Over the past several days I have been reflecting on leadership; locally and nationally. I will start by saying that this may be a hot take, but I do not see people talk about this and it we should be talking about it.
There are many challenges that come with being a leader. Making tough decisions, navigating complex environments and relationships, and staying true to one's values. This list is not exhaustive, but you can see that leadership is not all that easy. What is not on the list, or any list that I am familiar with, is that a major challenge of leadership is recognizing when your leadership is done and it is time to step down or step back to allow for new leadership.
The problem, as I see it, is that leaders become more attached to the need for them to be the leader vs. why they actually stepped into leadership. Politicians become more concerned about their re-election over standing up for what's right. They will act against their own constituents in major ways, while trying to appease them in minor ways. Ultimately, they will sit back and watch horrors unfold and not do anything for fear it may anger the loud minority. Local leaders become more concerned with saving their nonprofit and their image and instead adopt a superhero mentality that they are the only ones with the only vision for solving community issues. Passion becomes purpose, but when left unchecked it becomes so infused with the leader that they can no longer see themselves as an agent for change, but rather THE agent for the change they want to see.
Leadership is hard. It requires tough decisions, political attune, and the ability to manage change, complex environments, and complex relationships, but once a leader gets to the preverbal "there", the hard part of leadership is maintaining one's own awareness of when it is time to let others lead.
Leaders- do not let yourself become so ingrain when your vision and mission that it becomes about your leadership more than the change you are working towards. Do not become so disconnected from the community you create an echo chamber that reinforces the work without challenging or critique the work. Finally, we must not sacrifice our communities for our own gain. While that goes without saying, when we do not remain critical of our own work and we unconsciously adopt this superhero mindset it is just a matter of time when we become more committed to working on maintaining our leadership than making the impact that called us to leadership.
Here are some hints that can help you avoid this.
1. Separate yourself from the work. While it is easy to to get lost in your passion do not let it consume you. Separation allows space for critical self-reflection and eventually envision a leader that is not you.
2. Value diverse perspective. Sure surrounding ourselves with like-minded people feels good, but often leaves us not fully challenging our work. Hear from people who are very critical of the work you are doing and try and learn from them. Avoiding that echo chamber requires having people who will give us the hard truth.
3. Measure your effectiveness. Leaders step up to change something, but it is easy to get lost in doing good work rather than making the difference that brought you to the work. Learn to effectively measure your effectiveness to know you are truly making the impact. Be willing to shift and change when what you see is not working.
4. Prepare for your departure. A common theme in social work is that we start with termination in mind. This helps prepare us to start thinking that a relationship with a client is not forever. Who are you mentoring and building up to take your place? What systems do you have in place that will let you know when it is time to step back and let others lead?
5. Hard decisions are a part of leadership. Stepping back and stepping down may be the hardest decisions you make as a leader, but make those decisions when the time comes.
