In her May 28 “Calling the Game” video, Bobbie LaPorte shares some practical tips to help you develop “lateral agility” and put this important leadership skill into practice. Hint: it’s not difficult, but it does require shifting your mindset.
Discover Opportunities to Demonstrate Lateral Agility Skills in Your Organization
Hi, this is Bobbie LaPorte, back with another week of “Calling the Game,” where I share my own experience and insights while giving you valuable tools you can use to call your own game…and plan the best moves for you and your team.
In my last vlog, I introduced the concept of “lateral agility,” or how you further the broader goals of the enterprise while also focusing on your own team’s objectives. I believe this is the most important leadership capability for today’s leaders.
So, as a follow-up, I wanted to offer some suggestions about how to put this capability into practice.
First, let me share some basic assumptions about the concept of lateral agility.
- Leaders who practice this spend at least half their time working across the organization instead of with their own team. That is probably a big shift in how you might be currently spending your time.
- Having “vertical” success—that is, in your own domain or functional areas—doesn’t necessarily translate to success with lateral agility. You need to recognize that you can’t rely on your positional authority when the organization’s critical work is primarily cross-functional.
- It requires a different mindset—an enterprise mindset that requires the humility to acknowledge that you don’t have all the answers and that your and others’ success will come from solving problems together.
- And again – it is all about relationships. Your social capital replaces your positional power.
How do you operationalize lateral agility in your company?
Here is an example:
One of my clients led a program office that served a number of stakeholders in the company, so by nature, his function needed to work with and through other parts of the organization.
It was not unusual, but he took a broader, enterprise view of the work he and his team did, looking beyond specific projects they were working on to how he could impact some of the larger, complex issues the company was facing.
He leveraged his relationships–his social capital. He became known as a strategic leader who was able to bring diverse groups together around a shared purpose–a selfless leader who actively supported others’ success.
As a result of his success and contributions, he is now leading a C-level function in the company focused on solving critical enterprise-level issues.
Discover your lateral agility opportunities
- Where does the work you and your team are doing intersect with others?
- What is one big problem or gap you see in your company?
- How can you reach out to others and enlist them to support an enterprise goal?
Developing lateral agility doesn’t have to be difficult. It does require that you hold an enterprise mindset and that you see the value in mobilizing people around a shared purpose regardless of your defined role.
Okay, that’s it for this week’s “Calling the Game.” Hope this helps you gear up for a great week and navigate any curveballs that may come your way!