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Stuck in the Middle with You – Can You Be a Good Leader, Even if Your Boss Isn’t?
By Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette
“Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.”
Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty probably weren’t referring to your boss and co-workers when they wrote their pop hit, “Stuck in the Middle With You”. But as the saying goes, if the shoe fits…
What we want to tackle head-on this month is an excuse we hear more often than the one schoolteachers hear about the dog and homework. Though rarely expressed in such straightforward terms, the essence of the excuse is this: “I can hardly be expected to be a good leader, because my boss isn’t one, and the organization I work for doesn’t value good leadership.”
We empathize with the dilemma, but don’t buy the copout. Nice try.
Many managers feel they have little ability to influence the leadership culture of their organizations. They’re “in the middle”, between employees who look to them for good leadership, and senior managers who have perhaps failed them in that regard.
You may be “in the middle” too, but there’s no need to feel stuck. To be sure, there are things each of us can do to exercise exemplary leadership, even in an organization that’s not exactly defined in those terms.
First - and this makes sense in almost every area of our lives - wise and productive people concentrate on the things they can control, and don’t worry a lot about the things they can’t. Let’s acknowledge that you have little control over folks north of you in the food chain. You do, however, have unlimited control over how you lead your area or team. Ditto for your attitude and level of Commitment to being the best leader you can be. If you can’t cross the Rubicon and resolve yourself to making that journey, then stop blaming others, and find something else to do for a living, please!
It is an axiom of modern work life that people do not quit organizations; they leave managers who fail them. There are great leaders in lousy companies, and some lousy leaders in great outfits. In the final analysis, people will remember what it was like working for you long after good ‘ole Acme Widget Company has been merged, demerged and rebranded.
So, for openers, how about if each of us vows never again to blame circumstances or others as an excuse for poor leadership.
"Lean on Me", a 1989 movie directed by John Avildsen, tells the story of Joe Clark, a tough disciplinarian whose focus and persistence saved what was arguably the worst school in Paterson, New Jersey. Taking over an institution more closely resembling a prison than a school, Clark’s job would have been tough enough even with the good example and support of an energized school board and teachers’ union. Clark had neither. Yet, he bravely (and successfully) proceeded on the basis that he really didn’t need anyone’s good example or permission to restore order and learning.
When you think about it, the same can be said for our role as leaders. Though a good example and a little support now and then would be nice, we really don’t require them to successfully accomplish many of the critical aspects of leadership. For example:
- You don’t need anyone’s good example or permission to recognize great performance. If for example you find yourself in an organization that is quick to draw blood whenever the slightest mistake has been made, make it a point to find folks who have done something really well (even those who aren’t in your own ‘chain of command’), and make heroes out of them. It costs nothing, and you don’t even have to tell anybody what you’re up to – just do it. Trust us on this one – nobody ever gets beat up for paying someone a sincere, well-deserved compliment.
- You don’t need anyone’s good example or permission to tell the truth. One of the surest ways to gain influence and respect in most organizations is to build a reputation as a ‘truth teller’. No, we’re not talking about joining the ‘morality police’ here. If you are in a leadership role, people on your team have a right to know where they stand. Telling someone the truth needn’t involve being mean spirited or brutal. It does, however take courage. Ditto for readily fessing up to your own mistakes, even when you’re not likely to get caught. In the same fashion, make it less painful for people on your team to tell you the truth.
- You don’t need anyone’s good example or permission to display courage. If you’re going to be ‘in the kitchen’, you’ve got to take some heat, because doing the right thing occasionally means breaking the rules. We didn’t say break the law, or compromise your ethics. Good leaders have the intestinal fortitude to stick up for their people, and to take some risks for them, even if it does fly in the face of “the rules”. We maintain that a manager who doesn’t have at least one warning letter in their file is playing way too safe.
- You don’t need anyone’s good example or permission to show that you care. In the final analysis, people are going to reserve their very best work for the benefit of a leader who demonstrates that they truly care about the men and women around them. One of the ways they demonstrate that caring is by making it a point to be on hand when their folks are having a difficult time. As of ‘press time’ for this article, General Tommy Franks was doing exactly that. It seems that the General had left the comfort and safety of his central command headquarters in Quatar (sans embedded reporters) to pay a visit to the troops who are putting it all on the line for him, and us. We wish them Godspeed.
Please print the following attribution for this article: Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden, co-authors of Contented Cows Give Better Milk, help clients clobber the competition by having a focused, fired up, and capably led workforce. They deliver powerful conference keynotes and leadership training. They can be reached at 800-940-7006 (+1-904-720-0870 from outside North America) or www.ContentedCows.com.