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    UNAUTHORIZED PROGRESS-LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE: Stories & Proven Strategies for Making Meaningful Impacts
    UNAUTHORIZED PROGRESS-LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE: Stories & Proven Strategies for Making Meaningful Impacts
    UNAUTHORIZED PROGRESS-LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE: Stories & Proven Strategies for Making Meaningful Impacts
    Ebook205 pages2 hours

    UNAUTHORIZED PROGRESS-LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE: Stories & Proven Strategies for Making Meaningful Impacts

    By Geoff Abbott

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    About this ebook

    Are you unsure how to implement your good ideas? Do you struggle to put your suggestions into action, or feel stymied as to why your talented people don't share their best ideas?

     

    Unauthorized Progress reveals inspiring stories of ordinary heroes leading from the middle to achieve extraordinary results in the midst of serious crises … Hurricane Katrina, wildfires, operations in Afghanistan, and more. Adapt their strategies to increase your effectiveness.

     

    Inside you will discover:

    • A step-by-step flowchart for leading change from the middle
    • Criteria decision-makers use to evaluate initiatives
    • Implementation strategies for effectively leading from the middle
    • Consultant tools you can adapt for your personal initiatives

     

     "… no one has a corner on the market of good ideas. The superior leader encourages idea generation from the troops actually doing the work and rewards those who identify a better way to accomplish the mission."

    - James Loy, Admiral, former Coast Guard Commandant, TSA Administrator, and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security

     

    "… a template for action for those seeking to achieve success and make a difference at any level. …  will help you recognize opportunities to take charge even when you are not! ... This is a must-read book for anyone who truly desires to break out of the ordinary and become a transformational leader."

    - Donna Barbisch, Major General, U.S. Army (Retired)

     

    "…practical guidance, grounded in real-life experiences, and a step-by-step guide for leading from the middle. After all, 'we are all in the middle.'"

    • John Riordan, Senior Consultant, John Riordan Leadership & Organization Development

    Coach, Excellence in Government Fellows (1999-2019)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGeoff Abbott
    Release dateJun 18, 2020
    ISBN9781734730715
    UNAUTHORIZED PROGRESS-LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE: Stories & Proven Strategies for Making Meaningful Impacts
    Author

    Geoff Abbott

    Dr. Geoff Abbott is the senior faculty member at the Securities and Exchange Commission's College of Leadership Development (CLD), responsible for development, delivery, and oversight of SEC leadership programs. Prior to joining CLD, Geoff was a thirty-year career Coast Guard officer where he held two commands, led the Performance Excellence Program, chaired the Commandant's Innovation Council, and served as the first CG/DHS Fellow at the Homeland Security Institute. As an Excellence in Government (EIG) Senior Fellow, EIG co-coach and Partnership for Public Service Leadership Alumni Board member (seventeen years), he's led several workshops on leading change from the middle. Geoff holds a Doctorate in Business Administration, conducting research to improve organizational performance through innovation and empowering the workforce, earned two MIT engineering graduate degrees, and a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. A Professional Engineer, Geoff served as a national director of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and is a founding director of MIT's Military Alumni Association.

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      Book preview

      UNAUTHORIZED PROGRESS-LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE - Geoff Abbott

      PREFACE

      There’s a way to do it better—find it.

      ~ Thomas Edison

      Unauthorized Progress provides effective strategies and insights you can immediately use to successfully implement constructive change. These strategies and insights are illustrated through inspirational true stories of ordinary people initiating or influencing action to achieve extraordinary contributions. Each of us can influence productive change and effectively lead from the middle, e.g., beyond our formal authority. This book recognizes the potential of talented and motivated people to successfully lead at any level and make a significant difference to their organization, community, cause, or people they serve.

      We hear quite a bit about what’s wrong in the world and see too little action to find effective solutions. While political discussions focus on the extreme left or right, very few seem focused on the ‘extreme forward’ actions needed to overcome serious national and global challenges.

      Many people don’t know how to effectively propose ideas and often become frustrated with their organizations’ inability to capitalize on their great ideas. This book provides perceptive insights and proactive strategies to improve your ability to successfully innovate and ‘lead from the middle’ to produce constructive change.

      I first wrote about the challenges of leading from the middle as an Excellence in Government (EIG) Fellow while serving in the Coast Guard. EIG Fellows worked on projects to lead people, lead change, and get results for the American public. Many Fellows encountered challenges implementing projects where we didn’t control staff, resources, or policy. My sponsor, Rear Admiral Thad Allen (later Commandant serving Presidents Bush and Obama as the federal lead for Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill) wisely informed me, What you observe, what you learn—how people stall, derail or sidetrack improvement initiatives and changes to the status quo, and then successfully working around those obstacles to keep initiatives on track—will prove to be your most valuable lesson. I captured my experience in a white paper discussing challenges and strategies to exert influence and have impact when you aren’t in charge. A year later, the Council for Excellence in Government asked me to conduct Leading from the Middle workshops for the EIG Fellows based on my paper.

      Later, I practiced what I learned at an enterprise-wide level by chairing the Commandant’s newly formed Innovation Council. My job included encouraging people at all levels to voice their ideas, be proactive, and take initiative to improve their part of the organization. We established an Innovation Program that included an annual Expo, awards, scholarships, and a modest fund to pilot test the best ideas. The program started small. The first Innovation Expo was held in 2001 at the Coast Guard Academy but then expanded exponentially, growing seven-fold over the next three years. The Expo eventually attracted twenty-five hundred participants annually including from the Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies. Over twenty-eight nations sent representatives to the Expo to see cutting edge technology and learn the latest operational tactics, logistics systems, and personnel training. Innovation awards inspired people and recognized improvements as diverse as establishing an agency wide information portal and improving helicopter pilot simulation training. Another initiative involved partnering with an academic institution. Over seven hundred Coast Guard personnel earned master’s degrees and produced projects valued at over $500

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