Busy leaders gain leverage by empowering others. Delegating tasks to team members buys leaders time for more strategic activities.
Giving team members full ownership of projects develops their talents and allows leaders to attend to critical decision-making issues. Good leaders are effective delegators.
For senior leaders, delegation is a requirement.
Depending on others to take ownership of critical matters is the only way enough gets done. That’s why many leaders lean heavily on trusted lieutenants, chiefs of staff, and partners to carry projects and initiatives forward without much guidance.
A team of leaders operating independently but in coordination can accomplish great things together.
Delegating authority and control over critical tasks and initiatives allows trusted colleagues to deliver results for the leader and the team.
But how they represent this authority can make a world of difference in how others react and execute. Effective lieutenants and project leaders champion initiatives by performing the many functions of leadership.
They set goals, establish metrics, motivate performance, and hold others accountable. They encourage, comfort, prod, and lead by example. They inspire, share decisions, and build team camaraderie.
What they don’t do is act as a surrogate for the senior leader.
When lieutenants drive projects forward by speaking for the senior leader, using their name to create mandates and demanding execution by citing them, they can create a mess.
The credibility of the lieutenant and the senior leader can both take a big hit. Influencing via the authority of another leader creates resistance, distaste, and low engagement.
Framing decisions as coming from above and citing that authority to justify instructions can elevate compliance but diminish engagement. Lieutenants sometimes do it to suggest their directions are not optional because they come from a higher power.
Unfortunately, name-dropping the senior leader stifles candid discussion, innovation, and risk-taking. People quickly view the lieutenant as a puppet — a leader unworthy of respect.
In many cases, the senior leader has no idea this is how the lieutenant is choosing to lead.
It isn’t hard to find out.
Good senior leaders know leading under the banner of someone else’s authority doesn’t create buy-in or acceptance. It creates obedience. Effective execution suffers as a result. They don’t support such shenanigans.
Ironically, the more a leader cites authority, the less authority they actually have. The more a lieutenant leans on someone else’s authority to get things done, the less the team views them as a true leader.
Maybe that’s the worst outcome.
