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

by Clay Scroggins

contradiction that many point out with the millennial generation is that even though we’re highly confident, we’re also deeply risk averse for some reason. The parents who have done all the handholding haven’t helped this generation move ahead on their own. When your parent does your homework, you get a great grade, which is nice. And it might help you get into a better college, but it teaches you that you don’t really have a risk of failing.

The greatest danger of not being in charge and waiting around until you are, is that you never learn to risk or fail and how to handle that experience. You never learn from those mistakes. Learn to recognize that low-level fear in you that says, “If you try and fail, you’ll get labeled as someone who can’t.” Learning to ignore that voice is crucial. So being aware of passivity is the first step, but step two is learning to reject it and take action.

When you sense yourself standing around waiting for more, a great first step is to look around for things that no one is addressing and take the first step. Don’t play the waiting game. You’ll miss opportunities to lead.

When you wait for your boss to tell you what to do, your boss then has to think about how to do their job and your job. If you’re always waiting to be handed more responsibility or a new opportunity, you’ll likely become someone who can’t be handed anything of importance. On our team, the people I trust most are the ones handling the most and taking the initiative to find and solve the problems I haven’t even noticed yet. So if you’re not busy, get busy! A waiting posture doesn’t win in the long run. If you don’t know where to start, look around. There are always responsibilities, projects, processes, products, or even people who are underutilized that others around you are just not noticing.

I decided that to be the leader I wanted to be, I had to quit responding to life and instead get out in front by developing better daily habits. I decided to wake up earlier, become more consistent in doing what I said I valued most, and spend more time preparing for the day ahead. I became convinced I didn’t have to be in charge to take charge. When I’m not in charge, I feel like I have no control and feel forced to be reactive. Reactivity perpetuates passivity. Passivity causes me to feel stuck.

The closet represents that thing that needs to be done, but no one wants to do. There are projects, problems, and processes that get neglected. They may have worked once, but over time were forgotten or abandoned. During a crisis season some things were dropped and never picked up again. Often, these are the long-term planning items, the practices and habits that make an organization healthy over the long run.

When I talk to interns or entry-level team members who feel they can’t make a difference, I get giddy, explaining to them that they are perfectly positioned to be able to see what most needs to change. In fact, no one is better positioned to see what isn’t working. So find something that needs to change, choose to own it, and come up with a realistic plan to fix it.

Another antidote for passivity is developing the margin to plan. The whirlwind of your calendar likely has a way of whipping you into submission, but great leaders, whether they’re in charge or not, make room for planning. Instead of reacting to your calendar, create margin to get out in front of it.

Rather than responding only to what comes next on their calendars, great leaders respond to what’s most important to the boss and move accordingly. In order to be able to anticipate and respond to the direction the boss is heading, you and I must know what is most important to who we’re working for.

What has my boss established as the greatest “win” for our team? • If your boss could wave a magic wand and have something done, what would it be? • What is your boss most worried about? What is creating stress? How can you relieve that? • On your team, what is a frequently discussed problem? Can you take steps toward fixing it today?

Leaders see problems. They see things that aren’t working. And they come up with solutions. Leaders make a way when others can’t find a way. Leaders look at what is, see what could be, and organize others to move toward the preferred future. Leaders are not rabble-rousers, but they will challenge the status quo. They are not okay with “this is the way we’ve always done it.” They refuse to accept mediocrity. Leaders are not content to sit on the sidelines, managing a system that is yielding solid results, when there are potential changes pregnant with greater results.

there is a chasm between seeing a change that needs to be made and having the emotional intelligence to do it in a way that does not limit your career. Even a secure, healthy leader may bite back at you and respond defensively when he or she feels threatened by a challenge.

“Leaders must challenge the process precisely because any system will unconsciously conspire to maintain the status quo and prevent change.”

“Humans are the only creatures who are able to behave irrationally in the name of reason.”

Disciplining myself to lead with questions helps me avoid the trap of rash judgments. Curious questions cause humility. Lately, I’ve begun every important conversation similar to this: “I’ve got a lot of thoughts about this situation, but I know you do as well. Tell me how you’re processing it.” This is crucial for me. Incorrect assumptions create walls and cause humiliation. If you choose to start the challenging conversation with questions, it will teach you something. It will build trust, and it will save you some embarrassment.

Sadly, I was so focused on what I would do in the future that I missed opportunities to grow as a leader right then and there. My perspective was toward an idealistic dream, but I didn’t have a clear plan for how to get there. Now there is nothing wrong with thinking and planning ahead. But there is a danger in focusing too much on what we want to change or what we’ll do when we’re in charge, and instead, failing to start doing anything right now. Inevitably, we miss out on the possibility of developing as leaders before we ever get to be in charge.

Nothing magically changes about your reputation when you are placed in a position of authority. The same reputation you have without power stays with you when you do have power and authority. Great leaders look ahead to the future and begin to act today to become who they want to be. In fact, the whole purpose of this book is to encourage you to begin leading from where you are. Don’t wait until you are in charge to be the leader you want to be. Chances are, if you wait to start leading, you will never be put in a position to lead anyway. Start asking yourself what type of leader you want to be tomorrow. And start becoming that type of leader today. Because whether you realize it or not, you are building a reputation for yourself, both as a leader and as a person. Start asking yourself what type of leader you want to be tomorrow. And start becoming that type of leader today. Your reputation matters. But like everything that matters in life, it isn’t something you start to work on tomorrow. It isn’t formed overnight. You’re forming a reputation right now, whether you’re in charge or not.

Jesus didn’t use his authority to boss the disciples around. He used his influence to make them reach their fullest potential. It’s this type of leadership that people are eager to work under. Leaders who focus solely on their own success are everywhere. And leaders who focus on the success of those under them are rare. Are you the type of leader that makes others better? When people watch the way you lead, do they want to be like you or do they want to be as different from you as possible? Because not only do leaders make those around them better, they live and lead in a way that’s worth emulating.

Great leaders have the ability to learn from those above them and apply those lessons. Look at leaders you admire (and leaders you don’t admire) and start paying attention to how they lead. The best leaders are learners. They realize there is always something to learn from the people around them. When I worked in entry-level positions at our church, I constantly watched the person at the top, because I wanted to know if he was using what he was selling. Did he actually believe what he was teaching? No matter what job you have, or what type of boss you have, you can learn how to lead, and how not to lead. You can learn just as much from a terrible boss as you can from a great one.

Dos: • Value every opinion, especially those that contradict your own. • Tell people you value the work they are putting in. • Lead by action first and word second. • Express expectations and make sure those around you know what you want and need from them. • Provide as much encouragement and affirmation as possible. • Be efficient with tasks and effective with people. Don’ts: • Underestimate the intern. • Ignore an idea/belief/criticism shared by more than one person. • Take the people who are doing the dirty work for granted. • Schedule meetings that have no clear goal or purpose. • Act as if you’re better than everyone, even if you are. • Undervalue the time others are putting in to make your job easier.

it wasn’t the authority Jesus possessed that made him a great leader. It was his influence over the minds and hearts of people, influence cultivated by speaking truth and challenging the status quo, by serving others, by healing people and meeting their needs. It was an influence cultivated by giving people hope and vision for the future. Ultimately, it was influence earned by demonstrating the depth of his love for people, by sacrificing himself on their behalf. That’s leadership.

Great leaders love what they do, who they do it with, and who they do it for. Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).