Tonya D. Harrison: 0:10

Welcome to Leveraging Operations in Leadership podcast. This is the show where we help new and frontline leaders navigate the challenges of team management while implementing strong operational strategies for success. I'm Tanya D Harrison, and today we're diving into a critical topic. We're going to be talking about how to lead your team while managing senior leadership expectations. I have to admit, middle management was extremely challenging for me, and this is one of the reasons why. So, if you've ever felt caught in the middle, balancing your team's needs while keeping leadership satisfied, you are not alone, and today I'm going to walk you through seven actionable strategies to help you successfully manage this dynamic. You are going to walk you through seven actionable strategies to help you successfully manage this dynamic. You are going to want to go ahead, grab your tea or coffee, your pen and paper so we can get started. Let's get into it, okay. So here are the seven actionable strategies that I want to share with you while you are hanging out in what I like to call the messy middle. Right, and it really doesn't have to be that way, but this is a state where you are early in your leadership journey. You are either a frontline manager or middle manager, right? This is kind of where you have senior leadership that you report to, and then you are managing the frontline staff, you're managing the team that actually does the work, and this is going to require that you have balance. So you want to meet the needs of senior leaders, but then you also need to meet the needs of your team as well. So strategy number one and it is definitely number one for a reason you need to align your team's goals with leadership priorities. The last thing you want to have happen is that you and your team are off and you guys are doing some great things, but they are not the things that are a priority to leadership. I've had that happen to me and what happens is is that you end up being frustrated, your team ends up being frustrated and senior leadership ends up being frustrated because it's not a part of their priority.

Tonya D. Harrison: 2:47

One of the best ways to keep both your team and senior leadership on the same page is you have to make sure that your team's goals are aligned with the organizational objectives and with the priorities of your senior leader. So how do you do this? What you're going to do is you're going to start by not just understanding the company's big picture and vision, because that is big Usually what happens in larger organizations. So mid to large organizations, even some smaller organizations executive team and senior leadership they'll go and they will create a strategic plan. This could be a three to five year plan, but that plan is broken down into yearly goals and objectives.

Tonya D. Harrison: 3:32

You want to understand for 2025 or whatever year you are in, you want to understand what those goals and objectives are and you want to understand the role that your team plays and in order to do this, you really have to have a real conversation with your senior leader, because most senior leaders are managing multiple departments. So my last position I had six different departments that were under me, right? So, yes, we had one objective for the year, but each one of them contributed to that differently, and you want to understand your team's role, and the best way to do that is by having a conversation. Once you get really clear on what those objectives are, then you're going to share them with your team. Basically, what you're sharing with your team is the what that needs to be done. You want to get your team's feedback on the how it needs to be done. So, for instance, if a part of your yearly goal, let's say, you are managing a customer service department and you want to reduce wait time from five minutes to three minutes, that is something that rolls into a leadership priority. If that is what your goal is for your area, you're going to share that with your team and you are going to get their feedback as to how you can get this done. They're the ones that's doing it every single day. Have them a part of that conversation and then you together collectively decide what initiatives you're going to implement in order to make that happen.

Tonya D. Harrison: 5:18

Now, your team. They're clear on what their assignment is. They feel a part of the solution. They engage. They provided you a part of the solution. They engage. They provided you with some of the hows you came to an agreement, and it also increases accountability. It makes it easier for you to hold them accountable, but then now they are holding themselves and each other accountable, all right. And then, of course, you're going to have regular team meetings. You know where you are sharing updates and things like that. So, strategy number one align your team's goals with leadership priorities. All right, let's move on to strategy number two.

Tonya D. Harrison: 5:58

The second thing you want to do is proactively communicate up, down and all around. Senior leaders do not like surprises and your team doesn't want to be confused, going back and forth and not understanding what their priorities are. So the key and this is one of your priorities is to keep the information flowing smoothly. Right, you want to understand how your senior leader likes to be informed of progress, challenges and updates, and this could be a weekly email, a dashboard, a scheduled one-on-one. Really meet with your leader, find out how they like information and then provide them the information in that way, but make sure you are keeping them up to date. And then, on the flip side, you also want to be communicating with your team as well. As you're having these conversations with senior leaders and getting feedback, you want to share that information with your team. Of course, you can't share confidential information. You want to take that into consideration, but at the same time, you want to make sure that you are sharing information with them. If your senior leader is saying that they're doing a great job, you want to share that. If there's some feedback, you want to share that as well. All right, I hope you're still writing actionable strategy.

