Leadership = relationships

Many product and tech leaders struggle with the relationships aspect of senior leadership positions.

As an individual contributor it is fairly clear: you rely on others to make things happen. One person cannot develop a feature or launch a product on their own. You want to get along with your colleagues, build relationships with them, so you can make agreements and commitments.

But now that you are a leader, it is not so clear anymore. As you grow into more senior leadership positions, you realise that you want to focus more on motivating and inspiring others, and less on feature development or product launches. So you learn how to delegate and get ready to spend your days thinking about strategy.

But then one day you feel as if you are surrounded by people who have their own agenda, and no-one is sharing yours. Your direct reports are demotivated or not behaving according to expectations, you do not trust all your leadership peers, and your manager or the senior leader above them is unreachable.

This is when a shift in perspective can do wonders.

Realise that in your leadership position, you are more reliant than ever on others to make things happen. It is just that there are many more relationships to manage, and they have become more complex.

• What kind of relationship would it take, with whom, to create buy-in for your agenda?

• How can you improve the relationships with your direct reports, to empower them?

• What’s missing from the relationships with your peers?

• What’s going on in the relationships with your manager and the senior leader above them?

Do you want to become more impactful?