How do I lead a team of clinicians while stuck between them and administration?

You lead the APP team now, and you are caught in the middle. Administration pushes from above, your clinicians pull from below, and you are still fighting for the autonomy you spent years earning. It is a lonely spot, trusted by no side entirely, answerable to all of them. The middle is not a weakness; it is a position of quiet power. You are the translator between people who do not speak each other's language. When you protect your clinicians from administration's worst demands, and help administration see what care really costs, you are doing work no one else can. That is leadership, even when it feels like being squeezed. Do not fight every battle. Choose the ones that protect your people and your practice's independence, and let the small ones go. And find one peer, another lead, who knows this exact loneliness. You were not built to carry the middle alone.