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For many of us, leading from the middle is a way of life. Directors reporting to VPs while leading their department, VPs reporting to the President while leading their division, or entry level professionals reporting to a Director while also leading a team of students. All of us are leading from the middle in some capacity. For some of us, these roles may conflict more than others, but I believe being a great supervisee and a great supervisor have much more in common than initially meets the eye.
Being a Good Supervisee
What makes someone a good supervisee? There are a lot of items I could list, but here are a few that stand out to me:
- You invest in the relationship with your supervisor. You get to know how they work, their strengths, weaknesses, when to push back respectfully, when to accept a decision, etc.
- You understand what is being expected of them and how you can help. You do your best to understand the goals of the division and the university as a whole so you can effectively utilize your sphere of influence to support those goals.
- You update them on issues that might rise to their level. No one likes to be caught off guard, so you do your best to apprise them of items that may rise to their level or higher. Additionally, you prioritize handling issues that are passed down from them to you (often as a result of someone skipping over you in trying to get a situation handled).
- You ensure you are running your department as expected. Whatever the expectations are for your area, you do your best to ensure those expectations are met. This looks different in every situation, but it may mean expanding revenue sources, dealing with roommate conflicts effectively, or a myriad of other items that could fall within your purview depending on your role.
- You contribute positively to the culture. Be a supporter of your supervisor. Speak well of them, give them grace, and work well with those around you.
In a vacuum, those might be easy to do (depending on the strength of your supervisor). However, we are all, regardless of our level, dealing with conflicting constituencies. This might be our own supervisees, our students, parents, or even our personal beliefs.
Being a Good Supervisor
How can we be a good supervisee while also being a good supervisor? Let’s look at some of what it takes to be a good supervisor.
- You invest in the relationship and their future. Much like investing in the relationship with your supervisor, you must also invest in the relationship with your team. Getting to know them, challenging them to grow, and helping prepare them for a better future are all part of a leader’s responsibilities.
- You can move adeptly from the balcony to the floor (Heifetz, Grashow, & Linsky, 2009). As a leader you need to be able to zoom out and see the big picture, while also not being afraid to jump into the fray with your team. Striking a proper balance between these two is difficult, but essential.
- Take responsibility. It can be easy to take credit when things go right, but far more difficult to accept responsibility when things go poorly. This does not mean we don’t hold people accountable, but your team will notice if you shirk responsibility when things get difficult.
- You keep the team focused on their purpose. In the midst of the everyday, remembering why you are doing what you are doing can seem impossible. However, consistently bringing your decisions back to the purpose, and reminding those you supervise why they do what they do will foster stronger engagement and more satisfied employees.
- Build a strong culture. In my opinion, this is the most difficult thing to do because there are so many things that can go wrong. One toxic situation or employee can bring down a whole team. Building a strong culture could be its own article but being willing to address the difficult conversations (and the difficult people) directly is a start.
Putting it All Together
Now that we have some basics around strong supervision and support, we can work through how these can be tied together to help one effectively lead from the middle. The first on both lists (investing in the relationship) rarely conflict because it comes down caring for other people well. This can be done in concert, whatever your position, because we are called to care for those around us, regardless of our role.
- Recommended Books: Crucial Conversations by Grenny, Mcmillan, Switzler, and Patterson; Designing Your Life by Burnett and Evans; Boundaries for Leaders by Cloud; Difficult Conversations by Stone, Patton, and Head
Second, moving from the balcony to the floor can often go hand in hand with understanding what is expected from your supervisor because it allows you to zoom out and think through why your team is responsible for this particular thing. For example, your supervisor might ask you to prep your team to handle an influx of calls about the decision to close a beloved residence hall. Coming to the balcony, you know this is better for the university long term as they look to conserve cash and build for the future. On the dance floor though, students are upset, alumni are angry, and even your staff have mixed feelings about the closing. In that moment you have to be able to straddle your understanding of the big picture with supporting the needs of those around you.
- Recommended Books: The Practice of Adaptive Leadership by Heiftiz, Grashow, and Linsky; The Art of Strategic Leadership by Stowell and Mead
Updating your supervisor on things that might rise to their level and taking responsibility for your supervisees are both areas that often go hand in hand as well. Something may rise to their level because of a mistake someone on your team made. You could throw that person under the bus, or, you could take responsibility for how you could have trained them to handle the situation better. This does not apply to all situations, but it is important to understand the difference, and to take responsibility for the areas in which you are in control.
- Recommended Books: The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni; Change by Kotter, Akhtar, and Gupta; How Leaders Can Inspire Accountability by Timms
Running your department as expected and keeping the team focused on their purpose should work together as long as you understand the goals of the university. Whatever your area’s purpose, it should align with the expectations of your supervisor, and it should be crystal clear to all those that you supervise. If both of these items are true, then you should be able to support your supervisor and supervisees in most cases.
In some instances, the expectations of your supervisor may be unclear. Perhaps they are struggling to find their own purpose in the midst of institutional confusion, or maybe they are not as far along on their leadership journey. In either case, it is an opportunity to “lead up”. Work closely with your supervisor to find clarity where it is possible. When clarity is not possible then be willing to name those elephants with your supervisor and discuss strategies for talking through those areas with your team as frankly as possible. In Good to Great, Collins discusses the Hedgehog Concept. He says, “Hedgehogs see what is essential, and ignore the rest” (Collins, 2001). This idea can help you when you’re struggling to find clarity of purpose or when things feel misaligned. What is essential? What is the one thing that matters above all else, and regardless of the circumstances you can always find your way back to this purpose?
- Recommended Books: Start With Why by Simon Sinek; Strengths Based Leadership by Rath and Conchie
Finally, contributing positively to the culture and building a strong culture may seem like the most obvious connection, but it can also be the most difficult. I often see supervisors who struggle with figuring out their “first team”. This is because they spend most of their time with their supervisees, and very little time with their supervisor and those that report to their supervisor. Ultimately, we have to be able to advocate for our teams, while also understanding that we are not just representing them, but the interests of the university as a whole. With that in mind, contributing positively to both teams while also building a strong positive culture with your direct reports can occur simultaneously.
- Recommended Books: The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle; Good to Great by Jim Collins
In closing, leading from the middle is something most, if not all, of us have to wrestle with daily. These big picture ideas do not always take into account the difficulties of our everyday work but can help us prioritize situations and how to approach them when the path forward is not clear.
References
- Collins, J. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap… and others don’t. Harper Business.
- Heifetz R A, Grashow A and Linsky M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Harvard Business Press.
