Manage “Diagonally” Too. Better Yet, Pay Attention To Everything That’s Going On Around You

Written by Mike Shapiro | | July 5, 2017

The article Why effective leaders must manage, up, down and sideways by Thomas Barta and Patrick Barwise, published in the April, 2017 McKinsey Quarterly, makes a compelling case for paying attention to your boss and your peers as well as the people who report to you.

They point out correctly that your insights and pushback will help your boss sharpen strategy and you’ll help your entire organization drive change and innovation by bringing your perspective to discussions with your peers.

But the article doesn’t mention another important — and often overlooked — constituency that also merits your attention.

What about your boss’s peers? Why not look for opportunities to engage with, listen to and share your thinking with them too?

Here’s why:

  • It ensures your ideas and point of view are considered in decision-making. Certain decisions affecting your organization may be “above your pay-grade” and come out of meetings of your boss and his her or her boss and peers — meetings you’re not attending. Chances are you’re going to have to implement those decisions, and you should want everyone who’s “voting” — not just your boss — to have the benefit of your thinking.
  • It’s important for your boss’s credibility. Your boss’s peers’ opinions of his or her key staff members — that’s you — are perceived as evidence of his or her judgment and leadership skills. You want them to know your boss made a wise decision to have you on the team.
  • It helps pave the way for your own future with the company. When your boss is convinced it’s time for you to be promoted or to get additional responsibility, he or she will need the support of his or her peers. How can they support you if they don’t know much about you or your work or the value you bring to the organization?

Ok. That should take care of things, right? Well, it kind of does — so long as you’re concerned only with helping people in your immediate sphere. But how long till the next reorganization and you’re in a new and different area, working with different associates? There’s a lot going on in the company that doesn’t involve you directly — yet.

Now, more than ever, it’s critical to pay attention to everything that’s happening in all corners of your organization. Let people know the way you think and work, and look for ways to make things better in any way you can.