By Rev. Dr. Terence K. Leathers
The phone rings. Someone needs an answer.
A decision has to be made. Someone needs approval.
A problem comes up. Someone says, “Ask the leader.”
Being the person others depend on can feel like part of leadership. In many businesses, churches, and organizations, the leader knows the history, understands the people, and has earned their trust.
But what happens when almost everything eventually makes its way back to that one person?
The concern isn’t that people need their leader. The concern is whether the organization can function when the leader isn’t available.
Consider what happens when the leader takes a vacation, becomes ill, has a family emergency, or simply needs a day away. Do decisions stop? Are people waiting for answers? Does work begin piling up?
Those moments can reveal how responsibility and decision-making actually work within the organization.
A leader may have capable people around them who have never been given the information, authority, or preparation they need to handle certain responsibilities. In other situations, roles may have developed over time without anyone stopping to determine who should actually be responsible for what.
This isn’t necessarily about giving away leadership. It is about building an organization where leadership doesn’t require one person to carry everything.
People need to know what they are responsible for, what decisions they can make, and when something truly needs to come to the leader. Developing that kind of clarity can also create opportunities for other people to grow.
Take a look at what happens around you when a question, decision, or problem comes up. Notice how often the answer eventually becomes, “We need to ask the leader.”
If everything keeps coming back to one person, the next question may be worth considering:
What would need to be in place for the organization to keep moving when the leader isn’t in the room?
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