CHAPTER 13  

Shift Front, Middle, Back

The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.

—OKAKURA KAKUZO,
Japanese author and scholar

WHAT’S YOUR POSITION?

In nature, animals shift leadership roles and the position of the leader depending upon the circumstances they face.

In her book, Leadership Beyond Measure, speaker and Horse Assisted Educator Jude Jennison writes about the leadership behavior of horse herds, “The alpha mare is the most dominant . . . if dogs are close by, she will set off at a gallop. If they are further away, she will set off at a walk . . . the majority of the horses in a herd lead from the side, and this is the least dominant position you can take.”

Jude further observes that the alpha stallion leads from the rear, and his primary role “is to exert pressure from behind to move forward. The alpha stallion works closely with the alpha mare to ensure the team follows her lead and moves forward in the direction and pace set by her.”

Each leader in a horse herd is a specialist. The alpha mare offers direction and pace. The alpha stallion drives momentum, and leaders in the middle of the heard foster team cohesion. By contrast, business leaders are generalists. We must guide our teams by providing direction, setting the pace, fueling momentum, and building teamwork. As generalists, our effectiveness depends upon the position we take relative to our teams and how we shift positions to match business conditions.

In this chapter, you will see what it means to lead from the front, the middle, or the back of a team. Leaders will also share how the pandemic required different positioning approaches. In some situations, these leaders moved up front to set direction and pace. At other times, they moved to the middle to serve alongside their teams or shifted to the back in supportive and encouraging roles.

The model provided in this chapter is consistent with the adage, “There is a time and place for everything.” In crisis or calm, leaders need to be aware of how circumstances shape whether they should be leading from the front, middle, or back.

LOOK AND MOVE FORWARD

Let’s assume your task is to help a group get from point A to point B. Let’s also assume, no one in your group has ever made this journey before and you don’t have a compass or a map, but there is an elevated platform that helps you see the possible paths you could choose. That scenario is an apt description of leading during a global pandemic or other uncertain times.

When faced with challenges resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic, leaders like Bradley H. Feldmann, Chairman, President, and CEO of Cubic Corporation, stepped up on their platforms, assessed options, communicated widely, and led from the front. Cubic is a market-leading provider of innovative, mission-critical solutions that increase operational effectiveness and readiness by enabling superior situational understanding for transportation and defense customers all over the world.

Having consulted for Brad (a US Air Force Academy graduate) before and during COVID-19, I watched him establish a lookout position (in keeping with officer training) at the front of his organization. Brad noted, “I needed to be visible and lead from the front, especially early on or when there was an adjustment in our course. This has been an unprecedented time of uncertainty and rapid change that has touched all parts of the globe. People were—and still are—looking for clear and action-oriented leadership. They wanted the ability to see your face and have the opportunity to ask hard questions—to express their fears and concerns. Dealing with the unknown and constant changing dynamics of COVID-19 meant we had to be agile, flexible, and responsive. I was broadcasting virtual town hall meetings every other week to thousands of our team members around the world and across time zones; I supplemented that with regularly scheduled and ad hoc written communication. My goal was to share what changes my team and I were seeing in the midst of the pandemic and what we, as an enterprise, were doing to respond to these changes while prioritizing the safety and security of our people. In those town halls, my leadership team and I sought to deliver clear communication on a few mission-essential items or policy decisions and made sure to dedicate time to answering any and all questions from our team members.”

Since circumstances and regulations varied widely across the many countries where Cubic team members worked, Brad’s highly visible leadership approach required a considerable investment of time. The virtual biweekly town halls were open to all employees and held in two sessions to accommodate global time zones. Where able, Brad and other key leaders made an effort to visit site-essential personnel in person. For example, the Vice President of Cubic Global Manufacturing & Procurement spent an entire afternoon hosting eight separate sessions at a single manufacturing plant in Mexico so team members could take turns safely assembling in the plant’s cafeteria.

While many other leaders also increased their visibility during the pandemic, Brad stepped forward in an unusual and self-impacting way. Brad noted, “We attacked this with fiscal responsibility so we could continue to invest in the future. We didn’t want to reduce staff salaries or make sweeping layoffs. We were looking for a more human option that considered our Cubic family members’ sense of security during this uncertain time. We elected to freeze retirement and pension contributions for the remainder of the year and froze wages for the following year. So leadership could help personally absorb some of the financial impact, I asked the board to cut my salary and to reduce their compensation as well. They agreed.”

