How to Lead When You're Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority

by Clay Scroggins

a kabash leader gives space for people to thrive and cultivates growth in others through time, attention, care, and kind correction. The way to lead is to serve, and the way to create something great is to give people space to thrive in the way God has gifted each one.

A kabash leader uses his or her influence to help others get ahead and not to get ahead of others.

everyone leads something. Everyone is in charge of something—even if it’s just you. Each one of us is responsible for the choices and decisions we make. We must all learn to rightly influence ourselves.

Your boss is not in charge of you. You are in charge of you.

You are in charge of you. You are in charge of your emotions, your thoughts, your reactions, and your decisions. It’s the law of personal responsibility, because everyone is responsible for leading something, even if that something is just you.

“Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does on a day-to-day basis to lead himself.”

So the first step to master in becoming a

leader who leads well when not in charge is how to model what it means to be a follower.

I submitted an informal, anonymous 360-degree survey to about fifty of the coworkers I had in my former role. I asked them three simple questions: 1. What did I do over the past few years that inspired you?

2. What did I do that frustrated you? 3. What do I not know about myself that has become a blind spot?

What is your “Lead Me Plan”? To lead you well, you need to focus on three simple aspects: 1. Know where you currently are. 2. Have a vision for where you want to go. 3. Develop the discipline and accountability to do what it takes to stay on track.

The first misstep success brings is to credit the success to your own doing, but this only sets

leaders up for future failure: “Truly great [leaders], no matter how successful they become, maintain a learning curve as steep as when they first began their careers.”4 For you to maintain a steep learning curve in this season of your life, you’ll need to be honest about where you are and how you got there. This kind of gut-level

level assessment of where you are will only happen by asking for it. People around you love you. They really do. They want you to get better. They want you to grow. But rarely will s...

If you want to know where you are and how you’re doing, you have to ask.

We won’t improve unless someone is honest with us.

Most of the big employment decisions in your career will happen when you’re not in the room.

“If an opportunity for promotion came available, what

would keep you from fully recommending me?” The answer to that question could be the genesis for your personal growth plan.

Once you know where

you are, the next step is to develop a clear vision for where you want to go.

We each need to

have a personal vision for our own lives, a plan for our futures. Without a personal vision for your life, how do you know what to do with the opportunities that present themselves?

Self-leadership means spending the necessary time and effort to determine your own personal vision for your future.

If money were no issue,

what would I choose to do with my time? • What really bothers me? What breaks my heart? • What makes me pound the table in frustration or passion? • What gives me life or makes me come alive?

What motivates you? What creates accountability to help you learn, grow, and stretch yourself in ways you wouldn’t otherwise?

It’s amazing how we as humans have the innate ability to perceive someone’s commitment to us. To protect ourselves, we resist going all-in with someone who is not all-in with us. If you’re not committed to your boss, your boss probably won’t be committed to you.

“We see the world, not as it is, but as we are—or as we’re conditioned to see it.”

How we see the world has less to do with the way the world is and more to do with the way we are. That situation

at work that’s frustrating you might have more to do with you than ...

While it may be your manager’s responsibility to communicate the mission and vision, responsibility for learning them is yours.

the satisfaction employees have in their job is directly correlated to their ability to see how what they do fits into the big picture.

Those leaders who feel a

strong sense of ownership and have made the crucial connection between what their job is and how it drives results for the organization are more deeply engaged.

It’s your responsibility to look for ways to connect what you do each day to those overall goals and objectives.

God has put specific people into particular positions for definitive reasons. And he has you where he wants you.

More important than making the right decision is owning the decision handed to you and making it right.

You are not ready for your boss’s job. Why would I say that? Because you’re not in your boss’s job.

you’ll find leaders who ask questions and connect their observations in ways that others just can’t. Then they find simple ways to communicate these connections to volunteers who feel valued and part of the process. They implement this week after

week to the benefit of the community.

Stop thinking as an employee. Start thinking as an owner.

Stop stacking your meetings.

Start scheduling thinking meetings.

scheduling time between meetings to think critically has enabled me to improve the quality of my contributions to those meetings.

Stop being critical. Start thinking critically.

People who are great critical thinkers want you to win.

Stop giving others a grade. Start lending them a hand.

When you communicate critical thoughts to those beside you, below you, or to your

boss, you need to do so with a helping hand, not a grading tone.