Leadership is a Collective Team Skill – Why Do We Still Pin It on One Person?

The best leader right now might not be you.
I know, it hurts 🤕

For a century we built companies as if the title was the work. We picked one person, gave them the leadership hat and called it a day.

Who sets the vision?
Who determines the strategy?
Who weighs the trade-offs and makes the call?
Who steps in when conflicts with key stakeholders escalate?

Exactly, the person we picked. Or, depending on the business: the manager, the founder(s), the C-suite. They wear the leadership hat.

And then they log in to our first coaching session. Back-to-back since 8am, multiple Teams threads on fire, the slide deck only half-done, a team conflict simmering, a key customer just left an urgent message, and the new team member is still waiting for feedback.

The personal cost is obvious: stress, exhaustion, and an enormous amount of pressure.

But there's a wider loss: all the different backgrounds, perspectives, and ways of thinking on the team – simply unused. Decisions take ages, team members disengage slowly but steadily, team spirit goes down, bottom line as well.

So… what if everyone was invited to wear the hat?

• You are in constant communication with our customers? You know them best – decide how to approach complaints.
• You've been digging into the numbers without ever being asked to? Run the analysis and share your recommendations.
• You're the one who lights up whenever we talk about onboarding? We trust you to redesign the process.

Here, the team leads. They set the vision, determine the strategy, make the call, step in when the conflict escalates. Decisions get made where the work actually happens. Flexible and quick.

And the former leader? Can finally laser-focus on what matters to them and where they truly excel. And yes, that might still be a representing and facilitating role.

I believe leadership is a collective skill.

So let the hat be worn by whomever it fits best right now.

(And that might not be you.)