We have written a number of articles on the value of teamwork and of including team members in the process of decision-making. We have also affirmed the wisdom of delegating key aspects of a project to the team for input.
That said, there are two things that a leader cannot delegate: Goals and Values.
The organization’s leadership must establish the goals for the enterprise; and then must communicate these goals to the team. Crowdsourcing, as it is popularly called these days, can be a tool for many aspects of functional leadership; yet not when it comes to setting goals.
Goal-setting remains the purview of leadership.
The same holds true for establishing the values of the organization. Values cannot be put up for grabs, even by members of the team. While I remain a strong advocate for teamwork and collaboration, when it comes to value clarification, leaders must…well… lead. (It actually causes me to cringe to even consider using the word “crowdsourcing” in the same sentence with the word “values.”)
Crowd-sourced values are not values at all;
at best they are current trends.
Both goals and values are the responsibility of Leadership. These two are not rightly found in a group-think category. There are simply very few times when leadership should not consider delegating endeavors. Yet when it comes to establishing goals and values, leadership must keep a steady and singular grip on the steering wheel.
PS – Thank you for the many kind words regarding last week’s announcement of my father’s passing. Interestingly, viewership of that email was 320% higher than any previous email sent from this keyboard on leadership. That rocks.
