Leading from the middle

1. Leading from the middle Influencing Up, Down, and Sideways Camille Catlett FPG Child Development Institute University of North Carolina (919) 966-6635 camille.catlett@unc.edu

2. Types of Leadership • Situational Leadership • Transformational Leadership • Servant Leadership • Directive Leadership

3. Situational Leaders Able to lead based on time, place and/or circumstance Strong ability to influence and inspire others

4. Transformational Leaders Influence and inspire others Create change and inspire a vision Work effectively with complexity, ambiguity and uncertainty

5. Servant Leaders Focus on the needs and goals of others Determine what actions and behaviors are most likely to benefit those being served

6. Directive Leaders Monitor, guide, coach, direct and evaluate the work of others Influenced by values and beliefs about how people (children and adults) grow, change and develop Often needed when an individual or group is performing a new task

7. What CAN leadership look like? • Watch the video clip from Sister Act. • Observe the types of leadership practiced by Sister Mary Clarence (Whoopi Goldberg).

8. What did you see? • How did Sister Mary Clarence lead sideways? • Lead up? • Lead down?

9. When you think about leaders, who do you think of?

11. When you think about Infant-Toddler leaders, who do you think of?

13. when I think of Infant-Toddler leaders, here’s who I think of

14. 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.

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

16. 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

17. 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)

18. 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-familyrelationships. These relationships, in turn, strengthen family-child and family-community relationships.

19. 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)

20. 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)

21. 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.

22. 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

23. 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?

24. Leadership development is self-development • A leader’s primary instrument is him or herself. • To develop others, we have to develop ourselves.

25. Lead from the Middle by Honing the Tools of Influence • Demonstrate • Ask • Share • Clarify • Challenge

26. 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)

28. 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?

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

30. 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

31. write it down. Discuss it with a partner and challenge each other!

32. Your current spheres of influence

33. Your future spheres of influence