Lateral leadership is the ability to influence and collaborate with peers, partners, and cross-functional stakeholders without relying on formal authority. It depends on trust, persuasion, empathy, and credibility to align others toward shared goals.
“Real leadership is shown in how you influence people who don’t have to follow you.” Jim Kouzes
Why lateral leadership matters
Lateral leadership matters because most of the work that actually moves an organisation forward crosses boundaries that formal authority doesn’t reach, a project depends on another team’s roadmap, a decision needs a peer’s resources, a change requires a department that reports to someone else entirely. In that environment, waiting for hierarchy to resolve the dependency is often not an option, and the only real lever left is influence built through trust, credibility, and genuine reciprocity. Leaders who build this capability can move things forward across a matrix that no org chart was ever designed to make easy.
Without it, a leader’s effectiveness stops at the edge of their formal authority, and every cross-functional need becomes a negotiation fought from a position of weakness rather than credibility. Peers sense quickly whether an approach is genuinely collaborative or just command dressed up as a request, and they respond accordingly, with real cooperation in one case and minimal compliance in the other. In a matrixed or fast-changing organisation, this gap compounds: the leaders who can’t move people without formal power find their influence shrinking exactly as the work increasingly requires it.
“We are, quite literally, built to cooperate with those who cooperate with us.” Robert Cialdini
What good and bad lateral leadership looks like
| What bad looks like | What good looks like |
|---|---|
| Approaches a cross-functional ask as something the other team should simply agree to, without considering what’s actually in it for them. | Frames the ask in terms of what the other team or person genuinely gains from it, not just what’s needed from them. |
| Builds relationships only at the moment a favour is needed, so every interaction with a peer feels transactional and one-directional. | Invests in the relationship well before any specific ask is needed, so there’s already a reserve of goodwill to draw on when it matters. |
| Talks mainly about their own priorities and constraints, expecting others to simply accommodate them. | Understands the other side’s priorities and constraints well enough to explain them back accurately, before asking for anything. |
| Treats every disagreement across teams as something to escalate upward for a hierarchical decision, rather than working it out directly. | Works disagreements out directly with the peer involved first, reserving escalation for when that genuinely fails. |
| Lets good cross-functional work stay invisible outside their own team, assuming the results will speak for themselves eventually. | Makes cross-functional contributions visible to the people whose trust and cooperation matter, without turning it into self-promotion. |
| Repeats the same request to a resistant peer more insistently, treating persistence alone as a substitute for a better case. | Changes the actual offer or framing when a request meets resistance, treating resistance as information rather than an obstacle to push through. |
| Keeps score of who owes whom a favour, and expects a near-immediate return on every act of goodwill. | Extends goodwill without a strict short-term ledger, trusting that reciprocity across a network evens out over a longer horizon. |
| Focuses entirely on the ask itself, task, deadline, resource, without any attention to the relationship carrying it. | Treats the relationship as the thing actually being built, with any single ask as just one moment inside a much longer collaboration. |
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” African Proverb
Barriers to lateral leadership
Poor relationship-building skills: Lateral leadership relies heavily on building and maintaining relationships. Leaders lacking interpersonal skills may struggle to build trust and collaboration with peers. Without a hierarchy to fall back on, a weak relationship simply has nothing else propping it up.
Used to power: Indirect leadership relies more on personal influence than on issuing commands. Leaders who struggle with persuasion, negotiation, and diplomacy may face challenges. A habit of directing rather than persuading tends to transfer badly the moment formal authority disappears from the equation.
Role ambiguity for all: In lateral leadership, roles and responsibilities are often less defined than in traditional hierarchical settings, leading to confusion and tension. Ambiguity left unaddressed doesn’t resolve itself, it usually just shifts into quiet frustration on both sides about who was supposed to do what.
Poor communication: Clear, transparent communication is essential for influencing without authority. Leaders who struggle with communication, particularly in managing cross-functional teams, may fail to align peers around shared goals. A message that would have been clarified quickly inside a single reporting line often has no such correction mechanism across a boundary.
Resistance from others: Peers may resist lateral leadership due to competition, jealousy, or a sense of territoriality, especially if they do not perceive value in collaboration. This resistance is rarely about the specific request, it’s usually a signal that the relationship or the perceived benefit hasn’t been established yet.
