Wise Owl Coaching’s Post

I asked a tech SVP what holds mid-career leaders back from being promoted. He identified this as the #1 make-or-break skill: 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲. Some mid-career leaders draw boundaries around "their stuff" and what they think are other people's responsibilities. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿-𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀. The SVP told me a story of a Manager  that wanted to be a Director. The Manager was responsible for mobile app development. He didn't care about the web development teams because they weren't "his teams." Yet the Manager's mobile teams depended on backend software built by those web teams! The SVP advised the Manager to: 🟢 Join meetings with the web team, to ensure their code changes included what his teams needed. 🟢 Volunteer his mobile teams to help on code that both the web and mobile teams would need. Instead, the Manager: ❌  Frequently complained about how the other teams wouldn't make the changes his teams depended on. ❌ Never offered to be part of the solution. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁. The Manager moved to a new company. He told this SVP he knew he had a clean slate there: 𝙃𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣, 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧. The Manager said his new philosophy became, "I'm going to make friends with everybody and collaborate with people." Within a few years of turning over that new leaf,  he got promotions 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁. The SVP summarized the Manager’s journey: "That's the hump he had to get over: he had to learn to collaborate and work together." How have you partnered beyond just "your team" at work? What happened? Leave a comment below. 👇