11 tips for leaders without direct personnel responsibility

By Gitte Madsen, Senior Leadership Consultant at CfL, October 2021

If you are a project manager, consultant, or specialist manager, you likely oversee a significant business or operational area without having direct personnel responsibility.

Your title might be different, but the common factor for all leaders without formal personnel responsibility is that you must rely on employees from various parts of the organization to achieve results.

As an informal leader, you may have a sizeable team around you, yet it is not “your own” – and since you cannot hire or fire, you must secure resources and get all involved to move in the same direction by other means.

This is not the easiest leadership role, so before you dive in – or are about to throw in the towel – read on.

Introduction

I have coached and taught leaders without formal personnel responsibility for many years, and my overarching message to everyone – regardless of title or position – is that your most essential leadership tool is yourself.

To succeed as an informal leader, you must have insight into yourself. How do you impact others? What are your strengths and weaknesses, and what does that mean for your ability to create followership?

Three key elements are at stake: your personality, your influence, and your ability to build relationships.

This article presents 11 recommendations for leaders without formal personnel responsibility. The group is large, growing, and multifaceted. Titles may differ, but the role appeals to many at various career stages. The informal leader may be an experienced specialist asked to take on a specific task, a longtime manager who wishes to move closer to operations, or someone who enjoys managing projects – sometimes various projects over time.

I encounter mostly the latter, and the group is growing. In recent years, many organizations have recognized the need to be agile and execute new ideas faster, which especially appeals to younger informal leaders. They find it both rewarding and challenging, and they use the informal leadership role as a testing ground for whether the next step should be a full leadership role.

1. Know your role and your mandate

The project or responsibility you have accepted might be very attractive, but if you do not clearly know your role and the precise extent of your mandate, energy and progress can quickly evaporate.
Your first step is to clarify how far your mandate as an informal leader extends. Are you allowed to attend leadership meetings? What can you delegate? Can you issue a warning, or does your role stop there?
The better you know your mandate, the more focused you can be on what you need to succeed. So be curious and discuss it with your own manager. Make it easy for your manager to say yes or no by being clear on what you require and why. Clarify the value your mandate will provide for you, your manager, and your organization.
It is largely about leading upward and keeping in mind what your boss is measured on. How do you ensure that you help your own manager succeed so that you receive the support and leadership you need in your role as an informal leader?

 2. Identify and nurture your stakeholders

Along with clarifying your mandate, you need to know your stakeholders. Your team is essentially on loan from other parts of the organization, so it’s wise to reach out to those who can help supply you with employees and other resources. Consider where you can find knowledge and assistance.

For example, do you know the people in the legal department if you need a contract drafted?

Your stakeholder analysis also applies to suppliers, customers, or citizens – everyone is, in principle, a key player for your success in the role.

Build relationships upward, downward, across, and even outward. Take time for informal dialogues, as these are often where the best agreements are made. Be curious and nurture your network and contacts, especially when nothing is on fire.

3. Make your role visible to your colleagues 

Do your colleagues know your role and mandate? The clearer you are about what you are working on and why, the easier it becomes to gain influence and secure resources. Consider where and how in the organization you can create visibility for your role and mandate.

When it comes to team members, it is especially important that you can motivate them. They come from different departments and must be convinced that your project or area of responsibility is important. Visibility of both your mandate and your task is crucial.

4. Know your values and preferences

What kind of leader would you follow? What characterizes that person’s behavior? This is a useful self-test to determine how you wish to be perceived and how you think others perceive you.

It requires knowing your values and being clear about what you stand for, as well as what you expect from others. When is it appropriate and legitimate to demand better data or more time, and what is non-negotiable—even under pressure?

Communicate your values and show the behavior you expect. This means you must be ready to intervene if you observe unacceptable behavior. This ties back to feedback, which we will revisit.

Your values often align with your personal preferences. A method for greater self-awareness and understanding others is CfL’s personality test JTI (Jungian Type Index), which groups people into 16 personality types based on fixed psychological preferences.

You likely know whether you are extroverted or introverted, and you can probably quickly tell if your colleagues tend to make decisions swiftly or if they prefer to focus on details before acting.

With 16 different type combinations, things can quickly become complex, but using the JTI test provides a common language and a deeper understanding of how each person views the world.

5. Stand by your expertise and build trust

 As an informal leader, one of your most important keys to success is that others trust you. This involves both being professionally competent and having your integrity in order. This is again linked to your values and your ability to create followership.

Are you clear, do you do what you say, and how well do you listen to others? Do you nurture relationships both within and outside the organization, even when everything seems to be running smoothly?

