Whether or not they are successful at it, most leaders understand the importance of delegation and empowering of leaders. (I wrote previously about leading leaders and not followers. Read that post HERE.)
I talk to people in ministry and business frequently, however, who are led by insecure, controlling leaders.
It led me to write the following list. You could almost use this as a “checklist” of sorts to evaluate your leadership.
Here are 12 reasons you may want to reconsider calling yourself an empowering leader:
- Your number one answer is “NO”.
- You have to personally approve every decision and control every outcome.
- Everyone on your team works “for you” and not “with you”.
- You use the word “I” and “my” more than the word “we” or “our”.
- Your idea of delegation is telling people what, when and how to do something.
- You seldom ask your team “What do you think we should do?”.
- Nothing happens in the organization without your knowledge.
- You consistently reverse the decisions of people on the team.
- You think the great ideas are always yours.
- You control information knowing information is power.
- You get defensive if you hear about something after it has been implemented.
- You crush people when they make a mistake.
I would say if you are guilty of four or more of these on a regular basis — maybe even two or three — you might want to evaluate if you truly are an empowering leader.
(BTW, I’m reading over the list — and checking it twice — to find out if I’ve been naughty or nice!)
What else would you add to the list?
Join the discussion 2 Comments