Leading your leader

When you are not at the top of the pyramid, you may recognize critical changes before your leader.  In these instances it is helpful to know how to appropriately influence your leader to make the right course correction while still maintaining unity in the team or organization.  The following points will help you develop an influencing relationship with your leader.

Earn their trust

Whether you know it or not, you have a brand. Every time you interact with someone they form an opinion of you.  Additionally, every time they hear your name associated with something they further establish their feelings on your brand.  Their personal image of your brand can be difficult to change once established.

This concept of brand is critical to influencing your leader.  They need to know that the information you are providing can be relied upon – in essence, it will positively contribute to their personal brand.  You need to consistently demonstrate that you understand and deliver on the needs of your leader.

But that is only part of the trust-earning process.  Leaders validate their personal perspectives through established trusting relationships.  If your leader receives positive feedback about you from a trusted friend, they will make a note in their mental trust log.  You also need to develop trusting relationships with those your leader trusts.

Evaluate the timing

Once you have the trust of your leader and have an idea you feel they should consider, you need to find the right time to introduce the idea.  Your timing flexibility depends on the severity of the issue.  If a change is critical you need to contact your leader immediately.  Other changes can be planned more strategically.  The basic idea, though, is to introduce the change to current plans when it matters most to your leader.

Finding the right time is not always easy and can require persistence.  Your leader is very busy with other issues.  If your idea will help them get closer to their goals faster, they will be interested when the time is right.  Watch your leader to see when they take their breaks.  Understand their schedule and up-coming activities that could demand their time.  Find a moment when they are taking a mental reprieve and have time to chat.  Schedule some time with them during their break, but also being considerate of their need for a break.

Be persistent

Depending on the timing, your leader may not be prepared for your idea.  That’s fine.  Seldom will you actually catch them at the perfect moment.  What’s more, some ideas need to be introduced with some time to bake in your leader’s mind before they are prepared to discuss them.

Consequently you need to be considerately persistent.  If your leader didn’t accept your idea initially, evaluate another appropriate time and bring it up again.  Your leader may have mentioned flaws in your idea at your initial introduction.  Find solutions to these flaws before your next discussion.  Consider changing your approach to highlight different procedures or solutions to see what resonates best.

Shelve ideas that don’t get traction

Finally, you also need to realize that your idea may not be appropriate for the leader’s current plan – or even not appropriate for their future plans.  If your leader consistently turns down your idea, evaluate why.  Be willing to put it on the shelf to be discussed later.  Likewise be willing to shelve it permanently.  You will have another idea soon enough that will help you forget about your shelved idea.