Inspire. Don’t Wait for Upper Management.

Posted on 29. Aug, 2011 by Shawn Murphy in 1 Leadership, People & Change

How many times have you heard, “If upper management would get it’s act together, we could actually make some progress?”

I’m asking you, though, to stop saying it. Put up your pinky and pinky swear it. I’ll say it with you. Really? Really. Why?

In these times where so much uncertainty whirls about weaving itself into decisions and water cooler conversations, paralysis has come over entire companies. Logic and informed decisions have been replaced with frantic actions and shaky decisions.

So, going back to that pinky swear, here’s what I’m asking of you:

Stop waiting for upper management. You have complete control over how you respond to the circumstances around you. You have influence over the environment. You can cause optimism.

You can mobilize people in your team by adding meaning to their work.
You can make time to connect with your people as people.
Keep or start having one-on-one sessions to help employees better apply their talents to their work.

You can lead from where you are and make a difference in the professional lives of those who report to you or work alongside you.

Show your crazy, beautiful leadership. We need it more than ever today. Tomorrow. Always.

Graphic by us

Tags: 1 Leadership, Inspire, making a difference, Optimism

12 Responses to “Inspire. Don’t Wait for Upper Management.”

Ellen Bremen

29. Aug, 2011

Wow, Shawn, people in higher ed need to hear these words now more than ever, so I’m going to share this. Even in the best of economic times, administrative decisions move at a snail’s pace in colleges. Faculty can have amazing initiatives and then wait months, if not the entire academic year, to push the initiative through. Sometimes, admin will say that an ad-hoc committee needs to be created in order to see if the initiative will work. This can be pretty morale-busting!

Now that so many college budgets are being cut, getting creative and feeling inspired to push a new program/process forward takes even more energy, and longer decision-making. This is an excellent reminder that we have to look for the smaller, non-red-tape ideas that inspire us, and ones that we can implement easily–and use the momentum of those successes to keep the larger ideas coming. Ellen Bremen, M.A. @chattyprof

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- Shawn Murphy
  
  29. Aug, 2011
  
  Ellen,
  You got it! When the leaders become discouraged by a big ball of red-tape it’s certain employees feel similarly – or worse. Creating our own movements with small victories can add up to big deals. And even that’s not necessary. But those victories can inspire, motivate, and then give leaders leverage for pulling for bigger changes.
  
  Be well,
  Shawn
  
  Reply to this comment
Rusty

29. Aug, 2011

Great point, well put. In fact in today’s economy it behooves us to act, assert and take initiative. Those who wait on upper management may end up without a job because we ARE the company. If you don’t move, then the company may fall behind. And companies are looking to do more with less. I wrote an article that shares this point called “Why Work Hard”.

Great post!

Rusty

Reply to this comment
- Shawn Murphy
  
  29. Aug, 2011
  
  Rusty,
  You point out an important point: it’s important to act on what we can influence – it’s what upper management would expect us to do despite the environment. And the unfortunate reality to this is it goes unmentioned from those in corner offices. It’s assumed. I’ll have to check out your post.
  
  Cheers,
  Shawn
  
  Reply to this comment
Anthony

29. Aug, 2011

Thanks Sean, you touch on one of the most commonly believed myths about leadership – that Leader ship and Management are one and the same. Those in “Upper Management” may never get their “act together” because they might not be leaders. It takes a true leader to see more than others see. I agree; You can lead from where you are because that is where you might have the most influence.

Reply to this comment
- Shawn Murphy
  
  29. Aug, 2011
  
  Anthony,
  I’ve come to believe that management and leadership are tightly woven together. Management consists of disciplines distinct from those of leadership. But one without the other creates breakdowns and limits the heights of success.
  
  I appreciate you sharing your comment. Be well.
  Shawn
  
  Reply to this comment
Michele Price

29. Aug, 2011

I am sitting here in higher ed class University of Houston monitoring Hilton Hospitality social media class with Dean , Carl Boger. Some are keeping up Now how can we as entrepreneurs like myself be part of that change in higher ed?

Get out and be a part of that change.

Reply to this comment
- Shawn Murphy
  
  01. Sep, 2011
  
  We are often called to be part of change. It’s always a choice to go along with it.
  
  Shawn
  
  Reply to this comment
Kat Caverly

30. Aug, 2011

How about inspiring the managers who are tasked with leader us? I have led teams for the past 20 years and just recently decided that I needed to learn how to follow if I was truly going to lead. How can we not only support our managers and company execs, but inspire them to truly be leaders?

Reply to this comment
- Shawn Murphy
  
  01. Sep, 2011
  
  Kat,
  Inspiration is reciprocal and knows nothing about titles, hierarchy, or politics. We hear about managing up, but not inspiring up. Sounds like a good blog post. I think you should write it.
  
  Shawn
  
  Reply to this comment
Robyn McMaster

30. Dec, 2011

Thanks, Sean, for such an inspiring post.

It’s so much better to take steps to inspire, encourage and help others than to complain or wait for others to do it. Such leadership will soon be noticed!

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Alan Kay

31. Dec, 2011

It’s so true…the waiting game. Part of the issue is senior management that doesn’t encourage decision-making down the line. In my mid-manager’s leadership and collaboration teaching I always tell students to learn to delegate, let go of centralized decision making, and leverage the diversity of decision-making that will happen. If the overall values, purpose and goals of the business are clear, then people can be taught how to make accountable decisions. This is especially true when it comes to decisions about the customer. People will make mistakes, that’s for sure, but if they are able to learn from the mistakes good things will happen. Similarly, leaders can show that decision-making has both rewards and consequences, and that authoritative (vs. authoritarian) decision-making is a learnable skill.

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