Empowering from the Top, Managing from the Middle: Building a Culture of Shared Leadership

Healthy organizations thrive when leadership is not concentrated at the top but shared across all levels. Senior leaders set the tone through vision, trust, and empowerment. Middle leaders bring that vision to life by connecting strategy to practice, fostering collaboration, and guiding teams through change. Together, these roles create an environment where innovation and resilience flourish.

But alignment between the top and the middle doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intentional structures, cultural trust, and an openness to inquiry. One of the most powerful approaches for bridging these layers of leadership is Appreciative Inquiry—a method that shifts the conversation from “what’s broken” to “what’s possible.”

Empowering from the Top

Leaders at the top hold structural power and symbolic influence. Their actions either reinforce trust or breed skepticism. Empowerment from the top means more than delegating tasks—it means modeling transparency, creating structures that promote agility, and cultivating a culture where expertise is valued.

How leaders empower from the top:

• Invite broad participation. Build inclusive processes for strategic planning and decision-making.

• Model openness. Use open-door policies and regular forums for feedback.

• Trust expertise. Acknowledge that no single leader has all the answers and affirm the credibility of directors and managers.

• Remove barriers. Focus less on micromanaging and more on enabling others to succeed.

At its best, empowerment from the top creates conditions where middle leaders feel trusted to act with vision and initiative.

Managing from the Middle

Middle leaders—such as directors, coordinators, or department heads—often serve as translators between strategy and practice. Their work requires agility: supporting institutional goals while also advocating for the needs of their teams. Managing from the middle is about influence, not just authority.

How middle leaders thrive:

• Align with mission. Connect everyday projects to the larger organizational purpose.

• Communicate across levels. Ensure clarity flows both upward (to senior leaders) and downward (to staff).

• Build micro-cultures of trust. Even in environments where blame or negativity surface, middle leaders can model positivity, professionalism, and accountability.

• Practice resilience. Adapt when structures shift and keep teams focused on what can be controlled.

The Role of Appreciative Inquiry

Too often, leadership conversations fixate on what’s wrong. Appreciative Inquiry offers a different approach: focus on strengths, build on what works, and co-create a vision for what could be. For both top and middle leaders, this framework helps move teams out of cycles of blame and into cultures of possibility.

Practical Appreciative Inquiry questions:

• What do we value most about how we work together?

• When have we been at our best, and what made it possible?

• What practices should we carry forward as we plan for the future?

• What new opportunities excite us most right now?

By centering conversations on strengths and shared aspirations, leaders at all levels can shift the organizational narrative away from criticism and toward constructive change.

CALM + Appreciative Inquiry

The CALM framework (Communication, Adaptability, Learning, Management) complements Appreciative Inquiry by offering practical ways to embed positivity into everyday leadership:

• Communication: Transparent, two-way dialogue reinforces a culture of trust.

• Adaptability: Focusing on what can be done now creates momentum, not paralysis.

• Learning: Reflecting on past successes through Appreciative Inquiry fuels growth.

• Management: Empowering teams while modeling accountability ensures stability.

Together, CALM and Appreciative Inquiry provide both the mindset and the method for building resilient, inclusive organizations.

Final Thought

Empowering from the top and managing from the middle are two sides of the same coin. Senior leaders create the conditions for success; middle leaders bring those conditions to life through daily practice. Both are strengthened by a culture that values inquiry, celebrates strengths, and builds on what works.

Blame looks backward. Empowerment looks forward. When leaders at every level practice Appreciative Inquiry and commit to CALM, they create organizations where people feel trusted, capable, and ready to shape the future together.