“Leadership is an action, not a position.”

Donald Mcgannon

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You have now reached a point where you as a security leader have accomplished to lead yourself, individuals and teams. You are at a point where you can make sure that you and those individuals and the team around you succeed in their roles. You have enabled an environment and climate where people feel safe and where growth takes place. You continue to invest the time and resources so that you all together progressively improve in the right direction and achieve your goals together.

But now you are facing a new situation, you are going to lead other leaders. You are taking on another dimension of leadership where you will lead other leaders or a larger part of your organization where for example cross-functional interactions are a big part of the equation. But…let’s stop here for a couple of seconds. Is this actually a totally new dimension of leadership? Yes, to some extent it is. But to some extent it isn’t. Leadership is still about humans, that part is not going away.

As I said, leading other leaders are not totally different from leading yourself, individuals or teams. But usually incentives and agendas, when cross-functional interactions take place, will become a thing. You may for example have to lead a leader who is operating on a higher level in your organization, for example a CxO, VP, Director etc. Or you are leading a function where there are leaders for specific areas within that function. Organizational hierarchy can play a trick in leadership but this should not prevent you as a leader. But it can put an interesting touch on how people will practice their leadership capabilities. Some get excited. Some might get extremely nervous. Others adjust to the situation. Others don’t.

As I mentioned in my previous articles about security leadership, a title or position has less to do with actual leadership when applied into practice. And when it comes to security leadership, you as a security leader, will many times need to be able to lead a cross-functional team consisting of senior leaders from different parts of your organization. You need to be able to influence those who need to be influenced. To become a successful security leader and to support your organization you need to be able to lead and drive activities that reside outside of the security team. The reason for it is because security in an organization is a supporting function. It does not operate in isolation from the rest of your organization. It is there to make others successful. Team sport.

You as a security leader if you want to become successful in supporting your organization need to be able to lead other leaders.

HOW DO YOU DO IT?

What I personally think are some of the most important aspects a security leader need to consider when leading other leaders are:

Trust – the leaders around you need to be trusted. Make sure to create an environment built on trust. It is ok to fail. It is ok to make mistakes. It is ok to take risks. Trust is a two way street. You need to have trust in the leaders you are leading and at the same time you need them to trust you. And it starts with you. Show the leaders around you that you trust them and that they can trust you.

Freedom – give yourself and the leaders around you the freedom to take decisions and actions needed to fulfil the goals you together created. No micromanagement, it is the other way. Macro management. Put up clear expectations on each other. Set a frame together. Inside that frame and with agreed expectations you and your leaders are free to operate. This may for example come down to things as transparency, communication, accountability, delegation of responsibilities, clear roles and mandates. The frame is created together, by you and the leaders you lead. Team sport, but you need to lead the way.

Feedback – for you and the leaders you lead to become successful you need to be able to provide objective and constructive feedback. Things may go south from time to time. Mistakes and failures are a part of the journey and they are also important places for learning. Encourage feedback between you and the leaders around you and use it as an instrument to improve each one of you and your team. Feedback flows both ways, from you to those you lead and the other way around. Make it happen, show the way.

Empower knowledge – ranks, roles, positions, hierarchies, Pokémon’s are a thing but I encourage to promote knowledge. Place the most suited person to do the task and not the one who has the highest rank. The right person needs to be in the right place. And the same goes for you. Don’t be afraid of asking yourself: Am I the best person to do this specific task? You may find answers to questions that will help you out to grow as a leader by taking ownership of what comes out from this question. This is also known as self-reflection. No one else can do self-reflection for you, this is up to you.

Sharing – to help other leaders succeed in their leadership and to achieve their goals you need to share your experience, knowledge, wisdom and create an environment where others do the same. Sitting on the answers or keeping information in your own pocket will not contribute to the success. Leading leaders are not a Rambo-mission. Give back, coach, support and help the leaders around you. You all are in the same team. You all will learn so much more when this form of environment is established.

EPILOGUE

Leadership is not easy. It can be but usually it isn’t. In fact, it is somewhat hard. And there is nothing wrong with it. Leadership is about humans. And humans are not like robots or computers that always follow given commands.

As a security leader, do not expect that things for you and those you lead will progress in an infinite linear progression towards the goal you create together. There is actually no need for it either. The journey you together are on shall be non-linear. There will and shall be some bumps along the road. Accept this truth and the sooner you do so, the easier it will become for you to make the journey more enjoyable.

If leadership were easy the world would look totally different. And this is also the beauty of leadership and the world. But there are for sure ways to make a leadership journey more enjoyable. A simple and effective principle, which is not a secret, that you might already have heard countless times is:

Lead others the way you want to be led.

By doing this simple thing, leadership will become so much easier.

And of course, there are so many more things besides what I have written in this article that you as a leader need to do when leading other leaders. The stuff you read make up parts of what I consider to be some of the most important things related to leading other leaders. But, what I think makes the biggest difference as a leader in the long run is a very simple thing. This:

ACTIONS.

Lead by actions. Keep your promises and lead the way by taking actions.

Henrik Parkkinen