Pity the humble academic. Moving from a faculty position to an administrative office frequently entails gaining considerable responsibility-but ambiguous power. The hope of these two authors is that this volume will serve as a reference and a source of support for current associate and assistant deans and as a window into these jobs for faculty who may be considering such a role. Staff positions often come with detailed job descriptions and reporting lines, but the role of associate/assistant deans is often ill-defined and dependent upon the personality of the dean they serve. The authors thus begin their discussion with an examination of the relationship between these two positions, setting the tone for the rest of the book. Stone and Coussons-Read have structured as a series of modules that encompass different situations in which associate/assistant deans may find themselves, and the authors candidly give advice about how to handle the resulting challenges. Case studies illustrate the typical daily work required by this position, with each case followed by suggestions for effective responses. The authors also provide references to sources in which readers can dig more deeply into areas such as conflict management and communication styles.

The definitive playbook for driving impact as a middle manager Leading from the Middle: A Playbook for Managers to Influence Up, Down, and Across the Organization delivers an insightful and practical guide for the backbone of an organization: those who have a boss and are a boss and must lead from the messy middle. Accomplished author and former P&G executive Scott Mautz walks readers through the unique challenges facing these managers, and the mindset and skillset necessary for managing up and down and influencing what happens across the organization. You’ll learn the winning mindset of the best middle managers, how to develop the most important skills necessary for managing from the middle, how to create your personal Middle Action Plan (MAP), and effectively influence: Up the chain of command, to your boss and those above them Down, to your direct reports and teams who report to you Laterally, to peers and teams you have no formal authority over Anyone in an organization who reports to someone and has someone reporting to them must lead from the middle. They are the most important group in an organization and have a unique opportunity to drive impact. Leading from the Middle explains how.

To make the best decisions possible, middle leaders need to have a nuanced understanding of the consequences of their actions. In this pragmatic book, Adam Robbins aims to boost their role-specific expertise to help them achieve that goal - and offers them a preferable alternative to learning from their mistakes. Instead of relying on generic leadership theories, Middle Leadership Mastery collates perspectives from psychology and cognitive science to share evidence-informed guidance on a wide range of topics - from supporting staff and students in crisis and managing wellbeing, to quality-assuring teaching and curriculum design. Adam Robbins draws on his sixteen years' experience of teaching in a deprived area to illustrate his points with stories and anecdotes from the front line, demonstrating how middle leaders can better understand their context and deliver the best outcomes from a variety of starting points.

This book uses practice theory to examine the role of ‘middle-leadership’. In particular, it investigates the practices of ‘leading in the middle’ in the cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political domains – i.e., the sayings, doings and relatings of middle leading. This perspective acknowledges the ecological arrangement of leading practices in schools, and the necessity of considering the unavoidable reality of the site. The analysis is used to promote the need to view leading in the middle as a form of praxis – a morally and ethically informed practice that requires thoughtful decision-making and action in situations where the outcomes are not always clear. This book focuses on the practice of leading for those in ‘middle management’ positions in primary and secondary schools, such as those responsible for curriculum leadership, including senior teachers, assistant principals, and curriculum leaders. In their positions that bridge ‘management’ and ‘the classroom’ they are significant leaders in promoting and sustaining effective pedagogy for good learning outcomes, and they have to continue to provide high-quality teaching in their own classrooms, while simultaneously being a mentor, coach, supporter and evaluator for their colleagues.

While there is no standard guideline to success in leadership per-se, there are some general principles that will consistently lead in that direction. Having a plan is often the most overlooked, yet required part of a new leadership position or challenge. Then from that plan, a basis of principles (ethos, culture, philosophy and virtues) is what will ensure a lasting effect. Leadership is generational and as such, it's the secondand third-order effects that we want to influence in our new leadership role. This book is a continuing reference guide to setting up a leadership plan with some specific desired effects. This is your guide to developing a philosophy, mission statement and a temporal plan of actions and milestones for your new leadership tenure. It also has tools that will help you draw from and foster the existing base of wisdom among your subordinates. Put shortly, you've been promoted; here's your next step. Contained are a series of simple tasks that may take months even years to be accomplished, thus giving your leadership tenure lasting effects through your immediate replacement as well as empowering their replacements to take the wheel and stand the watch! This is not a book to be read once and taken for immediate interpretation. This is an ongoing reference guide with hundreds of simple points of thought to be applied to almost any leadership challenge. What's missing in this book is what you, the leader, need to find for yourself, on your terms to develop into the book of your tenure. Good luck!

By examining leadership examples, Leadership in Middle-Earth explores evidence-based leadership and management practices from the unique perspective of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth, making actionable recommendations you can implement in your organization.

Serve Up Coach Down is Nathan Jamail's most impactful and contentious book yet. It debunks the myths of servant leadership that other books sell, namely that leaders in the middle must serve down to their people and defend up to their bosses. This is the exact opposite of what they should do: serve up to their bosses and coach down to their people. And it is costing them their power every day. 98% of leaders are leading from the middle, meaning they have a boss or bosses they answer to and employees they lead. From senior vice presidents to front-line managers, they should be the most powerful leaders in any organization. They are responsible for alignment, speed of change, buy-in, belief, accountability, and execution. Yet they often struggle with all of that by getting their teams to step up and winning approval from those above them. Why? Because they are serving down and defending up. Serve Up Coach Down addresses the key issues and obstacles that prevent leaders in the middle from owning the power that should drive their, their team's, and their organization's success and gives organizations the greatest competitive advantage they can have--speed of change--by creating leaders who their bosses can count on and who make their employees better. Want an organization with strong leaders and organizations based on a strong team culture built on strong leaders developing other strong leaders? Serve Up Coach Down is for you!