186 | When You Feel Stuck Between Your Team and Senior Leaders

Links Mentioned in This Episode 🎂 My Birthday 24-Hour Flash Sale — Friday, 23 October 2026 For one day only, get both the Imposter Syndrome Blueprint and the Confident Conversations Blueprint at a discounted price! Explore My Birthday Flash Sale Join My Email List to receive updates before the sale. Being in middle leadership can sometimes feel like you're standing between two completely different worlds. Your team is looking to you to hear their concerns, advocate for them and explain decisions they may not agree with. At the same time, senior leaders expect you to implement organisational decisions, including decisions you may not have made or even fully agree with yourself. And somewhere in the middle, you can end up trying to keep everyone happy. In this episode, we're talking about how to navigate that tension without becoming the emotional shock absorber between your team and senior leadership. I'll walk you through four practical strategies to help you advocate wisely, communicate upwards, support your team without undermining senior leaders, and recognise what is, and isn't, yours to carry. Because being a good leader doesn't mean keeping everyone happy. It means leading with integrity. In This Episode we talk about: How to listen to your team without automatically taking their side The difference between empathy and agreement How to turn your team's frustration into constructive advocacy Why raising a concern with senior leadership isn't the same as complaining How to speak up respectfully when you disagree with a decision What to do when you've advocated for your team and the answer is still no How to communicate decisions clearly, even when you didn't make them Why you should promise your actions, not outcomes you can't control How to stop carrying responsibility for everyone else's emotions What Galatians 6 teaches us about supporting others without carrying what doesn't belong to us A Leadership Truth to Take Into Your Week When you're caught between your team and senior leadership, you don't necessarily need to choose a side. You need to choose integrity. You can listen to your team without joining in with criticism. You can respectfully question a decision without undermining authority. You can advocate without complaining. And you can faithfully implement a lawful and ethical decision, even when it isn't the decision you personally would have made. Your responsibility is to steward the influence and authority God has entrusted to you, not to control every outcome. 🎂 It's My Birthday Week — And I've Got Something for You This Friday, 23 October, is my birthday. And to celebrate, I'm doing something special for the female Christian leaders in this community. For 24 hours only, I'm bringing together two of my resources: The Imposter Syndrome Blueprint For those moments when you're questioning your abilities, doubting whether you belong in your leadership position or struggling to recognise the value you bring. The Confident Conversations Blueprint For those moments when you need to address a difficult situation, speak up, set a boundary, give feedback or communicate something you know might not be well received. I think these two resources work particularly well together because confidence in leadership involves both what happens internally and how we communicate externally. And that's especially relevant when you're leading between your team and senior leadership. You need to recognise that your voice matters, and you need to k