Lead from the back?

It was one of the most profound leader-lessons I’d heard in months and I am certain she didn’t mean it to be.  My colleague and I were paired off in an exercise to talk about our personal vision and goals as part of a fellowship in civic leadership I’m attending. She is the leader of a non-profit that focuses on caring for Latino families in our area. She knew that it was critical for her organization to be led by members of the community she was serving, and so she concluded that this was a time when she had to “lead from the back.”

I was nearly dumbstruck (not something that happens to me very often). For someone raised with the Army Infantry motto “Lead, follow, or get the heck* out of the way” and for whom “Lead from the Front” is this blog-site subtitle, her observation about leadership and practice were both profound and timely. We moved to Baltimore with the hope that we might in some way contribute to the community with very little idea what we could do or how.

My wife proposed before we moved that my leadership ethos “Ducere, Docere, Deservire” (to lead, to teach, to serve) might be better considered “Discere et Deservire” (to learn and to serve) during this period of our lives. But I am pretty sure that I was not completely buying it. And when I was honest I had to admit that I chafed at times at not being “in charge.” It had been a difficult transition from hospital director (where people always answered my emails) to hospital contractor (where amazingly my emails were not answered as quickly).

But there are seasons and reasons why leadership from the back of the room is important and I think my colleague’s comments were an awakening. One could argue that the most influential leader in Disney’s movie “The Lion King” was the crazy old baboon Rafiki rather than the brave, sagacious Mufasa or the impulsive, heroic lion Simba. Rafiki led from the back. There are advantages.

You can see the whole room unobserved. While everyone’s attention is focused on the leader, the speaker, or the problem at hand, if we pay attention we can watch the dynamics in the room from the back. We can see who is listening and who is on their iPhone; watch the body language and facial expressions. It is probably a better perspective to appreciate the context than the pressured position of the podium.

You are not responsible for the clock. In fact, the clock is probably behind you and the pressure of Robert’s rules and the timeliness of the agenda are someone else’s problem. (It’s especially relieving to an Myers-Briggs ENFJ for whom timeliness in meetings is a continual challenge anyway.) Instead of focusing on process the observer can notice interaction and outcome in ways you couldn’t from the head of the table or the dais.

You can observe the leader in context and provide feedback when solicited. One of the most valuable assets in leader development is having a “second chair on the balcony;” being able to look down on a set of circumstances with a trusted colleague and with the additional perspective, attempt to better understand sets of feelings or actions. Of course such feedback should in most cases be solicited, and if unsolicited is best left to positive, noncritical comments until more candor and critique is requested.

You can support the leader when the need arises. At ROTC summer camp in the late seventies the cadet physical training leader faltered on a relatively complicated 8-count exercise that I believe was called “the lunger.” I stepped in briefly shouting out the correct count until the leader got back on track and the platoon didn’t miss a beat. The supervising officer highlighted that event in my evaluation that day and I have since recognized it was an opportunity to support organizational success by stepping in briefly to lead from the back.

Finally there is an even greater opportunity nested in this philosophy, especially when I consider our current geographic location. For far too long, leadership in almost every setting has been assumed by people who look like me. Too often men with my “demographic” assume leader roles at the exclusion of women and members of other ethnic or racial groups.

In our West Baltimore neighborhood we are newcomers. And we are the minority. As much as I might think I know about leadership, I do not understand this context or the way the challenges have been shaped by the city systems and circumstances. While I bring perspective, I will never understand it as well as someone raised here. And perhaps there is a question of even greater importance: could my leadership discourage those in the community from leading because they don’t look like me and they don’t see any leaders who do? My role for now is to build and support. “The first duty of a leader is to create more leaders” (General Bill Creech).

I think I am going to have to become comfortable with leading from the back; to become more Rafiki than Mufasa. It is not natural for me, though at least the crazy part comes easy.

Chuck Callahan Henry V 4.3 – Lead from the Front      https://henryv43.wordpress.com/