There are two different leadership structures present in any given social or business organization: Official and Unofficial. The official leadership structure is, as it might seem, the chain of command within the organization. These are the named leaders and decision makers. But, to anyone who has worked for any meaningful amount of time in any one organization, there is another level of leadership present. As one might imagine, the CEO of a company is going to have little or no knowledge of how to run a cash register (i.e. Burger King or any other retail sales company) and the Director of Marketing for the Lego Corporation won't likely have the slightest clue regarding how the little blocks get molded, the number of tool-trials it takes, or how many tons of polymer are processed per day in the manufacture of their product. If he does need information of this kind, he's going to refer to his internal expert. This is the unofficial leader in cases like these.
For an unofficial leader to exercise true leadership, he must be aware of not only the answers he is providing, but the meaning and the context under which they are provided. This can be tricky and it requires some skill development.
This blog is dedicated to providing resources for internal experts to help them be that unofficial leader that helps shape decisions and makes sure the decision makers within their own organizations properly understand the data and answers they are given.
Talking to your manager shouldn't be like talking to a dummy. And it certainly shouldn't make you feel uneasy. Being the internal expert is the very principle of Managing from Within.
Please enjoy,
Paul Van Huffel, CM
