S9 Ep9: Building Alliances at the Top Table: Collaborating with Other Senior Leaders to Drive Unified Outcomes

Welcome back to Your Path to Career Success — the podcast that helps you build the skills, confidence, and strategies to thrive in your career.

In this episode, we kick off Phase 3: Expanding Influence Beyond Your Function. Last week, we explored how to act like an executive before you hold the title. This week, we focus on building alliances at the top table — collaborating with other senior leaders to drive unified, enterprise-wide outcomes.

Here’s the truth: no executive succeeds in isolation. Leaders who rise to the top are not only technically strong—they know how to mobilise influence, align priorities with peers, and create collective success across the organisation.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
• The mindset shifts needed for effective cross-functional collaboration
• Practical ways to build trust and credibility with peers at the top table
• Common pitfalls that can undermine your influence at senior levels
• A reflection exercise to start mapping and strengthening your alliance network today

This episode is packed with actionable insights, stories, and exercises to help you shift from functional success to enterprise impact. By moving from competition to collaboration, earning peer trust, and influencing without formal authority, you’ll become a leader who others want to partner with at the top table.

What Next?
A big thank you for tuning in to Your Path to Career Success — where your ambition meets actionable advice.

🦉 Ready to expand your influence at the executive level? Book a free discovery call and explore how my Unlock Your Career Potential coaching programme can support your leadership journey: https://calendly.com/thecareerowl

🦉 If this episode gave you strategies to strengthen cross-functional alliances, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a colleague preparing for senior leadership.

🦉 Follow me on LinkedIn for daily insights and behind-the-scenes leadership strategies.

Useful Resources:
📘 Influence Without Authority by Allan R. Cohen & David L. Bradford — practical guidance for persuading and collaborating without formal power.
📘 Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal — insights on breaking down silos and fostering enterprise-wide collaboration.
📘 Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, et al. — techniques for handling high-stakes conversations that build trust and alignment.

Next week: We’ll focus on Communicating with Impact in the Boardroom — presenting insights and recommendations that shape executive decisions and influence organisational outcomes.

Transcript

Welcome back to Your Path to Career Success—the podcast that helps you build the skills, confidence, and strategies to thrive in your career.

I’m your host, Kathryn, and today we are kicking off Phase 3: Expanding Influence Beyond Your Function.

Phase 2 was all about positioning yourself for executive opportunity, Phase 3 is about making sure your impact stretches across the organisation—not just within your own function. 

Today, we’re focusing on building alliances at the top table—how to collaborate with other senior leaders to drive unified outcomes.

Here’s the truth: no executive succeeds in isolation. The leaders who get promoted are not only technically strong—they are the ones who can mobilise influence across the organisation, align priorities with peers, and make collective decisions that advance enterprise goals.

What I’ll Share in This Episode
In this conversation, I’ll walk you through:
• The mindset shifts that enable cross-functional collaboration
• Practical ways to build trust and credibility with peers at the top table
• The common pitfalls leaders fall into when engaging with other senior leaders
• A reflection exercise to start building your alliance strategy today

Leading at the Top: Shifting Mindsets for Enterprise Impact
Stepping into senior leadership isn’t just about managing a team or delivering results, it’s about thinking beyond your immediate function and influencing the organisation at large. Success at this level comes less from individual achievement and more from orchestrating collective outcomes. The skills that differentiate top executives aren’t only technical, they’re relational, strategic, and behavioural. Leaders who thrive at the top understand that collaboration, trust, and influence are essential tools to drive enterprise-wide impact.

Below are three critical areas for developing these capabilities, with expanded practical strategies, mini-stories, exercises, and reflection prompts to accelerate your growth as a senior leader.

1. Shift From Competition to Collaboration
At senior levels, the instinct to compete for resources, recognition, or control is strong, but top leaders operate differently. Their mindset shifts from “How do I win?” to “How do we achieve the best outcome for the business together?” Collaboration doesn’t mean giving up influence; it means broadening your lens to include enterprise impact.

Here are a couple of examples:
Two divisional leaders are negotiating budget allocations. One insists, “I need all the funding for my team, or my targets will fail.” The other says, “Here’s how my team’s resources intersect with yours, and how we could adjust allocations so both our goals are achievable.” The first approach looks transactional; the second demonstrates collaboration, producing better outcomes for the organisation.

A product leader and a sales leader initially clashed over timelines. Instead of defending their silos, they co-designed a phased rollout that allowed the product to launch successfully while giving sales time to prepare, creating a shared win.

