Developing Leadership Skills as an Informal Manager

Recruiting and developing leaders is enormously important to the future health of an organisation, so it’s no wonder that the leadership development market is worth tens of billions of dollars and is growing at 15% annually. Despite this, significant numbers of executives are dissatisfied with these leadership initiatives. One reason is that much leadership development has become generic and people do not understand how it relates to them. What it takes to be a leader in a Silicon Valley software business is not the same as what is required in Italian heavy manufacturing.??

Informal leaders are people we all know, respect and could point out if we were ever asked. They are people we instinctively look to for support and guidance when difficulties arise, and not because of their role or job title. They demonstrate leadership by getting things done, getting the best out of colleagues, and challenging people to do more.?

These are the people who stay after hours to help a colleague get a client order out the door, or literally hold their toolbox as they maintain a machine, or work alongside a skilled colleague to help them innovate and experiment.

What is an informal leader?

An informal leader is someone within an organization or work unit who, by virtue of how he or she is perceived by his peers (or others in the organization) is seen as worthy of paying attention to or following. The major thing that distinguishes an informal leader from a formal one is that the informal leader does not hold a position of power or formal authority over those that choose to follow him or her.

The ability of an informal leader to influence or lead others rests on the ability of that person to evoke respect, confidence, and trust in others, and it is not uncommon for an informal leader to not intentionally try to lead.

Informal leaders can be exceedingly valuable to organizations, and to the success of formal leaders, or, if informal leaders do not support the formal leaders and their agendas and vision, they can function as barriers in the organization.

One of the best ways managers can both support employees’ professional development and improve their entire team’s performance is by encouraging promising talent to take on informal leadership responsibilities. Stepping in and leading a team or project can give up-and-coming leaders valuable experience and prepare them for formal supervisory or management roles in the future, while also adding value to the entire organization.

By definition, informal leadership responsibilities tend to be temporary, as many of these employees will eventually either decide that leadership isn’t for them or move on to formal leadership positions. As such, it is critical for managers to nurture multiple informal leaders, rather than relying on only one or two people to take on all of the team’s informal leadership responsibilities indefinitely.?

However, while taking on informal leadership duties can help employees feel more valued and support their growth, our recent research suggests it can also significantly reduce their energy levels and job satisfaction, often making them reluctant to take on these additional roles despite the long-term benefits.

A recent series of studies with more than 500 students and working professionals explores how informal leadership impacted energy levels and work satisfaction, as well as the extent to which support from formal leaders mitigated those effects. Through both quantitative studies and qualitative interviews, we found that informal leadership often leads to reduced energy levels, which in turn reduces job satisfaction.

In a survey of student teams, a significant inverse correlation between team members’ informal leadership status and their energy levels was found. Similarly, a follow-up study with groups of working professionals found that participants assigned to be informal leaders reported energy levels on average 11% lower than those who were assigned non-leader roles.

It was also found that support from formal managers had a major impact on the extent to which informal leadership duties led to reduced energy levels.?

Of course, micromanaging can also be highly detrimental, as some amount of autonomy is critical to help people grow. But both our results and prior research suggest that managers need to strike a balance, giving employees room to develop on their own while still providing support both in the form of explicit advice and by modeling effective leadership practices themselves.

How Managers Can Support Informal Leaders on Their Team

Specifically, there are a few ways managers and organizations can support their informal leaders to limit the negative impact of these additional responsibilities on energy levels and job satisfaction

Be a leadership coach

To set up informal leaders for success, formal leaders should coach informal leaders on how to communicate effectively with peers and clients, provide input and advice on key decisions, and potentially find ways to reduce the informal leader’s workload in other areas to give them more bandwidth to focus on their new leadership duties.?

Feedback

Another critical component of effective support is feedback. Informal leaders rely on honest, timely feedback from their formal managers in order to improve their leadership skills and avoid repeating mistakes. While managers may be hesitant about criticizing their employees — and indeed, they should be careful to ensure their feedback is framed constructively and respectfully.

Communicate your expectations — and trust informal leaders to meet them

One of the challenges facing informal leaders is that these employees are tasked with managing their colleagues without necessarily having real authority over them. As a result, they can often feel disconnected from both their peers and formal leaders, making informal leadership all the more draining.?

To address this, formal leaders should clearly communicate their expectations to the entire team, defining exactly which areas the informal leader will be in charge of and which areas will remain under the formal leader’s purview. Importantly, effectively communicating these expectations will hinge on the manager demonstrating — both implicitly and explicitly — that they trust the informal leader to take on leadership responsibilities, and that they won’t step in to commandeer the informal leader’s projects or reverse their decisions.?

Build a pipeline of informal leaders on your team

Building an informal leadership pipeline not only reduces the burden on anyone informal leader but also ensures that the team will continue to be successful if informal leaders are promoted into other roles or decide to take a step back from their new responsibilities.

How Informal Leaders Can Support Their Own Well-Being

Of course, support from formal leaders is important — but it isn’t everything. It’s also up to informal leaders themselves to stay on top of their own well-being and do what they can to ensure that their new responsibilities don’t negatively impact their energy levels or job satisfaction. Specifically, there are two key strategies we’ve found can help employees thrive when taking on new, informal leadership duties:

Stay aware of your energy levels

It’s normal to be excited when your boss asks you to take on new responsibilities. And getting excited is a good thing — but as an informal leader, you should understand that these new duties can also be draining, and make sure to monitor your energy levels proactively to avoid burning out. Research has shown that a “rise and grind” mindset can harm both personal health and long-term career development, so it’s critical to stay on the lookout for early signs of burnout and exhaustion.

Proactively protect your energy

Don’t wait until you’re feeling burned out to start protecting your energy and mental state. Practices such as going for short walks during the day, making sure you’re taking your lunch breaks, spending time with family and friends, and good nutrition, meditation and exercise can help to ensure your energy levels stay high even in the face of new responsibilities at work. In addition, don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it, whether that’s from your manager, a colleague, a friend, or mental health professional.

Informal leadership is both a critical stepping stone on many employees’ professional growth paths and a key ingredient of effective teams. But it can also come at a cost — and organizations that ignore the toll informal leadership can take on employees’ energy levels and job satisfaction do so at their own peril. To reap the benefits of informal leadership without burning people out, managers should remain engaged and actively supportive even when delegating certain responsibilities, and they should encourage employees to proactively monitor and protect their energy levels when taking on informal leadership roles.