Servant Leadership: Leading from Behind

The other day I was leading a discussion with half a dozen leaders from the C-suite and…

That’s a good lead in, but it’s also patently false. There was a time in my career when I spent considerable time briefing chief executives or advising one or two executives on my area of expertise, but those days have passed. While you may actually be a corporate leader or someone with decision authority, most of us are not. Most of us, myself included, don’t lead companies or even have profit and loss responsibility. We go to work, do our jobs, and go home without making a single decision that will frame the future for thousands or even hundreds of workers. So how do we, as servant leaders who are not serving in leadership positions, lead? (If you are one of my military friends, you are probably cringing at the thought of leading “from the rear.” Mind you, there is a time and place for everything under the sun.)

Before we get into those details, let’s be clear. Being a line operator, middle manager, or worker bee doesn’t relieve us of our responsibility to lead. As a matter of fact, Jesus addressed leaders fewer times than He did the rest of us, probably because He knew the rest of us would be a much larger number and in need of a greater volume of guidance. As quoted in my last blog:

“Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.’” (Mark 9:35, NIV)

To that, I’ll add:

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” (Rom 13:1, NIV)

So now that we’ve established our responsibility to not only obey our chosen leaders, but to also lead them by serving, how do we do that in our positions that lack influence?

The answer is simple. Lead by living Christ – always. But don’t listen to me, listen to the scriptures.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” (Matt 5:13, NIV)

“In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness” (Titus 2:7, NIV)

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.” (Eph 5:1-4, NIV)

While we may rarely if ever find ourselves leading a group of C-suite executives, we can work daily to influence executives, middle managers, or the company as a whole by living right, doing right, and being the example others may need to see at a time when God chooses for them to see it. When an executive hears of or sees a line operator making a hard choice (clarify – the right choice), whether in a situation that could impact his or her employment or in a simple, mundane, daily task, that executive 1) gains one more data point in right living, 2) might be the one person your mustard seed actually reaches, or 3) might have needed reassurance that he or she is leading the right people the right way. On the flip side, if he or she understands that we are “supposed to be Christian” yet we choose the easy answer (clarify – the wrong choice), perhaps to save our career or to save face, or just to make our jobs a little easier (usually at someone esle's expense), that executive 1) gains one more data point that Christians are vaporware, 2) has more ammo to reject the next mustard seed coming down the line, or 3) is reminded that his or her leadership has failed the workforce. Some of these results seem extreme, but are they?

Let me leave you with this example. (A true example this time.) Yesterday, I had the opportunity to provide a third-party view of one of our directors. The question that arose was along the lines of "Mary was supposed to follow up on an interview I got for her, but she didn’t. Any idea why?"

Now, I could have been honest and said, “Are you surprised? Mary doesn’t follow up on anything. She’s a terrible leader who treats her people like serfs and uses her title to get underlings to do her work for her.”

Or, I could consider the seed, think about what God would prefer I say about Mary, and let my light shine from underneath its bushel and say, “I don’t know, but I’m sure Mary has a reason for not following up.” I really didn’t know. In fact, I had no idea why Mary wouldn't follow up on an interview, and anything I could have said that may have disparaged Mary would have been wrong, even if it was factual. Being right doesn’t always make you right. In fact, being right can and often does make you wrong in God’s eyes.

Mind you there is a caveat. If my friend had said, “We’re probably going to hire Mary to lead X group, but do you know why she wouldn’t follow up,” then I might have to caution my friend about Mary’s communications strengths and weaknesses so he could make an informed decision. However, he didn’t ask a business question. Therefore, I didn’t feel obligated to give a business answer. The question was personal, and since Mary hadn’t followed up, anything I could have said would have been spilt milk.

So, be kind. Live Christ. And when the opportunity arises – lead from behind.

(Photo: blackartdepot.com)