“There are many leaders, not just one. Leadership is distributed. It resides not solely in the individual at the top, but in every person at every level who, in one way or another, acts as a leader to a group of followers — wherever in the organization that person is, whether shop steward, team head, or CEO,” writes Daniel Goleman. A key responsibility of effective leaders is to spread out the leadership responsibilities and allow others to support the larger vision. Here are six steps to distributing leadership for success:
- Identify Strengths: Leaders who effectively distribute leadership for success identify the strengths of each person on the team. Through personality evaluations, observations, and discussions, leaders fully understand who is capable of performing certain tasks with great success. How do you evaluate strengths prior to distributing leadership?
- Outline Responsibilities: Leaders who effectively distribute leadership develop specific responsibilities for each role. The responsibilities and duties are written out and clearly communicated to those individuals. At times, those responsibilities may shift and change as necessary, but it’s always detailed and specific. How clearly do you outline the responsibilities?
- Develop Commitment: Leaders who effectively distribute leadership create urgency and commitment around each person’s role. Through effective communication, leaders help others see the importance of their role and how it impacts the larger organization. Outlining the impact allows others to feel a deeper commitment to their work. How effectively do you create commitment around the role?
- Create Accountability: Leaders who effectively distribute leadership utilize accountability to ensure each person performs effectively. Accountability means meeting individually and as a group to discuss the progress of certain initiatives. The leader must know where each person is at and communicate clearly if someone falls below the standard. How effectively do you create accountability around specific roles?
- Track Progress: Leaders who effectively distribute leadership track the progress connected to each role and person. The leader outlines key metrics in each person’s duty and tracks those on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and/or yearly basis. Tracking specific metrics holds others accountable for meeting and exceeding expectations. What metrics do you track in order to ensure progress and accountability?
- Celebrate Success: Leaders who effectively distribute leadership celebrate the success of others. Distributing leadership means letting go of control, but it also means praising others for their efforts. People will rise to the challenge and perform. When those results happen, then it’s critical to celebrate those people and their efforts. How do you celebrate success when others achieve the results?
High-performing leaders create a system for distributing leadership to achieve results. They know that trying to perform every task individually doesn’t lead to sustained excellence. Great leaders focus on setting clear roles for members of the team while also developing a system to organize their work.
What is your system for distributing leadership for success?