Do you effectively communicate with those who work above, below, and with you? (71-2)

Aaron, Moses’ brother, lived the leadership experience of most leaders. Like Aaron, most leaders will not be the final authority; most will lead from within the organizational chart not the top. Most won’t have a perfect track record of performance, but take courage in that position because God used Aaron to accomplish critical leadership functions for His kingdom and Aaron’s leadership left a mark that can still be seen today. Read Exodus 4:10-17; Exodus 32:1-6 & 19-29; Numbers 12:1-3; Leviticus 8:1-9.

Aaron was not God’s choice to lead the Hebrew nation from captivity in Egypt. He was selected by God to assist Moses. Aaron did not always understand the vision and he did not always perform in support of Moses but Aaron had key roles to play as God accomplished His vision for the Hebrew people. Most leaders, like Aaron, will serve in the middle of an organization and must learn to have maximum influence without having the final authority in either the vision or the process.

In his book 360 Degree Leadership, John Maxwell gives us some practical ways to be effective “leaders from the middle.” According to Maxwell, “360 degree leaders influence people at every level of the organization. By helping others, they help themselves.” The 360 degree leader will influence down to those who work for them, they will influence laterally to their peer group and they will influence up to those in charge.

The “leader in the middle” needs to see themselves as divinely positioned by God and serve with their best effort to glorify God, just as if they were the senior leader.

John Maxwell gives some practical help for those leading from the middle. Leaders in the middle need to be self managers, they take care of business every day in seven areas:

• They manage their emotions according to what the team needs. Sometimes that means holding their emotions in check and at other times letting the team see their emotions.
• They manage their time. They see time as a resource equal to or greater in value than money. They spend it wisely.
• They manage their priorities. They are ruthless in their judgment of what they need to do not just what they like to do.
• They manage their energy. They do the high priority tasks first, focus on what only they can do, their activity has direction, they put action under their burdens and they resolve conflicts quickly rather than letting them drain their life and energy.
• They manage their thinking. They do not let their busyness keep them from time to think. Activity can be the killer of planning and finding solutions.
• They manage their words. Leaders in the middle need to value action and when they speak their words need to have value. For your words to have weight they need to be weighed carefully.
• They manage their personal life. It is of no benefit to climb to the top of an organization and lose your marriage or alienate your children. If leadership fails in your personal life it will spill over into all areas of leadership.

A leader does not need the top spot to be an effective leader. Aaron never reached the “top spot” yet the impact of his leadership is still affecting the world today, thousands of years after his death.

Are you most effective communicating to those who work for you or equally effective managing in an appropriate way those who work for you, those who work with you and those you work for? Choose your weakest area and write a one paragraph plan that will help you improve in your weakest area.