Episode 37 How to Build Powerful Alliances as a Leader

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Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable,

the podcast for ambitious female

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leaders who want to create more impact,

income, and influence in their careers.

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feel connected to their passion

and purpose, but without

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selling out or burning out.

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I'm Sarah Archer, a leadership coach

and career strategist, helping women

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like you thrive in leadership roles

while staying true to your values.

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I'm the founder of CareerTree

Coaching and have over 15 years of

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coaching experience and significant HR

leadership experience to share with you.

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I know as a female leader it can

be hard to find time to focus

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on your career aspirations.

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The day job can be all consuming.

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Plus, no matter how senior you are,

there are always going to be times

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when you feel stuck, when you have

self doubt, or feel like an imposter.

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And that's where unstuck

and unstoppable comes in.

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Each week I'll be sharing practical

strategies, insightful interviews and

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inspiring stories to help you boost

your confidence, lead with purpose

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and achieve sustainable success.

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If you're ready to stop playing

small and unlock the incredible

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potential you have within you and feel

unstoppable, you're in the right place.

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Let's get started.

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Welcome to episode 37.

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I'm really glad you are here with me.

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I can't believe that we're

on episode 37 already.

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I am so loving creating these episodes

for you, and I hope that you are

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finding them really great value and

helpful, and you're gonna love today's

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topic too, which is all about how to

build powerful alliances as a leader.

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This is really important, particularly

if you are a female leader,

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because we need all the help we

can get in our leadership roles.

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There's lots of reasons why it's great

to have alliances at work because they

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help us to influence more effectively.

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They help us drive

change more effectively.

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They help us lead confidently.

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They can unlock opportunities for us.

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They can.

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Give us satisfaction in terms of

partnership and collaboration.

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They can create allyship and

they can be your support system

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for challenges at work, for

decision making and having impact.

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But, and there's always

a buttons in there.

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Sometimes it can feel hard to build those

alliances because there is always internal

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politics going on in an organization

and that can feel tricky to navigate.

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There might also be big personalities.

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On the leadership team amongst your

peers, and that can feel challenging.

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We can also sometimes make

assumptions, unhelpful assumptions

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about other people that can get

in the way of us making alliances.

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We also have fear around doing it.

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We can have imposter feelings.

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We could lack confidence in

networking and self-promotion.

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There's lots of reasons

why it can be hard.

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Plus it takes energy and time

to build those alliances.

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But the spinoffs, the benefits are

definitely worth pushing through and

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creating time and space for . When

we're talking about those alliances,

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we are thinking about alliances that

can help your career development.

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But we're also thinking about alliances

that can help your leadership, your

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impact, your influence at work.

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I'm gonna cover off briefly both

of those things, slightly more

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on the latter than on the former.

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With the sponsor and mentor.

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These are the people who can

help your career development.

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We're probably more aware,

more knowledgeable about how

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to develop those relationships.

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And if we think , perhaps more

about the sponsor 'cause mentor,

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there's lots of information out

there about how to find a mentor.

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The sponsors are powerful leaders

who are willing to advocate for

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your next role and propel and

protect you in the leadership space.

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And having a sponsor helps

you avoid that Tiara syndrome.

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Now, if you haven't heard of Tiara

syndrome, it's basically that belief that

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hard work and outstanding performance will

result in being crowned by a promotion.

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Now we know that isn't the case.

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That hard work, unfortunately, and

at outside performance is not enough.

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You have to also be able to

promote yourself, and that is

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much easier if you have a sponsor.

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There was some research done by the

Center for Talent and Innovation,

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which showed that 52% of women with

sponsors were happy with their rate

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of progression in their careers.

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25% more likely to ask for a pay

rise if they've got a sponsor and 58%

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less likely to quit the organization.

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There's lots of benefits to you, but also

to the organization of having a sponsor

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in terms of you feeling more confident

around a lot of those progression

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challenges that you have to navigate.

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But to attract a sponsor, you do need

to have a distinct, leadership brand.

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And you need to be able to talk

confidently about your brand and

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to have a way of communicating that

so that your sponsor can see it's

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going to be mutually beneficial.

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That by them sponsoring you, it's

also going to reflect well on them.

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So if your personal brand is

something that you want to develop,

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I do have a podcast episode on that.

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Developing your personal

brand is going to be.

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Useful for attracting a sponsor

as well as lots of other things

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in your leadership career.

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You also need to look out, for

opportunities where you are going to

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connect with the senior leaders in

your organization or your industry,

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and be prepared to talk about yourself

so that you can begin to have that

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conversation about becoming a sponsor.

