the followers follow. Simple. If
you have been leading others for any length of time you
may be tempted to doze off and skip this part thinking: I
already know how to do that. But don’t miss something
important. 360 leaders are by definition, non-positional
– they lead through influence, not position, power or
leverage. And they take that approach not only with
those above and alongside them, but with those below
them as well. This is what makes 360 leaders so
effective. They take the time and effort to earn influence
with their followers just as they do with those over
whom they have no authority.
4. 360 Leader - Leading Down
360 Leader
Leading Down
To connect with people you travel at their speed. When
connecting with your leader, chances are you need to
speed up. This is not always true but generally, the
higher up someone is in the organization hierarchy the
farther they travel, the quicker they think.
Conversely, when you move down, people move more
slowly.
1. Express that you care
First and foremost, leadership is a people
business!
2. Pay attention when people start to avoid you
When you walk through the office and realize
that you haven’t seen someone for a while. Maybe
they’ve died. But chances are they are avoiding you.
They have an issue with you!
3. Tend to the people and they will tend to the business
What 360 leaders all have in common:
Despite their passion for the vision and their love for
action, they give the majority of their effort to the
people. Leaders who tend only to the business often end
up losing the people and the business. But leaders who
tend to the people usually build up the people - and the
business.
5. 360 Leader - Leading Down
360 Leader
Leading Down
Who gets my best effort? The leader who thinks I’m a
10, or the leader who believes I’m a 2?
Who do I enjoy working with? The leader who thinks I’m
a 10, or the leader who believes I’m a 2?
Who is the easiest for me to approach? The leader who
thinks I’m a 10, or the leader who believes I’m a 2?
Who wants the best for me? The leader who thinks I’m a
10, or the leader who believes I’m a 2?
Who will I learn most from? The leader who thinks I’m a
10, or the leader who believes I’m a 2?
Which subject at school did you like the most? The
subject taught by the teacher that liked you.
Which subject did you dislike the most at school. The
one where the teacher didn’t think highly of you.
1. See them as who they can become
• What is their real potential? What if you
invested time in developing them?
2. Let them borrow your belief in them
• Belief can be borrowed. Have you ever
had someone who believed in you more
than you did yourself? Parents are usually
pretty good at this. You see they believed
that you could walk and talk, and clean
your own bottom. At the time, you didn’t.
But they did. You borrowed their belief
and achieved this… or at least I rather
hope that you did. “You can do it!”
3. Catch them doing something right
• I love this. Ken Blanchard coined this
phrase and it is a wonderful thing. And if
6. 360 Leader - Leading Down
360 Leader
Leading Down
you’re really wise, you’ll tell them! “Hey
that was great…”
4. Believe the best - give others the benefit of the
doubt
• Will you get this wrong? Yeah sure. Will
you get hurt by it? Yeah sure. Do it
anyway.
• When you believe in somebody and they
let your belief down. Understand, that’s
people. Don’t pull back and say the next
person I… you’re simply passing on the
fault of another to someone who
probably doesn’t deserve it.
5. Remember that a “10” has many definitions
• One of my core beliefs is that everyone
has talent. They are a 10 in something.
My job as a leader is to find out what and
leverage it. Successful leaders find the
sweet spot for others. This doesn’t make
them a 10 in every area (even sometimes
within their actual job!)
Developing is much more than equipping. Equipping is
when you are teaching, training or coaching someone
how to do their job. If you teach someone how to make
a sale, that’s equipping them. If you teach them how to
use a machine, that’s equipping.
Equipping should be a given (though not every leader
does this well).
Developing is different. When you develop people, you
are helping them to improve as individuals. You are
7. 360 Leader - Leading Down
360 Leader
Leading Down
helping them acquire the personal qualities that will
help them in many areas of their lives. When you
cultivate someone how to have a better attitude, that’s
development. When you teach someone how to manage
their priorities, that’s development. When you teach
leadership, that’s development. What I have found is
that very few leaders have a developmental mindset.
They expect their employees to take care of their
developmental needs on their own. What they fail to
realise though, is that development always pays higher
dividends than equipping because it helps the whole
person and lifts them to a higher level.
Development is harder to do than equipping.
