A leader I work with wrote that they needed to provide clarity and order to their team. Clarity and order are two different things, I reminded him. As a leader, the one thing you cannot outsource is the vision (clarity). You must be clear on where we’re going and why. Others will either be attracted to that vision because it aligns with where they want to go, or repelled by it and likely depart. A win either way.
Order, on the other hand, can be outsourced. Some of this is dependent on how strong your team is. The stronger they get, the more you as the leader can empower them to take the reins and decide how to best get and keep the team moving in the direction of the vision.
My best years as a head coach were the ones with strong internal leadership. We were all aligned on the vision, and I actually had far LESS say (intentionally) in the day to day internal dealings of the team. They became far more internally-managed and internally-directed – the order came from them. No surprise that we reached new levels of success when they were the ones holding each other accountable and chomping at the bit for more.
BUILT TO LEAD 