What does it look like when leaders don’t lead?
Nothing hurts an organization more than a leader who doesn’t lead. Where there is no vision, the people perish, says the Scripture, and where there is no action, the people pay the price. It’s not pretty
When leaders fail to lead, several things inexorably result:
No one knows where the organization is going. In fact, it probably won’t go anywhere but back, down, or over the edge. The lack of vision, a limited vision or an unclear vision generate uncertainty, insecurity, inefficiency, lack of productivity, diminished excellence.
The organization is adrift. You can see it in the unmowed grass and feel it in the organizational culture.
Key decisions remain undecided. Nobody pulls the trigger. Risk aversion reigns supreme.
The Board of the organization is becoming ossified. If a leader does not lead the Board of the organization is part of the problem. You are not holding the leader accountable and you are turning on yourself.
The budget is out of focus and therefore inefficient. Lack of resources. Staff care more about how they can protect what they have than how they can further the organization’s mission.
The staff lack incentives and responsibility. Nobody is energizing them, advising or monitoring, rewarding them.
The best and brightest personal license. People with talent and initiative want to follow people with the same. They want to go and grow, not muddle through.
The organization’s assets eroded. Income inevitably declines. Endowments and assets are attached. Operating deficits and accumulated operating debt increase.
Power bases develop among staff. Nature abhors a vacuum, they say, and this maxim is proven once more. When leaders don’t lead, someone else tries to lead, however reckless. “Camps” take place within the organization. People don’t come together; they separate.
When leaders don’t lead, the organization becomes one of the walking dead. It certainly isn’t thriving and over time is barely surviving.
Leaders who do not lead, for whatever reasons, are still responsible and must be held accountable. It sounds harsh, but the stakes are too high. Leaders need to lead, follow, or get out of the way.
