Leadership can be one of the busiest places to feel completely alone.
Even with a full diary, an exploding inbox and endless meetings; somehow there are moments where it feels like you are carrying every decision all by yourself.
Nobody prepared you for this part of the job.
When people step into leadership, they imagine having the tough conversations, managing targets and carry responsibility.
What they don’t expect is the distance that can appear between themselves and their team. The gap between what they’re thinking and what they feel able to say. The challenge of building meaningful relationships with people who can support, challenge and strengthen their work.
I’ve met leaders with hundreds of people depending on them yet they felt completely isolated. The isolation can come come from holding everything together, answering all the questions, creating belonging whilst feeling disconnected themselves.
Leadership was never supposed to be a solo sport yet every day, capable leaders step onto the pitch and play the game alone.
One of the biggest contributors to this isolation is something many leaders overlook.
✨ They understand the org chart, yet they never learn how to use the matrix.
Most leaders know who reports to who and where they sit within the structure, far fewer understand the network that sits between the boxes.
It’s knowing who influences decisions, who controls resources, who has expertise, who can unblock problems, who shares your goals and who needs your help.
Many leaders stay inside their own box on the org chart and try to solve everything themselves, creating an lonely island for themselves and their team.
The leaders who thrive realise they are part of something much bigger and build many bridges, turning a collection of departments into a relay of teamwork.
Leadership becomes a little less lonely when you stop seeing yourself as a single box on an org chart and start seeing yourself as part of network.
Until next time, Aileen
Exceptional Leaders: Episode 2 Is now available on Spotify.
Listen to Dawn share what helps her make solid decisions and how she weighs up risk.
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