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That's all I'm gonna say around

sponsorship mentorship, because I

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want to spend most of the session

talking about alliances that will

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help you be a more effective leader.

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The first thing we want to think about

doing when we're thinking about creating

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those powerful alliances is mapping

the types of alliances that are around

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us and understanding the players.

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And I've got five categories

to talk you through.

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I'm sure there are other different

categories, but these are the ones

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that I'm gonna talk you through today,

which you can think about in terms of.

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Your peers the leadership team

who are the people, the key

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people in your organization?

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The first category is allies.

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These are people who you

are naturally aligned with.

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They share your point of view, you can

rely on them force for their support.

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But the thing with these category of

people is you want to be reinforcing

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similarities so that they feel

constantly aligned to you and you

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don't want to take them for granted.

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Because.

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They might change that

view or that standpoint.

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You want to continually working

with them, but you've got a

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natural alignment with them.

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So they're easy, if you like.

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Then we've got the confederates,

they're where , they are aligned

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to your objectives, to the.

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Direction of travel that you want

to move in but they're not with you.

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You can't necessarily count

on them for their support.

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They're aligned to you, but

they might go either way.

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They do respond well to consistency and

knowing your commitment to the cause

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. So you want to be making that commitment

to your direction of travel in a

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consistent way that they can feel

your true to where you are heading.

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You're true to your values, and they

can align themselves then with you.

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Then we've got opposers.

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There are where you have a good

relationship with them, but they're

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not necessarily aligned to your

views or your direction of travel.

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You get on really well with them, but

they might not always be supporting

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you or agreeing with your decisions.

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To keep.

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That good relationship and to encourage

them to come across your point of

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view, . It's about being clear and

unambiguous about what you're trying

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to do and making sure that you are

listening to their views and their

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concerns and taking them on board so they

feel heard by you, even if they don't

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always agree with where you are going.

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Then we've got a trickier group,

which are your adversaries, where you.

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Find yourself, bumping up against them

where you're having disagreements, often

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you might find 'em irritating or annoying.

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And so the first thing to do

there is to consider what your

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role is in that relationship.

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How are you contributing to it being

a difficult relationship because

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maybe there is something you could

do that would actually allow that

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relationship to be a better relationship.

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But with this one, you do also have

to be thinking, could I solve it?

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Could I change something that

would make our relationship better?

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Could I build on this?

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Is there a way that I can see that I can

get this relationship to a better place?

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Or actually, do I need to let it go?

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Because you have finite amount of

energy and you don't want to be pouring

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lots of energy into change something.

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Try to change something

that isn't changeable.

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So thinking about, solve

it, build it, or let it go.

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And then our final category is

the fence sitters, where you are

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not sure where they stand at all.

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They keep their cards

very close to their chest.

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And with this group of people,

it's about being patient.

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And again, just being committed to

building alignment and commitment and

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enabling them to be able to trust you.

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Now with all of , these categories you

also have to be viewing this through

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a lens of who can I trust and what is

my functional need of these people?

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Because , it's about energy and.

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We mentioned earlier about

politics, internal politics.

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Some people will be playing a game.

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Some people will have agendas,

both personal agendas and

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their functional new agendas.

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And so it is always being mindful of what

is going on that's not seen, and also

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recognizing what or who you need to be.

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Gaining more commitment from because

of your functional need, what you

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need them to be able to do to help

you get to where you want to be.

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So I am sure you're thinking

well, hope that's not very

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well, but how do I do this?

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We're just gonna talk through now , what

your approach might be to building

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these alliances once you've mapped

'em out and understand where you have

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strong alliances already and where you

might need to put some extra effort in.

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The first thing is to, which I often

say is to be intentional, to be

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strategic about, what you're going

to do and how you're going to do it.

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And again, it's thinking about where

is going to have the biggest impact.

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So if you know that actually you need

to have a key ally in the finance

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team, but you have a difficult

relationship with the finance lead.

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That it's going to be worth your

commitment to try and build that

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relationship because otherwise you

might find whatever you want to do is

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going to be continually blocked because

they won't support your strategy.

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So it's thinking about where

can I have the most impact and

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what is my functional need?

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But also within that strategy thinking

about the value that those relationships.

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Can bring to you because often we

are drawn to people who are like

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us, who think like us, but actually

there is real value in having an ally

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who thinks very differently to you.

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Who can challenge you, who can

challenge your thinking, who can bring

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different approaches, different ideas,

who can make you think differently.

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'cause that will strengthen

whatever it is you're trying to do.

