Ken Termini is skilled at helping high school and college students develop the skills needed to succeed in a chosen career, including the soft skills required both inside and outside the office that can empower one’s personal and professional life.
Key Takeaways
- Lateral leadership promotes collaboration and shared accountability, creating a workplace culture where all team members work together toward common goals.
- Key benefits include improved employee satisfaction, increased innovation, enhanced team collaboration, and greater operational efficiency.
- Success in lateral leadership requires strong communication skills, active listening, and the ability to build consensus across multiple departments.
- Leading by example and sharing knowledge openly are essential practices for effective lateral leadership, rather than relying on positional authority.
- This leadership style empowers employees with more autonomy while maintaining necessary management oversight and accountability.
Adeptness at leadership is a critical skill that can propel a student to greater heights. But deciding which type of leader to personify can make all the difference in the world.
Consider leadership styles
You don’t have to be part of the executive management team to consider your leadership style. Leadership qualities are beneficial in any career and position. This is especially true when you realize the worst type of leadership is the dictator, who sits on the sidelines, commanding others in what to do without exemplifying how it’s done.
There are several leadership styles, including authoritative, laissez-faire, visionary, delegation, and coaching style, to name a few. Ken Termini believes a lateral leadership style is preferable because it creates a workplace culture where everyone, including management, works together to achieve a common goal. Every team member is encouraged to take accountability, and leadership is encouraged to become directly involved with divisional goals.
Benefits of lateral leadership
A lateral leadership style doesn’t relieve managers of their duties to delegate tasks, ensure team productivity, and evaluate employee performance. What Termini sees as critical is the shift towards a more flexible leadership style, in which management teams allow employees more autonomy or self-governance. Some benefits of lateral leadership include:
- Greater employee satisfaction
- Fosters a culture of innovation
- More collaboration between employees
- Increased efficiency and effectiveness
An environment that promotes a top-down management style wastes time because communications between management and employees are given precedence over independent decision-making that can happen in real-time.
How to master lateral leadership
Ken Termini used lateral leadership techniques to build and manage the state and federal public policy division at Forest Pharmaceuticals. Nearly every task required contributions from people who did not report to him. This meant building consensus across multiple departments, including executive management, contracting, legal, sales, and marketing. The ability to build consensus is a key component of lateral leadership because it leads to worthwhile partnerships, both internal to corporations and external to vendors, contractors, and governing agencies.
To master lateral leadership, you must first become a good communicator. Someone who listens, thinks, and responds with a shared respect for those you lead. The key is to listen actively. This way, you can fully understand the participant’s reasoning before clearly articulating your opinion or goals.
Ken Termini teaches high school and college students that it is essential to lead by example. You must demonstrate collaborative behaviors before expecting your employees to do so. This means openly and willingly sharing your knowledge and expertise to benefit the organization.
The best leaders can influence others without using position power. They constantly apply lateral leadership skills and find ways to help everyone grow and shine.