Tonya D. Harrison: 7:32

Number three Anticipate leadership needs and concerns. Okay, so we know that feeling when leadership drops a last minute request in your lap. You know how that feels. We want to try to minimize that. So you want to stay ahead by paying attention to whether it be company trends, leadership priorities and what they really care about, and by having conversations again with your leader, you may be able to pick up on some things. If you pick up on some things that may sound like a different priority than what you've already discussed, you want to call that out. You want to ask them are we still on track with reducing the hold time in customer service? Whatever that is, you want to make sure that you continue to remain aligned, but you also want to be in a position where you are giving your team as much advance notice as possible if something is going to change right, and you want to be prepared for it. So just make sure you are really in tune and paying attention.

Tonya D. Harrison: 8:47

If you hear of a new initiative, you know that is coming down the pipes, you go ahead and you verify that information and then you want to start preparing your team in terms of what this may look like and make sure that you are bringing solutions and not just problems One of the things that we teach our staff right and we want to make sure we're doing the same thing to senior leaders is is that we are bringing solutions and we are giving to how we can solve this problem, mitigate this risk, whatever the case may be. So, strategy number three anticipate leadership needs and concerns. I know it's not always easy, but do the very best that you can. Strategy number four this one can be a little challenging as well, but it's going to be huge in success and it is going to be huge when it comes to your team. You want to manage workload and set realistic expectations. Strategy number four you want to manage workload and set realistic expectations.

Tonya D. Harrison: 9:56

If leadership has and I understand what I'm saying, and it may be tough if you are in the beginning stages but if leadership has unrealistic expectations, you have to push back respectfully. You have to push back respectfully because there is a fine line between being a high performing leader and having a high performing team and burning your team out, and you do not want to be the leader that burns their team out. Listen, in this day and age, we have a lot going on in the world, right? People have other things going on besides, and they always have, but it just seems like right now things are a lot more tense and you want to make sure that you are considerate of that. But, more importantly, you want to make sure you're not burning your team out when you're pushing back with leadership. Respectfully right, you want to make sure that you use data to justify.

Tonya D. Harrison: 11:03

In this scenario, data is truly your friend and, as you're sharing this information, you'll be able to justify why a timeline may need to be adjusted or a KPI may need to be reconsidered. So you want to make sure that you are using data to justify. And then one of the things that you could do is is that, ok, based off the current data and the current resources, we're not able to meet that project timeline, but you could also share with them what resources or what you would need in order to meet that timeline. So say, for instance, they have a project timeline that is really aggressive and it is by the end of the month. While you may not be able to meet that project timeline with your current resources, there may be other things that they could add or provide for you in order to meet that. You want to consider that. Here's what we have. Based on what we have, we're not able to meet that timeline. Here's the data that supports that. However, with these additional resources that will allow us to meet this deadline, or if we are able to shift priorities that may allow us to meet the deadline. So now you're not just saying, yeah, that's unrealistic, but now you're giving options of if this is really and truly a priority, here's what we could do to make that happen. And then they have to make the decision if they are willing to approve the additional resources or reprioritize things. Right Now, you've put the ball back in their park.

