I am going to share a challenging situation a young man was having in his work position.

He was feeling like his leadership was not showing the responsibility to him or his position. There were cases of him not receiving communication as well as not getting enough feedback on his position.

While he was frustrated, and it made him less positive about his work, he did have some thoughts about the situation that showed a good, leading up perspective.

First, he understood that there were expectations in the role of the leadership above him.

Next, he took some steps to take some of the responsibility himself. For one thing, he asked some of his users for feedback. I could tell that he felt some good self-empowerment in the act, in spite of it also making him feel like his leaders were letting him down.

I was able to coach him on the parts that he was doing well and going through some additional ideas on what more he could do to grow further in this direction.

I suggested he could talk to his leadership about the missing points, not in a tone that implied they weren’t doing their jobs, but using wording that helped them see that he knew what was missing, and that it was a value to everyone for the leaders to do more of this role.

Specifically, I let him know that if he asked the leaders something along the lines of: 

“I am interested in finding out more feedback on my role. I want to make sure we are providing the best service to the users. Would you be able to get me that feedback next week, or would it take 2 weeks?”

I also told him that as he was able to tell what was missing, there is a potential opportunity for him to fit into the role. When you see something that adds value, especially value that has already been promised, but is missing, you have a choice to be part of the solution.

He could look at how he could be the coordinator for the feedback, taking on a role that the current leader doesn’t seem to find a priority, and setting himself up to be a better value to the organization.

Leading up is a solution that not only helps yourself, but those you work with as well.