Leadership is the act of turning intent into progress – reading the situation, shaping a plan, and guiding it through the bumps.
Last quarter, a client’s support team watched NPS drop as late deliveries piled up. Policy said two managers must approve delivery overtime – well-intentioned, but slow. A team lead took it upon themselves to review the situation and came up with an idea: If late deliveries exceed an agreed threshold, allow the team lead to approve up to 2 hours of overtime per week; more than 2 hours still require 2 approvals. Log all cases and review weekly. Four weeks later, NPS scores had returned to normal levels as late deliveries reduced by 28%. That’s leadership moved closer to the work.
The best-performing teams don’t wait for titles; they build this kind of leadership into everyone’s daily work – people who can read situations, act with confidence, and know when to ask for help. That needs structure, mentoring, and an environment that encourages learning through mistakes.
Three essentials:
1) Make “what good looks like” obvious.
In our example, stop late deliveries piling up (keep below a daily threshold) so NPS stays stable (maintain earlier levels or improve) and reduces the number of escalations to management.
2) Define the decision space.
Spell out who can decide what: The team lead can now approve up to 2hrs of overtime per week when the late delivery threshold is exceeded; more than 2hrs needs to be escalated to management. Maintain logs and review weekly with finance.
3) Shorten the loop.
Run small, time-boxed changes and review results quickly: “We enabled the 2h overtime rule for 4 weeks: late deliveries fell 28% and NPS returned to normal. Recommend to keep going and review results again next month.” That’s lower decision latency and learning while the context is fresh.
You’ll know it’s working when questions shift to actions – “What should we do?” becomes “We have done this, and here is the result”.
Try this next week:
For the next week, hand-off one approval you own – something someone closer to the work can decide. Write a one-line rule, add a quick review, and share with the team. Stay available to mentor, but don’t grab the wheel back. Finally, highlight a story of leadership far from a title – people copy what you celebrate.
Bottom line: Poor leaders hoard decisions; Great leaders build environments and encourage the development of leaders at every level and in every department. Start small, mentor through the stretch, then widen scope as trust grows.
How Oak Mountain can help: We help leaders create environments that nurture future leaders – by mapping decision rights, running low risk experiments, and coaching managers to mentor effectively in order to build team confidence.
Where have you seen leadership appear far from the org chart and what unlocked it?