See development as a long-term process
The number of times I’ve worked with a client
who thinks that I can develop their people in
their leadership in a two day workshop never
fails to amaze me. It takes time. It’s a process
(Law of the process). Development is a daily
affair.
Discover each person’s dreams and desires
Another thing that never= ceases to astound me
is that leaders so rarely know what their own
staff want in life. “Why does it matter what they
want… isn’t it what I want from them at work
that matters?” Well you can think that way if you
don’t want them to achieve their own dreams
and desires, but wouldn’t you rather work for
someone who at least knows what you want to
achieve and better still, helps you to achieve it?
Lead everyone differently
If you desire to be a 360 leader, you need to take
responsibility for conforming your leadership
style to what your people need. Not expecting
them to adapt to you.
Use organizational goals for individual development
The development of people is best aligned to
what the organization needs.
If it’s bad for the individual and the organization
– everyone loses
When its good for the individual and bad for the
organization – the organization loses
8. 360 Leader - Leading Down
360 Leader
Leading Down
When its bad for the individual but good for the
organization – the individual loses
When its good for the individual and good for the
organization – everyone wins!
Only 20% of workers work in their strength zone –
Donald Clifton
Why do people leave their jobs? The number 1 reason is
that they are not working in the area of their strengths.
A lot of parents can accept the blame for this. I work
with an increasing number of very bright young people
who have been very successful in getting excellent
grades at school. And they’ve progressed to university
and studies and then on a fast track in some
organization. And they do what their parents thought
was best for them. If daddy is an accountant, chances
are, they went into accountancy. Law, a lawyer. Teaching,
teacher… and so on. But just because someone can get
good grades in a subject at school or university does not
mean that they are strengths.
Successful people find their own strength zones
Successful leaders find the strengths zones of the people
they lead
Two of the most important questions to ask are:
What am I going to do to develop myself?
What am I going to do to develop my staff?
The first question determines your potential and
ongoing capacity to lead. The second determines the
potential for your team.
9. 360 Leader - Leading Down
360 Leader
Leading Down
Many times I’m asked by organizations to come in and
run workshops for them to create a culture of
community or growth or trust. And I often get a slightly
shocked response when I ask what the leaders are doing
every day that causes them not to have the culture they
desire.
If you want your staff to exhibit certain behaviours, you
have to model them. From the Law of the Picture:
People do what people see.
If you want honesty, it’s a good idea to do what you say
you will do every single time.
If you want credibility, you need to ‘do right’
If you want community, you as the leader need to care
You want high morale, then encourage people and show
them that you believe in them
Some direction? You need to set goals.
If you want to see growth, then you need to be learning.
If you want action, then your people need to be inspired.
You want security, then confidently make decision
And you want trust? Then consistently stick to principles.
Leaders need to be what they want to see.
10. 360 Leader - Leading Down
360 Leader
Leading Down
Though leaders in the middle may not be the ones
casting the vision, they are the ones interpreting it
1. Clarity
1. When preparing to cast the vision, ask
what do I want them to know, and what
do I want them to do?
2. How will they know that they know? By
their senses: See, Hear, Fell, Smell, Taste
2. Connection of past, present and future
1. People don’t like change. Well, change is
often something feared. Keeping in touch
with the past enables many to dare reach
for the future. Unifying past, present and
future brings power and continuity to
vision casting
3. Purpose
1. Vision tells people where to go, purpose
tells you why.
4. Goals
1. Goals are the tangible objectives for going
in this direction. It tells everyone what we
are aiming to achieve.
5. A Challenge
1. Go beyond what is now – otherwise why
change?
6. Stories
1. Stories stick, principles fade
7. Reward for results
1. WIFMs (What’s in it for me)
11. 360 Leader - Leading Down
360 Leader
Leading Down
No-one works for no reward!
And reward without the need for results is meaningless
except as a gift.
Give praise publically and privately
“It’s OK to let those you lead outshine you., for if they
shine brightly enough, they’ll reflect positively on you.”
Bill Hornsby
Don’t reward everyone the same
“Any business or industry that pays the equal rewards to
its goof-offs and its eager beavers sooner or later will
find itself with more goof-offs than eager beavers.” Mick
Delaney
Give perks beyond pay