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So when you're mapping those allies,

potential alliances, who is going

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to be the one who can be really

challenging to me in how I think.

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But then also within that, recognizing

the different communication needs

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of those potential alliances.

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We all have different ways of

communicating and different ways

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of responding to communication.

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Some people really value logic,

some people really value ethos and

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principle and some people value.

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Emotion and person-centered communication.

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So it's understanding what

their communication style might

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be and also what your own is.

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And also people respond to big picture and

some people respond to granular detail.

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So it's useful and helpful to know how

do they communicate, how do they like to

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be communicated with because then you can

adapt your communication style to them.

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Then the third thing to think about

is actually giving before you get,

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how you can support and help them

before you ask for their support.

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There is something called the law of

reciprocity, where as humans, if someone

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has helped us, we naturally feel drawn

to helping that person because there's a

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. Debt to be repaid.

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It's not about manipulating

people, it is about noticing.

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If I come at this from how can I

help them, then in the long run, it's

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going to be more beneficial to me.

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Our fourth point is to

celebrate other people's.

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Successes and give credit because

it's all part of being seen as

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having a collaborative approach.

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You might do this already,

but it's maybe amplifying it.

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So when somebody else's team has

done something really helpful,

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. Articulating that or when someone

in someone else's team has helped

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your team articulating that and

being seen as somebody who notices

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what other people and other people's

teams are doing, but also thanking

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people when they have supported you.

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So when someone has, maybe

one of your opposers has.

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Supported you on a particular

issue, taking 'em out for a coffee,

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sending them a message, letting them

know that you really appreciated.

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That means you are building that

relationship so they're more likely

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to support you going forward.

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our fifth point is something which you

probably will be doing automatically,

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which is being conscious of how

you are building trust with your

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peers and with the leadership team.

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Making sure that when you say you're

going to do something, that you

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do it admitting when you've made

a mistake or you've got it wrong.

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Treating others as you want

to be treated and just.

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Checking in that you are doing this.

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'cause sometimes when we're overwhelmed

or busy or stressed, then we can't

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always keep an eye on that element.

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It's building regular check-ins

to think, how am I demonstrating

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these things to my alliances?

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And my sixth point is to take radical

responsibility within the organization.

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Being seen as somebody who, notices

where there's organizational problems

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that need solving and not passing that

problem on to the function necessarily,

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but thinking collaboratively.

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How can we collectively

solve this problem?

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How can we support.

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The function where that problem

sits to solve this problem.

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So thinking about, am I taking radical

responsibility in my organization?

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And you can do that whatever level.

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You don't have to be in the C-suite

to take radical responsibility.

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It's being aware of those issues and

taking ownership and responsibility

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for them rather than thinking

that belongs to somebody else.

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I'm going to give you some

actions to take away that you

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could do right now to help you.

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Move this forward . The first one

would be definitely to map out

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your alliances so you are aware of

where you want to put your energy.

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And write down three people

who can support your career

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goals or your leadership goals.

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And identify how you can add value to

them, to each of those three people.

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Then.

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Plan out one action to take to build that

relationship a bit more and think about

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outta those three actions, what's the

one thing I could do in the next week?

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Okay.

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Plan out map out your alliances.

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Write down three people who could

support your career goal or your

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leadership goal, and identify

how you can add value to them.

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And then plan one action you can

take to build that relationship

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further with those three people.

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And outta those three actions, what is the

one action you're going to do this week?

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I hope that's been useful to you.

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, Just to recap very briefly, think about

am I building alliances for my leadership?

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Or for my career and where do I

want to put my energy at the moment?

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If it's your career, think about

your mentor or sponsorship strategy.

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If it's for your leadership.

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Map out your alliances and then

think about being intentional and

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strategic with those alliances.

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'cause you can't do everything

giving before you get.

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Thinking about building trust and

supporting others, celebrating

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others' achievements and

taking radical responsibility.

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This is a big topic . If you've got

questions, please do message me.

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If you want support around

either developing alliances for

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your leadership career or for

your career development, then.

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Get in touch, let me know.

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We can have a quick chat about how we can

take that forward and have a great week.

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Thank you so much for listening

to this episode of the Unstuck

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and Unstoppable podcast.

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I have lots of free resources you

can access on my website, ww.career

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tree coaching.co

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uk, and I'll also put

links in the show notes.

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If you found this episode

helpful, then please subscribe

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so you don't miss the next one.

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And please do share it with a

friend and leave me a review

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and I will personally thank you.

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Remember, you're capable of more

than you know, shine brightly.

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Lead boldly and unlock the

extraordinary potential within you.

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Be unstoppable.