Conflict capability: In lateral leadership, conflict often arises due to competing priorities and a lack of apparent authority. Leaders must manage these conflicts diplomatically, which can be challenging without direct control. Without the option to simply decide and move on, unresolved conflict tends to linger and quietly poison the working relationship instead.
Struggle with multiple goals: Lateral leaders must often align the interests of diverse teams or departments, each with its own priorities, resources, and goals. This can be difficult without direct authority to dictate direction. Reconciling genuinely different incentives takes real translation work, not just goodwill, and skipping that work shows up later as quiet non-compliance.
Slow to build trust: Trust is the foundation of lateral leadership. Without trust, gaining peer cooperation and commitment is difficult, especially in complex, matrixed organisations. Trust built across a boundary tends to form more slowly than trust built inside a reporting line, simply because there are fewer natural touchpoints to build it on.
Over-reliance on formal processes: Leaders accustomed to relying on formal structures and processes may struggle in lateral leadership, which often requires informal approaches and adaptability. A process built for a hierarchy rarely transfers cleanly to a relationship that has no hierarchy underneath it.
Low visibility beyond own domain: Leaders who do good work but rarely make it visible outside their own team struggle to build credibility with people who have no direct way of seeing it. Influence across a boundary depends partly on reputation, and reputation can’t form around work nobody outside the team ever hears about.
“Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.” John C. Maxwell
Enablers of lateral leadership
Raise your EI: Emotional intelligence (EQ) helps leaders manage their own emotions and navigate social complexities. It is critical for understanding peers’ perspectives, building rapport, and resolving conflicts. Focus particularly on improving self-awareness, empathy, and relationship management.
Be persuasive: Effective persuasion involves presenting logical arguments, appealing to emotions, and demonstrating benefits for all parties. Use storytelling and data to make a compelling case.
Listen better: Active listening fosters understanding and builds trust, which is essential when working laterally. Leaders can create a more collaborative environment by genuinely listening to colleagues’ concerns and ideas. Practise paraphrasing and asking clarifying questions to ensure understanding.
Build more trust: Trust is the foundation of any influence-based relationship. Leaders can build trust by being reliable, transparent, and consistent in their actions. Make commitments and ensure you follow through to demonstrate integrity and reliability, since trust compounds fastest through a series of small kept promises, not one large gesture.
Raise collaboration skills: Leaders in lateral roles need to be excellent collaborators, working across teams to solve problems. This involves facilitating discussions, aligning goals, and sharing resources. Adopt and foster a win-win mindset to ensure mutual benefits when collaborating.
Expand your influence network: Strong relationships across departments increase a leader’s influence. Networking gives access to diverse expertise and perspectives that can help raise your credibility and influence. Regularly engage with colleagues from various parts of the organisation, both formally and informally.
Lean on your expertise: Personal expertise is a powerful source of influence in the absence of authority. Leaders who demonstrate deep knowledge are more likely to be trusted and followed. Stay updated in your field and actively share valuable insights with your peers, since expertise only becomes influence once other people actually experience the benefit of it.
Deal better with difference: Lateral leadership often involves managing conflicts between teams with competing goals. Effective conflict resolution ensures that disagreements are addressed constructively without escalating tensions. Use a collaborative approach to conflict, aiming to find common ground and solutions that satisfy all parties.
Be clear: Ambiguity often arises in lateral leadership due to unclear roles. Being proactive in clarifying expectations with peers helps prevent confusion and misalignment. Use clear communication to establish who is responsible for what, and regularly revisit these discussions to adjust as needed.
Keep communication genuinely open: Transparent and consistent communication is crucial for lateral leaders. Open channels of communication reduce misunderstandings and ensure alignment on goals and strategies. Create the space for regular updates and discussions and encourage feedback to improve collective performance, and treat silence from a peer as a signal to check in, not a sign that everything is fine.
Make your contribution visible: Share credit generously and make sure work that benefits other teams is actually seen by them, through a brief update, a shared result, a mention in the right meeting. Influence depends on reputation, and reputation can only form around visible contribution.
“In a networked world, leadership is less about command and more about conversation.” Meg Wheatley
Lateral leadership reflection questions
How do you build trust with peers who do not report to you? Could you identify recent situations where you succeeded in building trust? What specific actions or behaviours contributed to that? How could you replicate those actions in other relationships?
