Coaching Tip:

Learn to lead from the middle.

Leadership from the Trenches
"Success is about maintaining the vision even through the most grueling details." ---Paul Newby, Design Team Leader, TiVo Inc.

Leading from the Middle:
Three Dimensions

Every organization needs effective leadership to thrive in today's changing and challenging marketplace. What are the marks of true leadership? The first is the ability to articulate an inspirational vision for the organization that engages all of its employees. The second is the ability to set and model high standards of conduct and performance. The third is a riddle, a quandary. What will we do when there is a gap between where we are now and the vision that has been laid out for us? What will we do when we do not yet meet the standards that have been set for us? The choices that people in positions of leadership make when confronted with the gap between present reality and stated objectives reveal to us whether they have the "stuff" that makes for true leadership.

True leaders respond to the gap between where we are now and where we are going in ways that encourage and empower people to move forward to the goal. Mediocre leaders react in ways that make it even more difficult to reach the objective. That's why learning to "lead from the middle" can be the most important professional skill any manager can acquire. How well do you demonstrate these three dimensions of leading from the middle?

• Managers who lead from the middle instill confidence in their staff that the manager is "in it with them." Effective middle managers do not abandon their people when things are not going well. Though they might challenge them, they do not blame them. They listen to their people to fully understand the situation before responding. They seek to identify the core issues that are preventing a project from moving forward as expected and work side by side with the staff to resolve those core issues. Leading from the middle means working in the trenches.
  
• Managers who lead from the middle have realistic expectations about how long implementation really takes. Visionaries are notorious for underestimating the resources and time required to implement new programs. Leading from the middle means believing people when they say it will take longer than expected. It means respecting people's innate understanding of the barriers that inevitably arise. Yet good middle managers continually challenge the implementers to think out of the box so that they do not remain enmeshed in yesterday's way of doing things. Middle managers hold the middle ground between the unrealistic optimism of the visionaries and the reluctance of implementers to improvise and improve. Leading from the middle means listening with respect and then asking questions that challenge everyone's assumptions.
  
• Managers who lead from the middle facilitate communication among all the players. The best place from which middle managers lead is not always the office or conference room, but the hallways. They put themselves in position to pick up tidbits of information that they can pass along to those who need to know. They anticipate relational and organizational issues that may hinder progress and work behind the scenes to smooth the way. They are close enough to the action to know when they need to intervene with encouragement, but not so close that they lose track of the overall picture of interrelated activities and cross-functional relationships. Leading from the middle means being a hub of communication.

If you'd like to learn more about leading from the middle, we invite you to access the Tools section of our web site: www.forwardfocusinc.com

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