Tonya D. Harrison: 12:50

You definitely want to make sure that you are at least having those conversations when it is a unrealistic expectation, and then you want to make sure that you prioritize and filter tasks before passing them out to your team. Everything cannot be urgent. If everything is urgent and everything is a priority, that means that nothing is a priority, and that may be another conversation that you may end up having. Right, you have five priorities. Which one is truly the priority? Right, Because, if it's not clear to you, you want to make sure that you are getting that clarity, because one of the things you want to do is you want to make sure that your team stays productive without being overwhelmed. Everything can't be a priority, and there may be a way that you and your senior leader can come up with a priority matrix, a filtering system that you could use to kind of filter through tasks to see what's a priority or what level of priority it is. So if you work in the healthcare space, you know, okay, does it directly impact the patient? Then does it impact providers pay, does it impact access to care? Like you know, you may have a filtering system that you kind of run things through that can help you determine what is a higher level of priority or not. If not, you just want to make sure that you are having those conversations with your senior leader and together you are determining what those priorities are. All right, strategy number five, strategy number five and I know I say that all of them are important because they all are.

Tonya D. Harrison: 14:29

But as a leader, this is huge, advocating for your team's need. As a leader, you're your team's biggest advocate and cheerleader. They need your support, resources, clarity. It is your role to communicate that to leadership. You want to make absolutely sure that you have your team's back, make absolutely sure that you have your teams back and when they need something, you are going and you are making those requests Now, is there a way that you can make those requests that don't seem for lack of a better word whiny? Yeah, absolutely.

Tonya D. Harrison: 15:09

One of the things we know is that senior leaders speak in terms of results and outcomes, and you want to start speaking in that manner, as you want to align your communication so that it is more palatable to senior leaders that they're going to now listen and take it in, and one of the ways you do that is reframing. Instead of saying, in order to meet this, you know this new KPI or whatever the case may be we need more staff. Well, senior leaders hear that all the time we need more staff, we need more staff. One of the things that you could do is you could reframe it and you could say with an additional team member, we can increase output by 30. We can increase output by 20%, whatever that is, that sounds a whole lot better to senior leaders than just a can we need more staff.

Tonya D. Harrison: 16:09

You need to be able to show why you need more staff, what you're going to be able to accomplish with more staff, or whatever the request is. You want to make sure that you learn how to start reframing information so that it does not fall on deaf ears, so that they are more open and receptive to listen to what it is that you say, and I can tell you from sitting in the senior leadership seat for many years. I heard a lot of times we need more staff, but sometimes I didn't get the second part. I had to ask for it. Okay, why do you need more staff? What do you expect to accomplish with more staff? Basically, I need to understand what is it that we're going to be able to get with more staff, and this is information that you want to be armed with, and if you can go to your leadership team already armed with this information before they ask you, that is going to set you apart. It also is going to position your team for success.

Tonya D. Harrison: 17:11

The other thing you want to do is celebrate and showcase your team successes. This is a part of advocating for your team. Leadership is more likely to invest in teams that are visibly making an impact. So you got that dashboard, the email, the one-on-ones where you're sharing information as well, but also you want to share not just your team success. You want to highlight individuals on your team. If they stand up and they do something you want to be celebrating and sharing that. You really want to make sure that leadership understands what your team has been able to accomplish, who some of those star players are on your team, because that is going to help open up doors for them as well. But leadership will start to look at your team in a whole new way if you are sharing those results and don't just share them with leadership. You can share them across departments as well. Make sure you are putting that out there and you are advocating for your team's needs and any resources that they may need. Again, we are not trying to burn our high performing team out. All righty, all right, all right, all right. We got two more to go, so hope your pen has not run out of ink because we are down to two more.

Tonya D. Harrison: 18:32

Strategy number six adapt and stay flexible. I get it right. Things are shifting, priorities are changing. It can be a lot to manage, but your ability to stay flexible and lead through uncertainty is another thing that's going to set you apart. You're not going to always agree with the changes. You're not going to always understand the changes. However, you do have to be a good change manager and you have to be able to manage through the changes, when we are dealing with uncertain times, whether it's organizations that are downsizing or, you know, making changes internally. Whatever the case may be, it can be tough, but you have to find a way to remain positive throughout it. A lot of times, our team takes our lead, so if we are stressed, depressed and frustrated, then that kind of rolls down to them.

