Leadership and the art of managing up, down, and sideways

In my two different roles as an Executive Director and Creative Director, I have come across a lot of people. I have interacted with clients, customers, board members, advisors, volunteers, donors, business partners, constituents, and staff.

This year, since Kids & Art Foundation, the nonprofit organization I founded, is celebrating it's 10th anniversary, I have had several people reach out to me to chat about leadership and what it takes. One question that struck me was,

"does it take different skills to be a leader in the nonprofit world compared to the for profit world?".

Does it?

Personally I do not think so. Taking on leadership is the same whether you are a manager of a small team, a Director, or a VP. Yes, it's true that funding, relationships with customers/constituents, and accountability are different in both sectors, but your leadership style, values, and judgements do not change because you work in different sectors.

Just as I was writing this article, I started having this conversation with a dear friend and she said, "Yes. To some extent. But it is important to recognize that there is a difference between being a manager and being a leader. They are not interchangeable". I added, "but as a leader don’t you have to be a good manager? Good leaders are those who know when to manage up, down, sideways and know how to set the tone to do so". My friend continued, "I see a leader as the promoter- the one that makes decisions and gets the team to believe in and follow through the goals.  A manager is someone who figures out the resources and how to meet the goals. A manager gets down, rolls up sleeves and gets into the weeds. A leader will not". Me, "true, I agree with what you are saying. But does that mean leadership and being a leader are two different things? Managers need to have leadership qualities, right?". My friend added, "Yes. Managers need leadership qualities- there is a lot of overlap...".

Does the above conversation sound sector specific? Does it sound like two people are talking about non profit leadership or for profit leadership? I can't tell.

So continuing on our overall conversation of leadership, first off, when you are hired in a leadership role, you have to bear in mind that you are capable and your qualifications got you the job. Of course, all of us have had a 'reach' job at some point in our lives. But we stepped up and took it in our stride and learnt the ropes. Above all, what kept us going, we believed in ourselves, we knew we could do the job.

This point onwards you have three jobs.

1. You need to start focusing on being a cheerleader, confidant, promoter, active and sound listener of your team. You need to be approachable and appreciative of diverse skill within your team. As a manager it is not about you it is about what you are representing. What you are representing might not always be in alignment with you and at that point you need to decide if you are going to make a stink about it or if you are going to wave your magic wand. Something that might not align with you might just be right for someone else on your team, having the ability to move things along is a skill that will need to be sharpened. You cannot fight all battles, so you will have to pick and choose. This does not mean you go against your grain. If that is how you feel then you have to stop and evaluate whether you are in the right place and if not, that's a different conversation that has nothing to do with your leadership skills. At that point it's personal and we will talk about that soon.

2. You need to have the skills to manage up. This is where I have seen people struggle. If higher ups do not understand your way or do not agree with you, or if you do not fit in the sorority you cannot take it personally. You cannot become petty and start doubting yourself and your role. They enlisted you to fill a gap in the ranks and at the higher level everyone is different because each VP or Director is managing a wide range of teams and needs that might be unlike the other teams. This is where your uniqueness has the ability to shine. Yes you will rub people the wrong way but that's fine, you have to do what is needed to protect your team and their work. However you do not want to make enemies of your peers. At that level, you have fewer friends so you have to learn to be civil and wave the white flag when it is deemed to be important.

3. You need to nurture your inner child. What does this mean? You are a grown up, you are here to do a job, what is this about nurturing the inner child? How many of us have climbed the ladder because it is in plain sight or it was the only thing available to us? How many of us have done so for more practical reasons, insurance, bringing a paycheck home, paying for kids private college fees, being the only breadwinner? How many of us have failed and how many have succeeded, the crux of this has depended on who nurtured their inner child. I'm going to stay big picture here, I'm not going to let this conversation be dragged into 1% thinking or 1st world problems or any of that. I'm going to stay with the conversation about 'leadership'. If we have lost the happiness in the job but we still 'need' it for grown up reasons, we need to start looking for ways to nurture that inner child that really got us to where we are today. Whether it means you need to ask for a change in your job (managers need a change too), add education resources, add a hobby, find something else meaningful to volunteer with on the side, become a mentor, become a coach, teach, play, in short find a distraction.

There are lot of people and things that will work hard to break our confidence and question our leadership style. When that happens, we will have to asses our leadership style. Because good leadership does not only mean evaluating your employees and your peers, a big part of it is also about evaluating yourself. Are you keeping up with the times, are you becoming set in your ways, is your leadership style still synergistic with the organization/company you are part of, have you changed/evolved along the way, because we all do with time. If you are good at acknowledging change and working to grow and adapt with it, you are a good leader regardless of the field you work in.