Teamership: Up & Out vs. Down & In

Getting up & out is both challenging and rewarding. Photo by Husna Miskandar on Unsplash

I have been working with a strategic leadership group for a few months. The theme of the work has been Creating Better Connections (which won’t surprise anyone who has been reading my recent posts!).

After a bit of a break between sessions, we got back together last week and the intent was to both create some space to reflect on how the team was going and identify some useful actions for the team to take from here.

The second half of our session included the Executive Leadership Team and considering how the strategic and executive leaders could better connect.

Collectively, this group of leaders made two important decisions:

1. Creating better connections was important to them

2. They identified 21 options (ranging from conceptual to concrete) that could help them to create better connections.

There is an ongoing set of decisions for them to make - which ones to prioritise, which ones to set aside for later and which ones are not a good fit.

At the end of the session, I asked the participants to share one word to reflect on their experience of the conversation. Here is a selection - the rest were along the same lines:

Hopeful

At peace

Calm

Relaxed

Intent

Excited

Optimistic

This particular organisation has been dealing with a lot of change - both inside the organisation and in the market that they operate. There has been a lot of pressure on every member of both the Executive and Strategic Leadership Teams. Understandably, individually they had been focusing down & in - on their personal and functional responsibilities

One intention of the process that we went through was to help shift their attention up and out - to see the bigger picture, ask and offer assistance and identify mutually beneficial ways of working together.

It is a counterintuitive and courageous move to go up & out.

Individuals and teams that do are able to create better connections and get the benefits of collective experience, support and resilience.

Here are some questions for you to consider this week.

1. Do you notice yourself going down & in?

2. What are the benefits you experience when you are able to go up & out?

3. How could you help others get up & out?