The Difference Between Line And Staff Leadership

Managers today are constantly besieged by requests and demands from above their level. But just because someone is "above" you in the org chart doesn't mean they can easily task you and your team. Here's how to make that a little easier.

It's hard enough to get time to manage your team with all your responsibilities. To be honest, we don't think there's much respect for what front line managers and even senior managers have to do on a daily and weekly basis.

But there's also a misunderstanding among first- and second-level managers, and sometimes even for higher level managers, in terms of who really has the authority to direct them and task them. The fact is, the only leaders who can truly task you are those leaders who are in your direct chain of leadership.

Unfortunately, this doesn't stop staff leaders and executives from expecting swaths of lower-level managers from responding to their demands. But they're wrong - and front-line managers have much more room than they think to deprioritize those demands coming from staff functions.