Practical approach:
• Start framing proposals in terms of enterprise impact, not just your function.
• Look for shared wins and mutually beneficial solutions, rather than zero-sum outcomes.
• Ask questions that invite input: “How do you see this affecting your team, and how can we align efforts?”
• Seek feedback from peers on your collaborative approach to learn how others perceive your openness.

Stretch exercises:
1. In your next cross-functional meeting, identify at least one opportunity to co-create a solution rather than simply present a need.
2. Map key stakeholders across functions and note areas of potential synergy. Share these ideas proactively.
3. Track instances where collaboration led to measurable results and celebrate them publicly.

Reflection prompts:
• Where have I been protective of my team’s territory?
• How could I shift my mindset to seek collaboration first?
• What patterns do I notice in my interactions—do I default to competition or cooperation?

2. Build Trust Across the Top Table
Alliances at senior levels aren’t built overnight. Trust is earned when peers consistently see integrity, reliability, and transparency in your actions. Top leaders understand that influence stems from relationships, and relationships are grounded in trust.

Here is a story: 
A senior leader consistently follows through on commitments, communicates openly about challenges, and shares credit for team wins. Over time, colleagues come to rely on them and actively seek their perspective when making strategic decisions.

During a company-wide restructuring, one leader openly acknowledged the difficulties facing their team and offered support to others impacted by changes. This honesty strengthened trust across functions and positioned the leader as a dependable ally in difficult times.

Practical approach:
• Be transparent about your priorities and constraints.
• Recognize and celebrate the contributions of other leaders.
• Deliver on commitments consistently—small reliability wins compound into strong credibility.
• Practice active listening, ensuring peers feel heard and respected.

Stretch exercises:
1. Identify one peer whose trust you want to strengthen. Arrange a conversation focused on mutual goals rather than status updates.
2. Publicly acknowledge a colleague’s contribution in a senior meeting.
3. Commit to consistently following up on at least one promise each week, no matter how small.
Reflection prompts:
• Who at the top table do I need to build stronger relationships with?
• What specific steps can I take this week to deepen that trust?
• Are there past actions or behaviours that might have unintentionally eroded trust?

3. Influence Without Authority
Executives rarely have direct control over all outcomes they care about. Influence allows leaders to guide decisions, align stakeholders, and achieve results without relying solely on formal authority. 

Influence is less about power and more about enabling others to act in ways that serve the broader business.

Here are some stories:
Two functions are working at cross purposes. Instead of issuing directives, a leader brings both parties together, presents the enterprise impact, and facilitates a shared solution. Influence happens because the leader made collaboration easy, not because they demanded it.

A senior marketing executive wanted to accelerate a digital initiative but lacked direct control over IT resources. By creating a shared task force with clear, mutually beneficial objectives, they secured voluntary engagement from IT, resulting in a faster rollout than anticipated.

Practical approach:
• Frame ideas around organizational priorities.
• Anticipate concerns and address them proactively.
• Position yourself as a connector—someone who helps others succeed, not just your own function.
• Use storytelling to communicate impact, making it easier for stakeholders to buy in.

Stretch exercises:
1. Identify one initiative where you can act as a bridge between functions. Facilitate alignment, even informally, to create visible ripple effects.
2. Practice presenting proposals with “what’s in it for the enterprise” framing rather than personal or departmental gain.
3. Conduct a stakeholder analysis for a key project: map influence pathways and leverage relationships strategically.

Reflection prompts:
• How can I make my impact felt beyond my own function without formal authority?
• Which relationships can I leverage to do that effectively?
• When have I relied too much on authority rather than influence, and what might I do differently next time?

Common Traps to Avoid in Alliance-Building
Even experienced leaders can fall into behaviours that undermine influence and collaboration at the senior level. Recognising these traps, and actively countering them, can dramatically improve your effectiveness across the top table.

Trap 1: Siloed Thinking
What it is: Focusing only on your function, metrics, or priorities limits your credibility. Leaders who operate in silos struggle to see enterprise impact, miss opportunities for collaboration, and are perceived as self-serving.
Story example:
A finance leader consistently provided updates only on their team’s budget, without understanding or engaging with the sales and product functions. When cross-functional challenges arose, they were excluded from strategic discussions because peers assumed they wouldn’t contribute enterprise-wide insights.

How to counter it:
• Regularly engage with leaders across other functions to understand their goals, challenges, and priorities.
• Ask questions like: “How does your team see this initiative impacting the broader business?”
• Attend at least one cross-functional session or meeting outside your usual scope each month.

Mini-exercise: Map out the top three functions that most intersect with your work. Schedule brief check-ins to learn what success looks like from their perspective.

Reflection prompt: Where have I focused too narrowly on my own function? How can I broaden my lens to see enterprise opportunities?

