Leadership Can Make More Leaders
A familiar picture of leadership has one person pointing the way and everyone else following. That may help when a quick decision is needed. It says little about whether the group is growing stronger.
A better question is what others become able to do. Can they judge a situation, raise concerns, and act without waiting for the person at the center?
Agreement alone is not alignment. People can accept a plan without understanding its purpose. They can share a purpose and still disagree about the next step. Useful alignment gives them a reason to think together and room to challenge each other.
That takes work: sharing the aim and constraints, making information available, inviting objections early, and giving others real decisions to make.
A leader may inspire trust and still leave a team dependent. The test is whether people become more capable of exercising responsibility, including the responsibility to question the leader. Leadership lasts beyond one person when others can carry the purpose, improve the plan, and help one another lead.