Trust does not come automatically, and you should expect to be judged more on your professional competence and concrete results than formal leaders. As an informal leader, you are typically closer to operations, so it is vital to show that you know your stuff.

6. Use communication as a leadership tool

Communication is the foundation of all leadership, but especially for an informal leader, it is crucial to be clear about your expectations and the nature of your tasks. You often have very little time to convey your message, so ensure your communication is structured.

You might need to practice a brief pitch to secure resources for your project, so think about what your manager wants to hear and what you need to say to the department that allocates resources.

Communication can involve very practical steps, but it is also about creating motivation. What will you say to engage both the mind and the heart?

When it comes to feedback and difficult conversations, communication plays a central role. Many struggle with having tough conversations because they are uncomfortable, so instead you should use templates to ensure that what needs to be said is clearly communicated.

Communication is a skill that can be trained, and even if you’re not a natural, anyone can learn to communicate effectively.

7. Be ready to lead change

As an informal leader, you are constantly thrown into change projects. To handle this, you must be sharp about how you react to change.

A simple exercise is to look back on a major change and reflect on how you managed it, as well as your emotions during the process. Was it tough, fun, or a mix of both? How much energy did it require, and are you ready to do it again?

Then, you must know how to handle and communicate change to your people. New employees are continually allocated, and they must be highly motivated to achieve success together. There are various tools available for this, which we will discuss in the next point.

8. Gauge your team and lead situationally

As an informal leader, it is crucial to understand the dynamics of your team, as you do not have a fixed employee roster and often work with changing teams. Members come and go, triggering various processes and dynamics.

Team development is often described in four phases:

• Forming: The team is formed.
• Storming: Members are establishing their roles and asserting themselves.
• Norming: The team settles into a rhythm.

Performing: All team members know each other and deliver results.

You must know what your team needs from you in each phase. Your ability to collaborate and get others to collaborate is crucial to achieving your goals.

Sometimes, groups function better than others, and sometimes cooperation falters without a clear reason. Tools like the JTI personality test can offer great insight into how a group of diverse people can work together toward a common goal.

Another useful tool is situational leadership. At CfL, we use the SLII concept, which takes into account that competence and engagement go hand in hand, and that you should adjust your leadership style according to the situation.

The philosophy is that no two people should be led the same way. As a leader, you should always base your approach on the specific situation and allow the employee to share responsibility for determining the most appropriate leadership style.

9. Learn to prioritize your time

As a leader without formal personnel responsibility, you must learn to prioritize your time. What is important in the short term, what can wait, and what are your long-term plans?

You will be pulled in many directions, so make sure you have a clear overview of your roles and tasks. Understand the purpose of your job and what you are measured on – because that may not always be the same.

To prevent time from controlling you, decide what to say yes to, what to say no to, or at least what to down-prioritize relative to your goals.

It begins with awareness of how you spend your time. On a more advanced level, consider whether you are using your time correctly, not only in your work but in your life overall.

At CfL, we use the concept of a "helicopter meeting," which you hold with yourself once a week. It can be a good idea to do this either on Monday when starting a new week or on Friday afternoon before leaving work. Use the meeting to gain an overview and decide how to prioritize your time in the upcoming week. It can be a real "aha" moment when you realize why you’re always busy.

10. Learn from like-minded peers

Far too many informal leaders neglect to cultivate their network, even though it can be a shortcut to both professional and personal learning.

My recommendation is: Establish a network of other informal leaders who understand the tasks and challenges you face. Learn from each other’s experiences and exchange ideas. A strong network simply helps create better and faster results.

Læs om CfLs netværk for uformelle ledere her

11. Dive into the leadership toolbox

As I mentioned at the beginning, many use the informal leadership role to test whether they are ready to assume a formal leadership role with personnel responsibility. No matter where you are on your journey, the same well-proven methods are key to success.

Let me conclude with three deep dives into the leadership toolbox:

Give and solicit feedback

Feedback is how you develop your team, adjust your employees’ efforts, and grow as a leader. When you give feedback, it is important to be concrete and constructive so that your intentions are clear. When receiving feedback, listen carefully to what is being said, ask for clarification, and request specific examples

Manage conflicts

At CfL, we always encourage leaders – formal or informal – to address conflicts. Often, it is not the conflicts themselves that create chaos, but the ineffective way in which they are handled.

Have the tough conversation

Even without formal personnel responsibility, you must intervene when you witness inappropriate behavior. Address it directly with the concerned employee, even if it is uncomfortable. Be well-prepared, stay focused on the issue, and always maintain a professional tone.

Remember: Your most essential leadership tool is yourself.