Wed • Nov 18th, 2009 • by Tom Nees • Comments 5
there’s more to leadership than being at the top
After nearly 20 years as the CEO of a growing nonprofit organization in Washington, DC, I took an executive leadership position within a large complex faith-based organization, where I served for 15 years. It proved to be one of the biggest adjustments of my career.
I moved from being an executive responsible for an entire organization to reporting to an executive leader. There were times when I wondered whether or not leadership is possible from a secondary position.
I met recently with a group of middle leaders. I’m not sure they liked that designation. It may have sounded to them too much like “mid-level management,” a derogatory phrase often associated with unnecessary expense and counterproductive bureaucracy.
Most of these leaders had followed the leadership path I experienced – from being in a lead position to a subordinate role. This is a more difficult path than for those who move up through the ranks of an organization.
Leading from the middle can be frustrating. It can also be rewarding.
Here are five advantages of leading from the middle.
1. Since leadership is about ideas, any position can provide a platform for advancing good ideas. Ideas, and thus leadership can percolate up.
2. Leadership is more about influence than control. People at all levels of an organization can influence the organizational or corporate culture for good. This is the essence of what Robert Greenleaf taught us about the “servant as leader.” The real leaders in an organization may not be at the top.
3. Leading from within a large organization provides scale that may not be available in smaller organizations. Leading from the middle of a large organization provides opportunities to advance one’s life’s work beyond the confines of a smaller organization.
4. Leading with and within a group provides opportunity for teamwork and collaboration with peers. Some leaders are better suited for shared responsibility than for the sole responsibility required of executive leaders.
5. Leading from the middle provides the luxury of specialization. Leaders in the middle are role-players. They don’t have to do or be responsible for everything. They have the time and privilege of becoming experts at one thing.
Since retiring from the middle of that organization I’ve come to understand more fully that leadership is not positional. Leaders may by found at every level of hierarchical organizations. And those in positions of authority do not always lead. We hope they do, but they don’t always. I have fond memories of colleagues, my peers who provided, and are still providing outstanding leadership from the middle.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:20 am
Tom: Excellent emphasis on leadership having little to do with position but moving an agenda and mission and that can come from so many different positions in an organization. Your five advantages are insightful.
November 19th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Tom. Many years ago a leader told me the problem with mid level is that you are given responsibility without authority. This helped me with the issue of empowerment when I had leaders who were responsible to me in a large organization. Thanks for the reminder. Franklin
November 19th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Franklin – I agree. Being responsible for something over which you have no control contributes to frustration and discontent. Knowing how to delegate and how to encourage leaders at every level of the organization is key.
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Great ideas here. Encourage leadership from the middle of your organization is essential to renewal. No matter how creative and discerning you may be no-one has a corner on good ideas. Sharing control is the only way to effectively share ownership.
November 25th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Tom, I thought you might be interested in what I would view as the Navy model, and to a similar extent other military organizations, of leading from within. In the enlisted ranks, chief petty officers provide this kind of leadership; at the commissioned officer level it is the Navy Captain, all the more effectively because of centuries of naval tradition and command experience, some sailing at times for months with great latitude in how orders are fulfilled. At sea or ashore, they have great influence up and down the chain of command