I have served on the Executive Teams now for several years, and I have been blessed to serve alongside some talented and gifted leaders under great leadership. One of the key things I have noticed that helps the senior leader do more, and in turn helps the team go further, is when leaders who serve under the senior leader engage and respond in helpful ways that assist the senior leader. My latest podcast looks at this. It is important enough that I also wanted to write them out for you, to share with your teams, as well as to have for yourself. So, here are my 5 things executive leaders can do to help their senior leaders.
- Try It First – Because you are a leader in your organization, helping it grow is part of your role. It is something that is expected of each of us, that we help the organization grow by adding value. Oftentimes, that means we add or take advantage of new opportunities. However, before you bring the senior leader a new “try” or opportunity, you must research it, and if possible, try it before presenting it. If you can’t try it, then get as much data as possible. Use your learner or input skills (these are Gallup Strengths, if you’re not familiar ask me about them), to bring in the data needed to get a benchmark. What I am sure about is that your senior leader would love to do something new that will impact the ministry or your organization positively. I am also sure that they would love it even more if you came to them with this idea, having already done the extra work to “try it first” and having some key findings before you all launch it in a major way. Now, you might have some tension in thinking “trying it first” will take too long and the idea might not be as good. The truth is, and you know this, there is nothing new under the sun and all ideas come together in God’s timing. Having some data and research to back a strong idea will help your senior leader and the team run faster and feel more confident in the direction. What can you try today?
- Build In Margin – No matter your organization or your role, there is a pace and rhythm at which the organization moves. This pace will dictate the level and quality of work you can do, and often this pace is set by the executive team and the senior leader. The senior leader and/or team might come up with a great idea that they have tried and tested already (see what I did there 😁). Maybe it’s just a new opportunity that we want to take advantage of, but we haven’t built in margin. Margin is the room you have “on the side” beyond and outside of the normal pace. This margin will allow you to take advantage of and be ready for those last-minute requests or late thoughts. I love our church and our senior leader, Pastor Matthew L. Watley, and I have taught and practiced with my team how to allow margin for him. This means that all our normal “to-dos” are planned and done in such a way, and with some “extra room,” that if he makes a request for something or encourages us to do something different, we have margin, time, and resources to do it well. Margin can be time, but it can also be having the right people on the team or accessible so that we can call on them to assist and bring home the idea or opportunity. If you work without margin, then when an opportunity presents itself, you won’t have the time, energy, or resources to move, and you will be wondering “What if?” because you could not take advantage. How or who can you get to help you create margin? What gifts, talents, or strengths can you use on your team to be ready?
- Explore and Expose – Another key “value add” that we can bring to our senior leader is something new. It might be in the same industry or a different industry or field from your organization. This can look like books, a conference, or even a show. I remember one of our Executive Team members shared with me the Netflix show,
“7 Days Out.” This series looks at a few industries and how they prepare for a big event. The team member shared the story about Eleven Madison Park, an insightful look at how a world-class organization prepares for a big grand opening. Inspired by this series, I purchased “Unreasonable Hospitality” a book about Eleven Madison Park. It has made a big impact and influenced the concepts and thoughts we have in our organization, all from someone exploring and exposing the team and senior leader. When was the last time you looked at another industry leader? When was the last time you looked outside of your industry to see what they’re doing differently? The point here is unless we commit to exploring outside of our comfort zone, we will only know what we know. We bring much more value to our senior leader and our organization when we explore new things expose our leadership to them and ask the famous question, what if? Where can you explore this week? Who on your team can you take with you so that they can be part of the exploration and exposure?
- Zoom Out – I don’t believe as a leader in the last few years I have said a phrase more to my team than this one – zoom out. Zoom out means that while we have an area or an important role, it’s key for us to “zoom out” and see the whole picture of how other pieces impact what we want to do and how we impact those parts as well. When you zoom out as a senior leader, it helps you to not focus solely on your “win” but on the “win” for the organization and team. For some of us, it is harder to zoom out than others because your passion is tied too closely to your area. This is a great thing but also something that we must be careful about as we want to make sure we are mindful of the whole pie and not just our slice. This is the role our senior leaders must live in because they often hear your view but also hear the view of a team member and try to make the decision on which area should be prioritized first or receive more funds. Suppose we, as executive leaders, zoom out before we come to our senior leader with a thought or even a tension/issue. In that case, we might be able to reason toward a better solution with them, or at least be able to address the concerns we know they must think through. Looking at your strengths again (ask me about strength-based leadership) it might be best to see which of your strengths or passions will allow you to see the full picture or at least more pieces than those that relate directly to you. Doing this in the long run will be beneficial for you as you plan and prepare. It will also benefit the organization as it grows, and your team decides on the next steps. When was the last time you zoomed out? What are the other areas that you can examine to ensure that you are being mindful of the full picture and the view of your senior leader?
- Expand – Growth and development are keys to success in executive leadership. We all must be student learners as well as constantly looking for what is new and what is next. As an executive leader or a good leader, you will always want to do more, receive more, and be responsible for more. However, often in organizations, there is some level of growth “cup.” It is not that the organization does not want you to grow and move “up” in the leadership ladder, but in some organizations, like my church, you can only go up so far before you need the senior leader to move out if you’re going to go up anymore. In this case and others like it, the growth doesn’t happen by you moving up in leadership; rather it happens by you expanding what you have. You can grow more “out” in any organization than you can grow “up.” So, you can expand your area, role, and responsibility more than you can take someone else’s job by moving up. I hear you asking, “But how?” Great question. In all the roles you have, what you have been given or what is expected is for you to develop – from tasks to budget and people. My argument is that we all have the opportunity to expand these areas and grow them. You can find ways to enhance and grow your tasks, budget, and the teams that serve alongside you. The real question is, can you think about and pray about ways to expand what you have been given? Can you be the leader with the talents who gave the owner back more than he was given in the first place? When you do this, you will be more valuable and more helpful to your senior leader, and in turn, show yourself as someone that they can trust to help the organization move forward.
So, which of these can you work on now? Which of these can you engage your team to help you work on? Which of these or others has your senior leader already been asking you to develop and help them with? The goal for all of us as it relates to our senior leader, is to do for them what we want them to do for us, and that is to make our organization better and a place that we are excited to be because of the impact we have. Do you have anything to add? Do you need help processing through these using your strengths? Would you like me to help or coach you? Contact me at info@ministrypivot.com or just click here and complete the form. I am excited with you about your next steps…
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