How comfortable are you with influencing others without relying on formal authority? What strategies do you currently use to influence others? Could you explore alternative approaches, such as persuasion or negotiation, to increase your effectiveness? How do you know when your influence is working?
Could you improve your listening skills better to understand the needs and concerns of your peers? When did you last actively listen to a peer’s concerns without interjecting or offering solutions? What barriers exist to your active listening?
What steps are you taking to foster open and transparent team communication? How consistent are you in keeping others informed of progress, challenges, and decisions? Could you encourage more feedback from your peers? How might you improve the way you communicate across different departments or teams?
How do you handle conflict with peers, especially when priorities differ? Could you reflect on a recent conflict and analyse how you handled it? What techniques did you use to resolve it, and were they effective?
How clearly do you define roles and responsibilities when working across teams? Do you find that role ambiguity ever leads to misunderstandings or friction? Could you take a more proactive role in clarifying expectations with your peers? How might clearer boundaries and responsibilities improve collaboration?
Are you leveraging your personal expertise and credibility to influence others? Could you identify areas where your knowledge or experience could help guide decision-making or strategy in your team? How could you communicate your expertise without appearing overbearing? What opportunities are you missing to showcase your value?
How well do you balance the competing interests of different teams or departments? Could you improve how you align diverse goals and priorities across teams?
How often do you actively work to expand your network within the organisation? Could you reflect on the diversity and depth of your current network? What are practical steps you could take to expand and nurture your network?
Are you relying too much on formal processes when informal approaches might work better? Could you identify situations where you defaulted to formal processes that slowed down progress? Could you find a better balance between formal and informal leadership styles?
“You don’t have to hold a position in order to be a leader.” Henry Ford
Micro practices for lateral leadership
1. Ask what currency they actually value: Before making a cross-functional request, ask yourself, or better, ask them, what would genuinely make this worthwhile from their side: time, visibility, resources, a favour returned. Requests framed around the other side’s actual currency land very differently from requests framed only around your own need.
2. Bank goodwill before you need it: Identify one peer relationship you’d need to draw on in a crunch, and do something genuinely useful for them this month with no immediate ask attached. Goodwill deposited before it’s needed is worth far more than goodwill requested for the first time under pressure.
3. Name the tradeoff instead of hiding it: When a cross-functional ask genuinely costs the other side something, time, priority, resource, say so plainly rather than downplaying it. Being upfront about the real cost builds more credibility than a request that quietly turns out to be bigger than advertised.
4. Follow up after the ask lands: Once a cross-functional request has been fulfilled, close the loop: say what happened, thank the specific people involved, and note the outcome. This single habit is what turns a one-off transaction into the beginning of an actual working relationship.
5. Map who actually needs to be on side: Before a cross-functional initiative starts, spend fifteen minutes listing who has the power to help it succeed or quietly let it stall, not just who’s formally involved. The person you most need to influence is often not the one with the most senior title in the room.
6. Check your own self-orientation: Before an important cross-functional conversation, ask honestly whether you’re walking in focused on the shared problem or focused on your own position within it. Peers can tell the difference quickly, and it shapes how much they’re willing to extend to you in return.
“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” Stephen Covey
Explore related leadership resources
To further develop this capability, examine how it intersects with other core leadership dimensions across the libraries:
Leadership library:
- Group Influence (Understanding): Decode the hidden social and political dynamics within a group to effectively shape opinions and build consensus.
- Motivating Others: Discover what drives your peers and partners, tailoring your approach to inspire commitment rather than just compliance.
- Outcomes (Driving): Maintain a relentless focus on shared goals to keep cross-functional projects on track without the need for hierarchical control.
- Negotiating: Master the art of “win-win” solutions to resolve conflicts and secure resources from stakeholders with competing priorities.
Supporting libraries
- Follow through (Traits): Build your lateral credibility by consistently delivering on your promises, ensuring peers see you as a reliable and essential partner.
- Assertiveness (Traits): State your perspective and needs clearly and confidently while remaining respectful of the boundaries and expertise of others.
- Feedback solicitation (Agility): Improve your collaborative impact by actively seeking input from peers on how your leadership style is landing.
- Interpersonal relationships (EQ-i): Cultivate the deep, trust-based connections that serve as the “social capital” necessary to influence across organisational silos.
Continue exploring: Return to the Leadership Library to view the full directory of competencies and resources.