Middle Leadership isn’t just about the middle leader: the senior team needs to work at it, too
A quick Amazon search for Leadership Books resulted in “over 60,000” titles, each with their own perspective on the traits and attitudes needed to be a leader.
A scan of the top titles, their bylines and blurbs indicate that these books are focus on one person: the leader themselves.
Not surprising you may think. But the leader is only one part of the story.
Most people, even the authors of those many books, would probably agree that leaders are not born: they’re made. If that’s the case how does that “making” happen? The simple answer is leaders need only the ‘right’ traits but also the ‘right’ conditions.
They need support from above (all leaders are answerable to someone) and support from below (the staff and teams they lead). Without either, the leader — no matter how good they are at leading — will find it very difficult to make an impact.
The need for these conditions came into sharp focus last month at my beloved Australian Football League club, Carlton. Two years ago the club appointed a new head coach, after the previous one was sacked mid-season, after four years at the helm, for not advancing the team. The new leader, an inexperienced head coach, got off to a good start and was able to win the job after coaching the team to success in the remainder of that season.
Two years down the road and the club’s Board, again frustrated with the lack of on-field success, began a review into the club’s operations mid-season. From there it was clear that the head coach, the club’s leader, lacked the support of the Board. Rumours swirled that he didn’t have the support of the players either, although the emotion of the final match would suggest otherwise.
Without unequivocal support from above it became much more difficult for the coach to do his job, and even more difficult to grow as a leader.
It did feel, at least from an outsider’s point of view, that the club’s culture was changing thanks to his leadership style. By dismissing him before his contract was up in favour of a seasoned head coach, the Board would only take the club back to the culture and attitude that the only way to win the premiership was to buy success, not work hard for it.
The coach has the traits and attitudes to be a great leader. What he didn’t have was support from above and time to grow. He didn’t get the chance to make mistakes and learn from them, to improve and to change — these things are equally as important (or perhaps even more important) as having the ‘right’ leadership qualities in the first place or learning them from a book. Trial and error is the best way to learn anything, including leadership.
Working this stuff out takes time and effort. Which is why we spent a year designing the programme Leading from the Middle. It’s really good, and places for this cohort close this weekend.
We’ve just received a glowing endorsement from Education Scotland, the body responsible for quality control in the home of our Scottish HQ. We now offer a 33% discount to anyone in Scotland, as well as member schools of AAIE (Intl), TAISI (India), SCIS (Scotland) or Adolescent Success (Australia). And if you’re a group of five or more, we’ll give even more of a discount, up to 50% off.
Ask your Head reserve your school’s spots this week, before Saturday night. You can do it online, or drop a line to Carolyn at hello@notosh.com and she’ll sort it out for you.
Cohort 2 this September-December launches Monday 6th. You’ll be joined by an international crew for a memorable experience, full of happy surprises about what you’re capable of. If you’re an AAIE, SCIS, TAISI or Adolescent Success member school, we’ve got an amazing discount for you right now — drop us a line at hello@notosh.com to sign up.
This is part of theprovocation, NoTosh’s regular email newsletter, and was written by Jeremy Weinstein. You can subscribe in less than a minute, and it’s free!
