The Case for Ubiquitous Leadership

(From Forbes) -- Do you work in an environment that fosters leadership at every level, or just at the top of the org chart? You can either chasten people for attempting to lead, or encourage them to take risks, to explore opportunities, and to make decisions.  If you want to create a culture of leadership, you must succeed in creating leadership ubiquity.

I’ve written often on the value of creating a culture of leadership, yet I continue to be amazed at how many organizations simply fail to understand the impossibility of creating such a culture when people are consistently told they’re not leaders. Organizations built on the backs of weak dependent followers aren’t nearly as vibrant or sustainable as those designed through the collaborative efforts of strong independent leaders.

If you take one thing away from today’s column let it be this: leadership that isn’t transferrable, repeatable, scalable, and sustainable isn’t really leadership at all. Not everyone can be the CEO, but everyone can lead.

When in doubt, think ubiquity not scarcity. Leadership isn’t, or at least shouldn’t be, a scarce commodity. Far too many companies wrongly treat leadership as an esoteric role reserved for a privileged few.  However healthy organizations realize leadership must be a ubiquitous quality that pervades every aspect of day-to-day operations. They understand every person must lead; even if people are only responsible for leading themselves, they must lead.

The problem with what I’ve espoused thus far is found in the reality of how society has changed our perception of leadership through the years. The devolution of leadership as a practice has occurred as a result of two primary items: 1.) The abdication of personal responsibility and accountability by many in the workforce, and; 2.) The hijacking of authority and control by those who value self-promotion and power over real leadership.

Read more.