Answer the questions that arise when managers and workers need to adjust to unfamiliar leadership roles and rules in flattened organizational forms. Leading When You’re Not the Boss provides a conceptual framework that you can apply when assessing your own organizations and work. The book discusses the underlying ideas necessary for a shift from a culture of hierarchies to one of relationships and the establishment of intrapreneurial and holistic work environments. This book supports the trend in many corporations toward flattening parts of their traditional top–down hierarchical management systems into more egalitarian, democratized, and distributed organizational forms. It analyzes the weaknesses of "management" culture at a time of ever more rapid change and complexity in the business world and illustrates how flattened organizational units increase agility, innovation, and efficacy. Moreover, it discusses how individuals can exercise effective leadership despite lacking the command-and-control authority of conventional bosses and ways for organizations to cultivate effective "post-management" cultures. Especially in the technology sector, large projects have become too complex to be mastered by any single leader. Drawing on his experience as a senior manager and executive consultant for a number of Fortune Global 500 companies, Roger Strathausen analyzes the situations and benefits that motivate companies to adopt flattened organizational forms. He shows that empowering a multi-talented group to manage itself by horizontal cooperation can deliver products with more speed, efficiency, innovation, and nimbleness than a solo boss could, while yielding higher employee productivity and retention rates. With an entertaining mix of real-world examples and an episodic HBR-style fictitious case study, the author illustrates throughout the book how his leadership lessons can be serviceable only when intelligently tailored to the dynamic complexities of specific situations, including the personalities and competencies of the people involved. What You'll Learn How to tailor the techniques of shared leadership to specific business situations rather than treating them as iron rules How to flourish in nonhierarchical and ambiguously-hierarchical organizational contexts that encourage individual initiative for the joint benefit of the enterprise and personal professional growth How success and fulfillment at work are enhanced by organizational forms in which participants assess the situational relevance of their respective talents and actively apply them to group objectives in lateral cooperation with peers, as opposed to passively receiving orders from appointed bosses Who This Book Is For The primary readerships for this book are business leaders and managers at all levels in corporations and non-managerial professionals who work in self-directed teams. The secondary readerships are practitioners, consultants, and academics interested in the topics of human resources, organizational design, and the future of work.

Don’t let a bad boss or manager hold you back from being successful! Every day millions of people with high potential are frustrated and held back by incompetent leaders. New York Times bestselling author and leadership expert John C. Maxwell knows this because the number one question he gets asked is about how to lead when the boss isn’t a good leader. You don’t have to be trapped in your work situation. In this book, adapted from the million-selling The 360-Degree Leader, and now distilled down for busy professionals, Maxwell unveils the keys to successfully navigating the challenges of working for a bad boss. In How to Lead When Your Boss Can’t (or Won’t), Maxwell teaches you how to: position yourself for current and future success, take the high road with a poor leader, avoid common pitfalls, work well with teammates, and develop influence wherever you find yourself. Practicing the principles taught in this book will result in endless opportunities—for your organization, your career, and your life. You can learn how to lead when your boss can’t (or won’t).

Are you hungry to help others through leadership but don't feel like you have the authority? One of the greatest myths of leadership is that you must be in charge in order to lead. Great leaders don't buy it. Great leaders--whether they have the official authority or not--learn how to be an influential presence wherever they are. In How to Lead When You're Not in Charge, author and pastor Clay Scroggins explains the nature of leadership and what's needed to be a great leader--even when you answer to someone else. Drawing from biblical principles and his experience as the lead pastor of Buckhead Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Clay will help you nurture your vision and cultivate influence with integrity and confidence, even when you lack authority in your organization or ministry. In this book, Clay will walk you through the challenge of leadership and the four basic behaviors all great leaders have and how to cultivate them: Leading yourself Choosing positivity Thinking critically Rejecting passivity With practical wisdom and humor, Clay Scroggins will help you free yourself to become the great leader you want to be so you can make a difference. Even when you're not in charge. ---------- "This book will be one of the most, if not the most, pivotal leadership books you'll ever read." - Andy Stanley "If you're ready to lead right where you are, this book can show you how to start." - Dave Ramsey "Read this book! The marketplace is full of leadership messages, but this one is a stand out." - Louie Giglio

In organizations today, getting work done requires political and collaborative skills. That’s why the first edition of this book has been widely adopted as a guide for consultants, project leaders, staff experts, and anyone else who does not have direct authority but who is nevertheless accountable for results. In this revised edition, leadership gurus Allan Cohen and David Bradford explain how to get cooperation from those over whom you have no official authority by offering them help in the form of the “currencies” they value. This classic work, now revised and updated, gives you powerful techniques for cutting through interpersonal and interdepartmental barriers, and motivating people to lend you their support, time, and resources.

A guidebook for those who have vision and drive to take the organization to the next level ... and a boss. Every manager on the move wants to have influence at the top in order to get his or her ideas heard and acted upon. In Lead Your Boss, John Baldoni gives managers new, as well as tried-and-true, methods for influencing both their bosses and their peers, and giving senior leaders reasons to follow their lead. Featuring instructive stories based on real-life experiences from leaders at all levels, he reveals proven strategies for developing spheres of influence; handling tough issues; asserting oneself diplomatically; putting the team first; persuading up; establishing trust; using organizational politics to everyone's advantage; inspiring others through-out the organization. He gives readers practical, tactical advice on becoming a key player in any organization--Publisher's description.

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO GETTING RESULTS WHEN YOU HAVE TO WORK WITH OTHERS. JOE: I've been thinking about this job and I know exactly how to tackle it. SALLY: Hang on. First I want to know why we are doing it.JOE: That's obvious. The boss is dissatisfied with the present situation.CHARLIE: Fair enough, but before we get started I want to get a timetable set up.BILL: Okay. By when do we need to get the job done?CHRISTINE: Before we sort that out, is anyone in charge of this job?... Have you ever been in a situation like this? Have you ever walked out of a meeting thinking, 'What a waste of time that was! I could have done it myself in a fraction of the time.' No one can get everything done alone. We have to work with others. We should not need to negotiate with them to get them to work with us. Yet we cannot just tell most of them what to do or how to do it. People have different ideas and approaches. Collaboration is difficult. Lateral Leadership lays out the detailed strategies for working effectively and productively in a team, from the early stages of a project and the building of a common purpose. It also covers the unavoidable conflicts of multiple views and work styles, describing step by step how to build up the portfolio of leadership skills that will foster cooperation at any level and get results.

You never dreamed being the boss would be so hard. You're caught in a web of conflicting expectations from subordinates, your supervisor, peers, and customers. You're not alone. As Linda Hill and Kent Lineback reveal in Being the Boss, becoming an effective manager is a painful, difficult journey. It's trial and error, endless effort, and slowly acquired personal insight. Many managers never complete the journey. At best, they just learn to get by. At worst, they become terrible bosses. This new book explains how to avoid that fate, by mastering three imperatives: · Manage yourself: Learn that management isn't about getting things done yourself. It's about accomplishing things through others. · Manage a network: Understand how power and influence work in your organization and build a network of mutually beneficial relationships to navigate your company's complex political environment. · Manage a team: Forge a high-performing "we" out of all the "I"s who report to you. Packed with compelling stories and practical guidance, Being the Boss is an indispensable guide for not only first-time managers but all managers seeking to master the most daunting challenges of leadership.