The Number One Reason Leaders Fail

[photo by Sabrina Campagna]

[Note: You can also listen to this post as a podcast.]

Rallying behind an inspirational leader is one of the most intensely thrilling experiences we can have in life. We yearn to follow, it’s in our DNA.

We want to be part of a team united behind a common cause, to feel our efforts are for the greater good and to pull alongside our friends and teammates.

Nothing is quite so uplifting or unifying as a strong leader and nothing is quite as disappointing as a failed one.

We’ve all been there too. When the organization disintegrates and followers are frantically trying to guess who everyone else is going to follow so they can get there first. We can feel the organization giving way like unstable ground beneath our feet.

Why does this happen? What causes successful leaders to suddenly fail?

Failure to delegate.

When leaders spend too much time on non-visionary tasks they lose the ability to lead their followers and the organizations fall apart.

This generally happens for one of three reasons:

1. The leader fears losing control

2. The leader doesn’t trust anyone else to do it right

3. The leader doesn’t want to burden anyone by asking them to help

Delegation

As the organization is growing it requires more management to keep things running smoothly and coordinate the efforts of the team. Yet many leaders are reluctant to let loose of the rains and allow others to manage.

These leaders soon become overloaded with management tasks and are unable to keep their vision fresh and vibrant. Their rallying cries become stale slogans and cliché sound bites.

In order to avoid this workload burnout, leaders need to delegate those tasks which do not deal directly with their central role of declaring a clear and inspiring vision to their followers.

Often this has the added benefit of bringing in someone more suited to the task of managing the organization. Most leaders think they’re good managers, and some are, but the best leaders are not the best managers.

When great leaders hire great managers both are more effective.

When leaders are able to decrease their workload they are more able to engage their followers, respond to their needs and spend the contemplative time necessary to keep their vision vital and new.

“The best leaders are not the best managers.”

When leaders focus on leadership the organization will experience renewed growth and those within the organization benefit from a recharged sense of purpose. As duties and responsibilities flow down to those in the lower ranks they will experience a sense of ownership in the team and a feeling of being needed.

When followers feel needed in an organization they develop stronger ties and are more likely to become vocal advocates. As unlikely as it sounds, studies have shown those who did a favor for someone else were more likely to feel positive feelings toward that person than toward someone who did them a favor.

Noted author Daniel Pink explains in his book Drive, people are motivated by the need to feel autonomous. When leaders delegate tasks to their followers they get a sense of autonomy.

So followers are more satisfied in organizations where leaders delegate tasks and leaders are more capable of leading in organizations where leaders delegate, so why doesn’t every leader do this?

The leader fears losing control

In some cases leaders are reluctant to delegate managerial functions because they fear their role will be diminished if they are not seen as ‘running’ the operation.

By maintaining all the higher level organizational functions leaders give themselves the trappings of authority. Like the king’s crown; it provides visible evidence they’re the person in charge.

The leader doesn’t trust anyone else to do it right

Leaders can also be blinded by their own abilities. Leaders are generally people who are driven to achieve and to set high standards for themselves. Because of this they are likely to see themselves as more capable than others of doing all the tasks in an organization.

In order for leaders to get out of the way and delegate more, they need to accept that the benefits of delegation are greater to the organization than any decrease in efficiency due to less proficient workers doing non-leadership tasks.

Cultivating a sense of what’s best for the organization will help leaders conquer their reluctance to let go of tasks they are capable of doing themselves but which should be delegated.

The leader doesn’t want to burden anyone by asking them to help

The final reason leaders may not want to delegate is their reluctance to burden their followers. This is in many ways the same as the first reason, just manifest differently.

In both cases leaders feel afraid of losing control of their organization but in the first case they feel their position is secured by exercising managerial control, or positional authority. In many ways this is a fear that people are not following because they share an ideal but because the leader is in charge.

When this feeling is manifest as leaders being afraid to burden their followers it is because they feel people are following out of convenience rather than out of commitment. These leaders are quick to point out the benefits of joining the organization rather than pointing to their vision statement.

When leaders feel followers are only self-interested, they don’t want to strain what they feel is a tenuous connection. In reality however, those ties would be strengthened by asking for followers to step up and participate.

While some followers will be lost, they are not the ones who were committed in the first place. In some instances leaders can even use delegation to cull the ranks of casual followers.

There are many skills a leader must develop in order to be effective; developing vision, connecting with people and inspiring followers. But once the organization begins to grow, the leader also needs to know how to delegate or the organization will collapse.