Success in the Sandbox:
What Leaders Need to Know about Forging True Peer Alliances

February 5, 2004

STOP! If you can make a significant impact in your organization without aligning your peers better, faster, and cheaper than you did last year, then read no further.

But if forging more successful alliances with other executives in your organization is key to achieving your leadership vision, I invite you to read on.

Leaders get tons of advice on how to get the ‘masses’ on board with their agenda. However, sustainable organizational change often succeeds or fails based on the strength of the ‘lateral’ support they get --- the support of their peers within the organization. And when the going gets tough, many people find themselves blindsided by the lack of ‘rubber hitting the road’ endorsement they have from their colleagues.

So, ask yourself: Do you know what your peers are saying to colleagues and staff regarding the progress and pitfalls of your most important work when you are not in the room? Have you invested the time and energy to secure solid alliances that will hold up when the going gets rough ….and rough it will get if you aspire to have it all”, namely to create sustainable shareholder value, to help create an employer of choice type organization, and to be part of a high performing senior team that offers real colleagueship, both on and off the court .

To “have it all,” leaders need both the will and the way to forge ‘true’ alliances. When the individual pressures at the top of the company house are huge, when resources limited, and when the time available to build real executive colleagueship is scarce, peer-to-peer alliances are essential to creating sustainable change.

As an executive coach for over 20 years, I have sat in countless senior team meetings, reviewed thousands of peer evaluation reports, and spent hours of time in individual sessions hearing (in veiled or explicit terms) about ‘THEM’. You know THEM: the ‘self-serving, territorial, budget hording, ego-maniacs down the hall.’ Maybe you’ve even met THEM. I only meet US, the good guys.

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