With great autonomy comes great responsibility….
Did that get your spidey design senses tingling? …..read on
The Ladder of Leadership …. yep its an ACTUAL ladder. I am pretty into
L. David Marquet ATM, no not the Scream actor and ex of Courtney Cox, the author of “turn the Ship Around” and “leadership is a Language… he also created the “Ladder of Leadership,”
In basics you start on the lowest rung with the “Tell me what to do” attitude as a team member to a leader, and evolves into the level of “I’ve been doing,” where team member(s) act with initiative and ownership. However be mindful the ladder isn’t just about the team member stepping up — it’s about the leader develop and grow too. The team member cannot be on rung 5 if the leaders is lagging behind on rung 3.
As Marquet says, “People who are treated as followers act like followers. As followers, they temper their decision-making, initiative, and ownership. They have little incentive to give the utmost of their intellect, energy, and passion. Then we blame them for a state we’ve created.”
Leaders need to climb with their team, shifting from “I tell you what to do” to asking “What have you been doing?” This evolution requires creating structure, vision, and clear boundaries. Psychological safety is one key — if you’re asking people to take risks, they need to know where the edges are and that you’ve got their back, they need to see you taking risks and being brave/vulnerable to, if you do not, why should they?.
For team members, with great autonomy comes great responsibility. This Spiderman/ Audree Fletcher mash up quote comes from Audree’s great blogpost ‘Permission, forgiveness and workplace adulting’, I will add in the comments. The team member needs to make considered risks. Decisions can’t be made lightly with an expectation that the leader will step in and clean up the aftermath. It’s a mutual journey these fine folks are on.
Swinging the other way, in my experience, not everyone will climb this ladder at the same pace. Some have org/design maturity on their side, while others may be more comfortable with risk. Some may carry baggage from past work experiences, bad leadership, the ‘confidence gap’, or systemic factors that leaders can help bridge, many things may slow some peoples their ascent, understanding the why, patience and empathy can unlock those levels tho. Different team members will need different levels of support — but with the right leadership, everyone should and could make it to the top.
Finishing on a word of warning inspired by an NHS article, that bottom rung “tell me what to do” absolves people of responsibility as well, its easy for some to do something malevolent and shirk off your values if … well it was a command? It wasn’t me I had no choice. I was just obeying orders! As the article says “Relying upon a benevolent leader isn’t the answer — the answer is to get everyone thinking and everyone taking responsibility for their behaviour and actions.”
Audree Fletcher ace post — https://www.audreefletcher.co.uk/blog/2024/4/28/seeking-forgiveness
Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Building Leaders by Breaking the Rules
Leadership Is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say and What You Don’t
