When leaders don't show up

What symptoms do you see when leaders don’t use their authority and influence the way a team needs?

More than a decade ago, an engineer from another organization on a big, cross-functional team stood in my office and said “Leaders have to lead.” I was one of multiple team leaders supporting a large project and as the engineer commented on unclear priorities, poor teamwork and other concerns, he repeated “Leaders have to lead.”

While I was proud of the ways my team was showing up, the larger cross-functional issues were holding the project back. I started to look at what the overall project team needed and how I could show up for everyone, not just my team.

After some reflection, I started showing up differently.

I was more assertive around priorities, ways of working and inter-team dynamics.

I pushed to make a tough design decision that was overdue.

When leaders with authority are passive, quiet or indecisive, they create or allow conditions where people struggle.