Tonya D. Harrison: 19:34

We want to make sure that we are keeping an open mind when leadership introduces these new pivots or goals or whatever it is, and we want to understand the change as much as possible so that we can guide our team through the change and that we can provide as much clarity as possible and reassurance as possible to our team. Being adaptable shows leadership that you are. You're strong and you are solution oriented, but it also shows your team the same thing that you are strong and supportive. You want to make sure that you find ways to do this. Again, don't be afraid to ask questions of senior leadership. There may be some times that they may not be able to disclose all of the information, but don't be afraid to ask questions and get as much clarity as possible and understand what you can share and can't share with your team and always remain positive. All right, this is our final strategy. We're going to give you a heads up.

Tonya D. Harrison: 20:40

This is something that I struggled with. Part of it was being an introvert and part of it was because I did not fully understand how valuable it was and the impact that it could have on my career. So strategy number seven build strong relationships across the organization. I was one of those ones that I just kept my head down. It was me and my team. I stayed in my department. I didn't go to other departments, to other divisions and things like that. I did not initially. I did not build those relationships across the organization.

Tonya D. Harrison: 21:21

But one thing that you have to keep in mind is that your influence isn't just about what you know. It's also about who you know. Make sure that you are taking time to strengthen those relationships with key decision makers, people from other teams, other peers, making sure that you are stretching out across those lines. This does two things. It opened the doors for you, because you'll start to realize that people are having conversations in rooms that you may not initially be in, but then you'll start being invited to more rooms. The other thing is it opened doors for your team as well, because you're not just when you're reaching out and you're building these relationships, you're not just talking about yourself, you're talking about your team as well. So it puts them in a new light as well. And when leadership trusts you and your judgment, they will be more receptive to your input, they will invite you to provide your input, but then it's going to have a heavier weight as well.

Tonya D. Harrison: 22:31

So make sure you are building those strong relationships, make sure that you are, you know, having conversations with peers and building relationships with other teams. And I have to tell you, when I figured this out, it was huge. It had a huge impact on my career. I started to get promoted quicker. I had people from other teams that wanted to now be a part of my team, and it also opened doors for my team to go into other departments. Because, keep in mind, we don't always have those positions or that upward mobility in our department. So we want to make sure that we don't stunt the growth of our team. We want to make sure that they can go into another department and they can, you know, maybe be successful there, because if I'm the manager of the area and there's only one manager, if they are a team leader or a supervisor, there may not be any place to go, so they may need to go to another department in order to be a manager. Making sure that you are doing that, like I said, is really effective. But it's not just about you, it's about your team as well.

Tonya D. Harrison: 23:48

Collaboration across teams Encourage your teams to collaborate and spend time in other departments. One of the things that we did in one organization that I went to is that we had, where we allowed, departments that were close to us, where you know there may be some shared responsibilities or information flowed from them to us, or whatever the case may be. I allow my team to go and sit with some of their staff to see how they do things, to understand the back end of their processes, and that was huge in terms of improving efficiency and communication with each other, because, at the end of the day, we work for the organization and we all want to be successful, but you want to make sure that your team is successful and they are thriving and they are not overwhelmed, and being able to have them do this is extremely helpful. Those, those are seven actionable steps To wrap things up. Basically, lead the team while managing senior leadership expectations is all about balance. We talked about seven actionable strategies that you can implement and, if we have to boil that down, basically aligning goals, clear communication, proactive planning and strong advocacy will set you up for success.

Tonya D. Harrison: 25:13

Go back, listen to this. If there is one particular area that you want to learn more about, let me know, because I'm actually considering doing maybe a segment on each of these, but I have so many other topics that I want to talk about. But if there is one that you really feel strongly about and you want to learn more about, just kind of drop me a line and let me know. Also, remember, leadership is not just about managing. It's about strategically positioning yourself and your team to thrive. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, share and leave me a review. And again, if you want to learn more about one of these specific strategies, drop me a line and let me know. And then also, if you are just in general, if you're looking for more leadership strategies, be sure to connect with me on LinkedIn, tanya D Harrison. I share information there as well. Thanks for tuning in to Leveraging Operations and Leadership and, until next time, keep leading with purpose and strategy. Talk to you soon. Bye.