Black Belt Productivity

If you are like me, you are a worker bee. You have a boss, who has a boss, who has a boss. You are somewhere lost in the bureaucracy of corporate America. Those of you who are in business for yourselves, feel fortunate. The lives of worker bees are dictated to them. You do not act. To a great extent, you are acted upon. And you are expected to react to whatever stimulus is driving them at that moment in time.

John Maxwell points out to us in his book The 360 Degree Leader that leadership is not just for those who are referred to as executives or managers. You can lead from anywhere in an organization. Leadership does not necessarily mean you are calling the shots or making the decisions. Sometimes leadership simply means being an active part of progress rather than standing in the way.

One of the key ways that we can lead from the middle is to lead up. That means that we need to connect with our manager or supervisor. We need to let them know that we want to lighten their load. Sometimes it helps to simply ask, “How can I take some pressure off of you?”

Maxwell points out the following ways that we can lighten our manager’s load.

1. Do you own job well first. Nothing is harder on a manager than having to cover for or do someone else’s job because they will not do it themselves. Do not be the one who is asking to lighten the manager’s load, but is is not doing their own job to begin with.
2. When you find a problem, offer a solution. This is pretty self explanatory. Our finance director is pretty firm on this one. If you come into his office to point out a problem, then you had better take the time to put together a solution. A good rule of thumb is to have three potential solutions for any problem before you go up the chain to point out the problem.
3. Tell your leader what they NEED to hear, not what they WANT to hear. The best way for you to grow as an employee is to do all you can to see your leader succeed. That may mean that you have to communicate bad news. But a leader cannot properly react to a situation unless they have all of the facts at hand. In the end, you will most likely benefit from having helped your leader along the way by making sure they were properly informed.
4. Go the second mile. No one stands out for just doing their job. If you go that extra mile to lift your manager’s load, you will stand out. Standing out to your leader for the right reasons is good for you.
5. Stand up for your leader whenever you can. There is no problem with disagreement while making a decision, but after the decision is made, loyalty is key to success of the team. When the team wins, and you play well with others, you win.
6. Stand in for your leader whenever you can. You carry two buckets when you represent your organization, one contains water, and the other contains gasoline. You are either putting out fires or adding fuel to them.
7. Ask your leader how you can lift their load. If you are doing your own job well, and ask your leader what else you can do to help them, they will gladly come out and tell you.

Lightening the load of your leader can be an excellent way to contribute to the success of an organization is to make sure the leader succeeds. You play a role in your leaders success by keeping them informed, anticipating their needs, and standing up for them when necessary.

-Jason