Identifying our agency

The first step in the ‘Leading from the Middle’ playbook

Hi Reader

Ever hear the question “But what can we do”?

The first step in Leading from the Middle gives mid-level leaders two quick reflection exercises to help take action when we face organisational challenges.

In the last post I introduced the Leading from the Middle playbook. In this post, we take a look at Step 1: Identifying our agency:

1. WHY it matters
2. HOW we do it, and
3. Some of the methods or CARDS we can play

And to make sense of it, we’ll unpack it with an example scenario.

The challenge of “incomplete” decisions

Leading from the middle describes the unique position of leaders who hold a level of authority yet operate within a reporting structure in which tactical decisions are made beyond their purview.

The primary difficulty is that these decisions often arrive ‘incomplete’. Because strategic objectives are frequently disconnected from ‘business as usual’, they often lack necessary context, and can unintentionally introduce systemic risk or damage organisational capabilities.

They show up as things like:

• a sudden shift in product priority forcing teams to abandon current work,
• a mandate to ignore risky dependencies in favour of innovation speed, or
• a pattern of splitting team members’ focus under time pressure

Trusting the intention

The intended benefit - to gain an advantage or avert a crisis - is often overshadowed by the harmful effect, leaving mid-level leaders feeling trapped in a false dichotomy. They can either ‘push back’ - which can harm relationships and delay progress - or ‘take it to the team’ - which often results in the team feeling unsupported.

Instead, leading from the middle requires trusting the intention behind a decision while exploring the context deeply enough to fill in the gaps.

The transformative potential comes from mid-level leaders’ unique vantage point, bridging high-level strategic objectives with practical implementation details, to navigate a better path.

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Stepping into leadership

The first step in the playbook is: identifying our agency: where and how everyone involved can act, to be most effective.

1. Identify our agency

Establish which decisions we can control and influence in the challenge, and how we can respond when we can’t do either.

WHY?

This step answers the question “what can we do” in a tricky scenario, bringing clarity about the decision context.

HOW?

We start by exploring which parts of the organisation the decision touches, then what kind of agency we have in each area.

CARDS TO PLAY

Decision context & Circles of Control

CARD 1: WHERE we can act - Decision context

The value stream is the ‘course’ that work flows through to reach the customer, from strategy to product delivery and customer feedback.

While each product value stream is fairly unique, the factors influencing decisions tend to be relatively constant within each organisation. These range from broad strategic vision to detailed implementation requirements, all having some influence on the steps we can take.

A quick map of the decision context helps us to identify the decision flow - and also prepares us to map the challenge impact in step 2.

Card 1 IN PRACTICE

To get a real feel for identifying our agency, let’s look at the example of:

The organisational factors affecting the decision might be:

Positioning (we’re changing direction), Customer happiness (new needs), governance (new compliance requirements), profitability (going up or down), technology (purpose fit or limitations), and innovation (new possibilities).

! Note: These factors will vary for each organisation and every decision. If you apply the example to your own value stream, you will see something different, so it’s definitely worth mapping out.

CARD 2: HOW we can act - Circles of Control

Once we have a view of the impacted areas, it’s easier to focus on what we can control and influence in the challenge, and how we can respond when we can’t do either.

This simple concentric-circle format is best done with people from a few of the factors you’ve identified.

As a group, you can explore which areas you can:

• Control directly (inner circle): things that at least one person can do, without needing permission. Best to also make a note of who you would need to inform.
• Influence (middle circle): things at least one person has the social capital to influence: add information or context that can unblock decisions, or change how the challenge is viewed.
• Monitor and respond (outer circle): things you don’t have control over, and how you can respond that can change the impact on the team.

Card 2 IN PRACTICE

In our example:

Depending on who participates, we may have something like:

• Things we can control:
  ​Experiment with new tech | Clarify the new direction | Explore cost reductions
• Things we could influence:
  Next steps: Highlight impact, risk & potential opportunities | Propose alternative options | Highlight resource / skill gaps
• Things we can’t control, but can respond in a way that empowers us: ​
  New technology | Regulatory changes | Regulatory deadlines | Loss of investment in cancelled work | Stakeholder sentiment

A note that as you start this exercise, the circles may seem empty for a while, but they usually fill up as the discussion flows. Adding detail on who to speak to and how to respond creates a rich view of the challenge context.

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Getting to decision impact

After two quick exercises, all participants now have good insight into the factors involved in the decision and what they can do to shape the outcome. The process also provides an initial list of people we could request assistance from, and even who we can offer it to ourselves.

Now, instead of simply yielding, we have an empowered outlook on the decision landscape.

What we don’t yet have is a solid grasp of the potential impact. To get there, our next step is Visualising the challenge context, which I’ll cover in the next post.

The Leading from the Middle playbook has four concrete steps, with space for a number of methods or ‘cards we can play’ in each section, utilizing a variety of skillsets.
Which approaches do you use for identifying your agency?

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