360 Leadership: Leading From The Middle

Effective leadership is not confined to the top levels or titles of an organization. Employees at any level can exert influence and lead effectively by practicing principles tailored to managing their supervisors, peers, and front-line employees. This session will equip middle-level leaders with strategies to leverage their unique positions, demonstrating how to navigate challenges and maximize impact within their roles, thereby enhancing overall organizational performance through principled leadership.

• Understanding how to exert influence and lead from any position within an organization
• Mastering the art of leading up, down, and across effectively
• Developing strategies to navigate and leverage positional constraints
• Enhancing communication skills for cross-level engagement
• Cultivating a leadership mindset that fosters empowerment and accountability
• Implementing principles of adaptability and resilience in leadership practices.

• leading upwards by influencing superiors
• leading sideways by collaborating with peers
• leading downwards by mentoring subordinates
• Overcoming Common Leadership Challenges
• navigating organizational politics
• leveraging influence without relying on formal authority
• developing a leadership mindset
• developing the skills necessary for effective communication and relationship-building across all levels of an organization.

Leaders in the middle often feel stuck and therefore become disengaged within the organization. Middle managers often represent a significant portion of leadership within larger organizations, tasked with translating strategic goals into operational actions and directly influencing front-line employee engagement and productivity. This training is designed specifically for those leading from the middle.

Studies show that emotional intelligence declines as employees move up the organizational ladder, therefore CEOs often have less EQ than directors and managers. With that said, any employee would benefit, plus the fact your front-line employees may become those who lead from the middle. 

Todd Kuckkahn is on a mission to revolutionize company culture and leadership. Throughout his career, Todd has done countless presentations, workshops, and seminars at local, state, national, and international conferences. Todd annually hosts Live2Lead featuring John Maxwell and other internationally known leadership speakers.

Todd is passionate about sharing his experience and knowledge in communication, leadership, generations, personal growth, and company culture. He writes for numerous publications, including an international publication. Todd also co-hosts a podcast, Crushin’ Company Culture.

His passion for leadership and culture earned him an independent speaker, coach, teacher, and trainer certification (John C.) Maxwell Leadership. He is both DISC and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) certified. He has both a Bachelor's and a Master of Science in education.