Trap 2: Only Seeking Agreement
What it is: Avoiding tough conversations to “keep the peace” may feel safe, but it diminishes influence. Leaders earn respect by constructively challenging ideas—when done thoughtfully and with enterprise impact in mind.

Story example:
During a strategic planning session, a senior leader nodded in agreement with a proposal they knew was risky. The plan later stalled due to overlooked challenges, and the leader lost credibility because they didn’t speak up early. In contrast, peers who raised enterprise-focused concerns were valued for their insights.

How to counter it:
• Speak up with questions or alternatives that highlight enterprise impact, not personal preference.
• Use facts and data to frame challenges objectively.
• Adopt a “curious challenger” mindset: ask, “What might we be missing here from an enterprise perspective?”

Mini-exercise: Prepare one constructive insight or challenge for your next leadership meeting that pushes the discussion forward without creating conflict.

Reflection prompt: When have I stayed silent to avoid disagreement? How might I offer constructive challenge in a way that adds value?









Trap 3: Transactional Relationships
What it is: Alliances built solely on “what’s in it for me” are fragile. Short-term transactional behaviours fail to generate trust, loyalty, or long-term influence.

Story example:
A senior leader only engaged peers when needing resources or support. While they occasionally got what they wanted, colleagues perceived them as opportunistic and were less willing to collaborate proactively. By contrast, a peer who invested time understanding and supporting others’ priorities developed deep, reciprocal alliances that amplified their influence.

How to counter it:
• Invest in relationships without immediate personal gain in mind.
• Recognise and celebrate the wins of other leaders and teams.
• Offer help or insight proactively, even when you don’t directly benefit.

Mini-exercise: Identify one peer to support this week without asking for anything in return. Follow up later to understand the impact of your contribution.

Reflection prompt: Which of my relationships feel transactional? How can I deepen them into genuine, trust-based alliances?

Shift to Make: Turning Awareness into Action
Recognising common traps is only the first step. Real change happens when you actively counter these behaviours and build stronger, enterprise-focused relationships at the top table.

Action Step:
Choose one trap from this week’s list—siloed thinking, only seeking agreement, or transactional relationships—and consciously counter it in your interactions. Track your progress, reflect on outcomes, and observe how your influence and collaboration improve over time.

Reflection Exercise: Mapping Your Alliance Network
This exercise helps you understand, strengthen, and strategically invest in relationships that matter most for enterprise impact.

Step 1: Identify Key Peers
List 5–7 senior leaders whose support, alignment, or collaboration is critical to your success and enterprise impact. Include peers who can influence outcomes beyond your function.

Step 2: Assess Current Relationship Strength
Rate each leader on a scale of 1–5 for the following dimensions:
• Trust: Do they believe in your integrity and consistency?
• Collaboration: How easily do you work together toward shared outcomes?
• Influence: How open are they to your ideas or enterprise perspective?

This gives you a snapshot of where relationships are strong—and where there’s room for improvement.

Step 3: Plan One Strategic Touchpoint per Peer
Decide on one meaningful interaction with each leader over the next week. Examples:
• Coffee or lunch meeting to discuss mutual goals.
• Joint project alignment session.
• Informal check-in to offer insight or support.
• Sharing relevant data, research, or a helpful connection.

The goal is quality and intentionality, not quantity.

Step 4: Reflect on the Outcomes
After each touchpoint, ask yourself:
• What did I learn about their priorities and perspective?
• How did they respond to my enterprise-focused approach?
• Where can I add more value in the next interaction?

Document your reflections—they are fuel for refining your approach.

Step 5: Iterate Weekly
Relationship-building is cumulative. Repeat this exercise weekly: small, consistent actions compound into a robust cross-functional network that strengthens your influence and impact at the top table.

Tip: Over time, expand your map to include other emerging leaders and stakeholders critical to enterprise outcomes.

Closing
Today we explored the mindset and practices of building alliances at the top table. The leaders who rise beyond their function are those who shift from competition to collaboration, earn trust, and influence without authority.

Your challenge this week: Identify one cross-functional relationship and take an intentional action to strengthen it. Because influence at the top table isn’t about hierarchy—it’s about alliances, trust, and shared outcomes.

If you found today’s episode valuable, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a colleague who’s aiming to broaden their influence. 

Connect with me on LinkedIn—search Kathryn Hall, The Career Owl—and head to www.thecareerowl.co.uk for more resources.

Looking ahead: Next week, we’ll dive deeper into Communicating with Impact in the Boardroom, focused on Presenting insights and recommendations that shape executive decisions.

And remember—leadership isn’t about waiting for the title. It’s about showing up today as the leader the organisation needs for tomorrow.