You may have started out your leadership journey as the go-to person for the team. That works for a while, but it’s not sustainable, nor does it scale. In my team, I’m the leader of last resort. That’s not because I’m reluctant to lead or don’t know how to lead, but I’ve found that the best results come from empowered leaders closest to the issues. Let me provide a few examples to illustrate.

The Incident Manager of Last Resort

When a major system goes down, we have processes to run an incident management playbook, complete with duty managers, on-call protocols, and communication expectations. Sometimes, that doesn’t work as well as it should, and I get a call. That call could come from my boss, a business leader, or a peer in IT. Why do they call me? Well, because it’s my system that’s down and I’m the incident manager of last resort. When all else fails, I’m accountable for making sure the system comes back up.

I’m pretty good at incident management. I know what questions to ask to get teams unstuck. I remain calm. I know how to light a fire under technology vendors. I know how to run clear and timely communications. However, it’s best if I don’t. There are other people on my team that are responsible for this task. It’s quite unempowering for them when I swoop in and take over. I’ll do it if I must, but I try hard to stay out of it. It would be very unhealthy if I allowed my team to become dependent on me for that role. I’d rather teach and mentor than do.

The Project Manager of Last Resort

Have you ever been on a project that doesn’t have a Project Manager? I sure have. It’s not great. I also know exactly how it happens. Sometimes there are too many hoops to jump through to get a Project Manager assigned. Sometimes the Project Management Office is understaffed. Sometimes, the unofficial project doesn’t have enough budget to get a Project Manager.

The reasons are endless. The result is predictable: The leader at the top of the hierarchy becomes the Project Manager of last resort. I work with a lot of very talented IT leaders. Some of them can play the role of a Project Manager, but many cannot effectively. Even if they have the skills, they are often interrupted and distracted by all of their other managerial duties.

The Architect of Last Resort

This is one of my favorites. Many IT leaders, myself included, have a technical background. We used to be engineers and architects before we got into management. It can be very easy for leaders to slip into the role of making all of the final technical decisions for their teams. That’s not very healthy. As our people skills develop, our technical skills wane.

We need to engage the current experts, whose primary job is system design, to make technical decisions. Yes, it feels good, and helpful for IT leaders to get into the weeds from time to time (and it can even help us stay relevant), but we must defer the decisions to the experts.

I could go on, but you understand the idea now. Since managers are in an authoritative position, their teams often put them in the decision-making role for all sorts of things. Many people assume a default position of disempowerment until their manager explicitly empowers them with delegated authority.

People leaders wear all of the leadership hats unless they choose to empower others to perform specific roles. They are the “leader of last resort.” Like it or not, that’s just how it works.

I often have conversations with leaders that report to me, and other leaders whom I mentor.

I ask questions:

• “When your system went down, did you make full use of the incident management process and the on-call teams?”
• “I noticed you don’t have a Project Manager on this effort. Do you want to project manage it?”
• “Who from the architecture team is involved in this system design?”

Every single manager in my organization is extremely accountable. They are also driven to serve their teams with all of their expertise. This can create an imbalance where the team is too dependent on the manager and the manager becomes overworked. That, over time, creates bottlenecks, burnout, and performance problems.

The better way is for managers to delegate everything they possibly can to empowered leaders in a variety of specialty roles. I always tell leaders: Do what only you can do. If someone else can do it, then you must delegate it. This creates a development opportunity for them and capacity for you. It’s a double-win.

It’s natural for team members to defer up the hierarchy. It’s your job to not let them. Empowerment doesn’t come from a speech once per quarter. It needs to be demonstrated every single day.

I hope you’ve found this leadership lesson helpful. If you find yourself playing the “leader of last resort” game, share some examples in the comments below.

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