Leaders know that great insights often come from the people doing the actual work. Faced with “higher level challenges,” leaders and leadership teams tend to lose touch with those doing the work. Whichever end you find yourself in this dilemma, whether you are on project team, lead a project team, or lead a program, take some time to refresh your thinking and "dismiss the hierarchy", if only temporarily. It will help to keep motivation alive in yourself, your team, and your organization.
Many higher level leaders make it a regular practice to schedule heart to heart meetings with small groups across teams and functions. They set the stage by dismissing hierarchy and inviting people to help with a significant challenge or two. Wheterh you are at the top or bottom or in between this typ eof phenomenon, try to be quiet and receptive, as such forums can be very effective at getting people to think outside the box.
Here is an excellent collection of current thoughts on the topic of leadership and hierarchy:
Latte Leadership: When Hierarchy Overrides Reason
The singer had shown great leadership in her ability to include and recognize the skills and talents of others. A latte leader indeed. Trouble hits for all organizations, and those within it, when hierarchy overrrides not just …
Most often, we think about leadership in terms of hierarchy; there’s the leaders and there’s the followers. But leadership can be a lot more diffused. Adoption of new ways of communicating and interacting is leadership by a group. …
Thoughts on Leadership Adaptability.
Even worse is the fact that the higher we are in the leadership hierarchy, the less flexible and adaptable we become…because we don’t have to be!!! We are in control and we can manage the world around us to a significant degree. …
"Shared" and "distributed" organizational models, which place the chief executive at the center of a circle—not on top a hierarchy—are becoming much more common and powerful. The CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, has said that he now has to …
Respect leadership hierarchy wisely
A sales rep, an administration clerk and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out in a puff of smoke. The Genie says, “I usually only grant three wishes, so I’ll give each of …
The Collapse of Traditional Hierarchical Structures (”The Death of …
The first is: Inside your hierarchy is a network. This isn’t about networks replacing hierarchies–we’re still going to have managers and promotions. But particularly for large companies, there’sa lot of value that can be unlocked by …
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John Reiling, PMP
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