The Absence of Leadership

The Absence of leadership is often
felt by a company, but not recognized. I was recently talking with a
friend in a high up position with a national non-profit and she is
stuck in an environment that is demotivating, where everyone is playing
in their own sandbox and not interested in helping out the team unless
it advances their own career or reputation. We started discussing the
absence of leadership and how, often, the players in the system mostly
recognize the symptoms of a pained structure, as opposed to the core
issue, which is that bad leadership acts like a cancer that slowly
deteriorates and eventually destroys the organism.

Not understanding the root of the problem, people set out to put
band-aids on all of the wounds, hoping that a bit of neosporin and a
bandage will stop the bleeding. This kind of environment is a dangerous
one, where often the remedies attempted can sicken the structure,
worsen the disease, and kill the body more quickly.

This is where intentional followership is as important as strong
leadership. Followers who are intending to be leaders need to step up
to the plate and challenge the leadership. Often times the leader is
working in a vacuum, not recognizing the illness either and just
letting the organism get sicker and sicker. If more people in the
system were aware of the “bad leadership effect”, they might be
comfortable to step in, step up and be an active part of the solution.

My point here is that having the conversation of what the role of
other members is in the company is imperative. If they think that their
only job is related to their title, you probably won’t find them
stepping up any day soon to challenge the individual ini the leadership
role. But if they are frequently challenged to question and to fight
the fights they believe are worth fighting, the environment can truly
be healthy and strong.

Any creative entity (body, company, film, manuscript) is made up of
the what has most strongly been fought for on it’s behalf. If it is
only as good as the vision of the leader, it will inevitably be weaker
than it could potentially be if everyone in the system was fighting for
what was most important to them and challenging the leader to raise his
or her own game.