LEADING FROM THE MIDDLEInfluencing Up, Down, and Sideways

Camille CatlettFPG Child Development InstituteUniversity of North Carolina (919) 966-6635camille.catlett@unc.edu

TYPES OF LEADERSHIP

Situational Leadership Transformational Leadership

Servant Leadership Directive Leadership

SITUATIONAL LEADERS

Able to lead based on time, place and/or circumstance

Strong ability to influence and inspire others

TRANSFORMATIONAL

LEADERSInfluence and inspire others

Create change and inspire a vision

Work effectively with complexity, ambiguity and uncertainty

SERVANT LEADERS

Focus on the needs and goals of others

Determine what actions and behaviors are most likely to benefit those being served

DIRECTIVE LEADERS

Monitor, guide, coach, direct and evaluate the work of othersInfluenced by values and beliefs about how people (children and

adults) grow, change and developOften needed when an individual or group is performing a new task

WHAT CAN LEADERSHIP LOOK LIKE? Watch the video clip from Sister Act.

Observe the types of leadership practiced by Sister Mary Clarence (Whoopi Goldberg).

WHAT DID YOU SEE? How did Sister Mary Clarence lead sideways?

Lead up?

Lead down?

WHEN YOU THINK

ABOUT LEADERS, WHO DO

YOU THINK OF?

WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT

INFANT-TODDLER LEADERS,

WHO DO YOU THINK OF?

WHEN I THINK OF

INFANT-TODDLER

LEADERS, HERE’S WHO I

THINK OF

The people who make a difference in the lives of young children and families – who provide daily leadership – are not the ones with the most credentials, the most fame, the loftiest titles, or the most awards. They’re people like you who lead from the middle.

. . . the words “leading from the middle” and you’ll get over 37 million results.

LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE A new way of thinking about

collaborative leadership Leading as a peer, not a superior Using persuasion, influence,

relationship skills, and political smarts to achieve the desired outcome

Influencing others to accomplish things that none of them could accomplish – at all or as well - individually

THREE UNDERSTANDINGS THAT ARE INTEGRAL TO LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE

Leadership is relationship

Leadership is everyone’s business

Leadership development is self-development

 (Modified from Kouzes & Posner, 2003, p. 47)

LEADERSHIP IS RELATIONSHIP It’s not about position or fame or fortune. It’s about working and learning with people

whose experience, education, gender, and professional affiliations differ.

Individuals who lead from the middle can touch each and every life by enhancing colleague-colleague, supervisor-practitioner, practitioner-family relationships. These relationships, in turn, strengthen family-child and family-community relationships.

TRY THIS…Write down the names of the following:

The 2011 and 2012 Time magazine Persons of the Year

Five Nobel or Pulitzer Prize winners The 2010 and 2011 Best Picture, Best

Actor or Best Actress Academy Award winners

(Modified from Kouzes & Posner, 2003)

NOW TRY THIS…

Now write down the following: a teacher or coach who encouraged you

in school a friend who helped you through a

difficult time a person who has taught you something

worthwhile

(Modified from Kouzes & Posner, 2003)

NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE?

The people who make a difference in our lives – who provide daily leadership – are not the ones with the most credentials, the most fame, the loftiest titles, or the most awards.

IN A GROUP WHERE INDIVIDUALS LEAD FROM THE MIDDLE, YOU’LL SEE THEM . . Take the time to read each other’s cues and adjust

their own behavior in supportive ways Demonstrate mutual respect in the way they share

observations, raise questions, participate and reveal their professional selves

Reinforce and support both collective and individual needs and priorities

Remain resilient in periods of stress Repair breakdowns when they occur

LEADERSHIP IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS Leadership is collaborative.

You don’t have to be in a position of power or prestige to be an effective leader or change agent. Anyone can make a difference.

Who do you influence? What do you have to

share? How do you make a

difference on a daily basis?

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IS SELF-DEVELOPMENT

A leader’s primary instrument is him or herself.

To develop others, we have to develop ourselves.

LEAD FROM THE MIDDLE BY HONING THE TOOLS OF INFLUENCE

•Demonstrate•Ask•Share•Clarify•Challenge

REMEMBER . . . A leader is anyone who engages in

the work of leadership.

Everyone has the potential and right to be a leader.

Leadership is a shared endeavor.

(Lambert, 1998)

THINK ABOUT THE CONCEPT OF LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE Which concepts

apply to your own work?

Which concepts could you apply to your own work?

Is leadership something that’s easier to see in others than in ourselves?

THINK ABOUT . . .

who you influence (think up, down, and sideways)

what you have to share

how you can make a difference on a daily basis

WRITE IT DOWN. DISCUSS IT WITH A PARTNER AND CHALLENGE EACH OTHER!

YOUR CURRENT SPHERES OF INFLUENCE

YOUR FUTURE SPHERES OF INFLUENCE