It’s one thing to increase visibility through virtual meetings and quite another to do eight separate live meetings for a single operating unit. Effectively leading from the front requires more than motivational speeches, internal communication campaigns, or arranged photo opportunities. Leaders must be willing to do what it takes to clear the way and create stability in a time of unknowable change. They must communicate a vision and strategy that promotes their team’s best interest. When they effectively lead from the front, people follow. By choosing to protect staff salaries while reducing their compensation, Brad and the Cubic Board of Directors showed team members they could be trusted to prioritize team welfare while stewarding Cubic on its mission-critical journey.

MEETING IN THE MIDDLE

Let’s go back to the scenario I posed earlier in the chapter, the one where you are leading a group from one location to another. Let’s assume you’ve been leading from the front, and the group is progressing swiftly on a well-defined path. Let’s also assume there is restlessness and possible division within the group. In that situation, you should consider placing yourself in the middle of your team. That repositioning will enable you to coach, assist, or otherwise contribute to team unity.

Lawrence Weathers, Chief of Police for Lexington, Kentucky, is an excellent example of leading from the middle. Lawrence shared, “It is vital for a leader, especially in this field, to be physically present alongside his or her officers. I owe that to my people. So, I came into the department on all my scheduled days throughout the pandemic. Some days it was just me and a Staff Commander in the building. In addition to being with my team, I also needed to communicate support for those working from home. I didn’t want our department divided by where people chose to work. I was impressed with my officers for staying together and not complaining or passing judgment when people chose to stay home. If anything, our department took care of one another in inspiring ways, including volunteering to switch shifts as needed.”

When individuals like Lawrence lead from the middle, they erase the gap between titled leaders and frontline staff. Leading from the middle also models servant leadership. It sets a behavioral standard for community behavior—Lawrence’s acceptance of differing work choices mitigated potential team division and fostered team support. When you lead from the middle, you are essentially saying, “I am one of you,” not “I am better than you.”

Angus Jameson MD, MPH, Medical Director Pinellas County, Florida’s Emergency Medical Services, demonstrates how leading from the middle establishes credibility, trust, and cohesion. Angus noted, “I was talking about a COVID-19 field protocol during a live online update when a medic posted a comment that said, ‘Easy for him to say from behind his desk.’ Within seconds several other medics jumped into the message stream with responses like, ‘You must be kidding, he is working in the hospital seeing patients and on the scene with us regularly.’ Nothing I could have said in my defense would have sounded credible. That spontaneous support established my credibility.”

While Angus suggests that his credibility came from the support of others, I believe the support of others came from his credibility. Angus added, “People who are willing to take additional risks to serve others don’t want to be led by people who aren’t willing to take those same risks. In other words, people want to know that you will do what you ask them to do. The easiest way to prove that is to stop talking about what they need to do and start doing it with them.”

Credibility and trust don’t occur by accident. People believe leaders who produce results, fulfill promises, and lead from the middle. In times of crisis, when fear and mistrust prevail, people look to leaders for coaching, mentorship, and a willingness to serve alongside them.

Years ago, then CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz told me, “Leaders have a responsibility to make regular deposits in their team’s reservoir of trust.” He shared that with me as he was heading to work alongside Starbucks partners doing a community service project. Leading from the middle is one of the most robust ways to make deposits in your team’s reservoir of trust. Often leadership can seem complicated, if not impossible. Other times it is as simple as an insight shared by ancient Chinese philosopher and author Lao Tzu: “To lead people, walk beside them.”

GETTING AHEAD BY MOVING BACK

Let’s make one last twist on the scenario presented previously. This time let’s assume the group is on the right path, moving at a brisk pace, and working effectively as a team. At this point in the journey, where is the best place for you to be?

As teams advanced successfully during the pandemic, leaders often told me they intentionally stepped back. By moving to the back, these leaders encouraged the groups’ autonomy, supported their momentum, and celebrated their victories. Robert Greenleaf, founder of the servant leadership philosophy, put it this way, “The best test as a leader is: Do those served grow as persons; do they become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become leaders?”

Ann Ayers JD, Dean of Colorado Women’s College at the University of Denver, learned the value of leading from the back when she was a child. Ann noted, “I grew up in the mountains hiking with my father. When we’d set off for a hike, he encouraged me to go ahead of him. I didn’t like being in front, and it didn’t make sense to me. He was taller, more experienced, and could follow the trail better. One morning we started hiking before daylight, and he wore a headlamp. As he walked behind me, he shined the light on our path.”

