On Leadership and Self-Directed Teams
The point I was trying to make is that even in situations where self-directed teams are desired, leadership MUST exist somewhere in the organization to make them work.
Think of it like a garden. For my garden to flourish in a way that pleases me, I can’t simply let it do what it likes, in the guise of abdicating leadership, no matter how I change my label, or envision my role.
I can call myself “garden servant” but the flowers, and the weeds, don’t care. There is a garden reality that requires me to lead that garden so that it doesn’t become over-run by weeds. The responsibility can NOT BE ABDICATED, or everyone loses.
The same thing applies to teaching in classrooms, by the way. I’ve seen situations where, in continuing ed. classes, the professors were so adamant in their refusal to take any leadership responsibility, under the guise of some philisophical BS, that they relied on the students to “teach each other”.
Sadly, the outcome (and I have a particular instance in mind), was that almost no learning occurred over a complete year, and the students were almost universally disappointed, and in fact angry. Many simply stopped attending, realizing there was nothing there for them in terms of learning, and just did what they needed to do to get their credit.
Three choices: leaders lead. Leaders refuse to lead, and chaos, resentment and failure result, or leaders who do not want to lead step aside, hopefully to be replaced by someone who wants to lead.
BTW, effective leadership, IMHO, results in LESS need to manage and micromanage.