Bridging the Gap Between the Front Line and the Front Office

Key points

The “F2F distance” means the gap in lived experience between front line operators and front office leaders.

Low F2F teams may have high trust and fast crisis response, but may have limited tools to work with.

High F2F teams may have a wide variety of skills to operate complex systems but can stall in crisis.

Leadership Distance. Source: Markus Spiske/Unsplash

What is your origin story as a leader, and how does it compare to the people working on the front line of your team?

Did you start off operating at the sharp edge of the field and work your way through different roles until joining senior leadership ? Or, did you enter the organization through a different path than the front line, picking up skills and experience from different fields and traditions before taking