Ann explained how that experience shaped her leadership, “My job is to hire people who have talent and put them in positions where they can grow. To be effective, I need to stand behind them, shine a light so they can see their path, and help them work around obstacles. During the pandemic, I had to adjust the beam of my metaphoric headlamp based on my team’s stress level. Some days it needed to shine just a few steps ahead of them, and on other days I needed to point it toward a bright horizon.”

As evidenced by Ann’s headlamp metaphor, leading from the back is not a passive activity. It shouldn’t be confused with abdicating responsibility or delegating projects and failing to assure accountability. If anything, leading from the back requires a leader to continue to shine the light on the optimal destination, help team members sustain momentum, and foster growth opportunities as the team ventures forward.

Leading from the back means your team will arrive at the destination before you. As such, the accomplishment is not “yours.” It is “ours.” By stepping back to a supportive and encouraging position, you can best see leadership talent emerge and give space for others to wrestle with problems and craft their solutions. All those benefits occur as you continue to nudge, prod, and keep your light shining on the destination. The ultimate success for leading from the back is how it ignites collective wisdom and shared decision-making. Put simply by leadership guru Ken Blanchard, “None of us are as smart as all of us.”

YOUR FEET

So far, I’ve only spotlighted leaders in either the front, middle, or back of their teams. In reality, all leaders featured in this chapter have expertly made positional shifts based on the situational needs of their organizations. For the sake of illustration, we will explore how Marcia Harnden moved fluidly from the front, middle, and back leadership positions.

Marcia was selected Chief of Police for the City of Albany, Oregon, shortly before COVID-19 gained momentum. Since she had transferred from another city, Marcia had to establish herself as a leader in Albany. Accordingly, she led from the front by being visible, sharing her vision, aligning critical messages with other public safety leaders like the Fire Chief, and communicating consistently. Marcia also had to develop strategies that maintained public safety and reduced the risk of COVID-19 for her team and the jail population.

Marcia led from the middle by connecting with and serving alongside her team. She noted, “I’ve started work at 9:30 in the morning and went home at 10 in the evening so that I could do ride alongs with every shift.” Marcia also led from behind by supporting and serving her team members, “I’m a strong subscriber to servant leadership. I exist to serve our people. Leadership is not about me; it’s about them. I distributed decision-making, encouraged new ideas, and celebrated accomplishments. For example, a senior staff member came up with the idea of cooking breakfast and doing barbecues for the night shift. It was an honor to take part in those meals. I did so not as a leadership checkbox, but because it allowed me to be of service to the officers I am privileged to lead.”

Marcia’s example demonstrates how quickly leaders can and must shift their position. For instance, I can imagine Marcia presenting her organizational vision at 10 a.m. (leading from the front), conducting ride alongs at 4 p.m. (leading from the middle), and preparing a barbecue for the night shift at 10 p.m. (leading from the back).

Leadership positioning is a useful construct to ensure you are moving to the needs of those you serve rather than staying in your comfort zone. For example, if you thrive in the background, it can be challenging to lead from the front when you need to share a compelling vision. The art of leadership positioning is to accurately assess whether you should be in the front, middle, or back and shift with dexterity and fluidity, as circumstances require.

A DIFFERENT TYPE OF FLUIDITY

We’ve looked at how leaders shift their leadership positions (front, middle, back) within a given role, but for some leaders, that shift must occur from one leadership setting to the next. Suzy Whaley is the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Director of Instruction for the Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. She is also the first woman elected to serve as an officer of the PGA of America and holds the title of PGA President.

To be effective in each role, Suzy has to shift her leadership position nimbly. Suzy noted, “In my role as PGA President, I’m happy to be out front communicating a vision for a reset to our business model. That includes advances in areas like inclusion, technology, and virtual options that will allow us to connect more directly to consumers. Regarding efforts to navigate the pandemic, I’ve been fortunate to work with others to identify strategies and approaches to help address the needs of 29,000 members and 15,000 courses across the US.”

Suzy’s role as PGA President shines a spotlight on her, demands a well-articulated vision, and pulls for leadership from the front. Conversely, her role as the director of instruction at a PGA club pulls for leadership from the middle. Suzy noted, “In my director role, I am a member of the organization for which I am President. I am a leader, and I am also an employee. I don’t need to be out front in that capacity. I need to work alongside my team. So, I do. I put on my face mask to serve team members and the wonderful people who want to improve and enjoy the game of golf.”

Whether you are functioning in a single role or jumping across roles, leadership is about adapting to help pull, partner with, or push the team from an appropriate position. As you practice situational awareness and shift your leadership in the context of this paradigm, you might consider the wisdom of Nelson Mandela, “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”

YOUR STRENGTH PLAN