Stakeholders with Withheld Competence

In our discussions about leadership we easily fall into black and white assumptions. The leader leads. The team follows. When something goes wrong, we look up the chain.

But what if the failure was standing right next to the leader the whole time?

Early in the Fish Fry preparations I was working with a leader to finalize the last few items needed to complete carry-out line setup. I was following them as we were collectively running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Walking back into the cafeteria I stopped the leader, physically stopped them. Looked them in the eye and said: "Tell me what you need me to do and I will get it done. I'm here to help you."

There was a calming in their eyes as if a rock was lifted off of them.

We finished setting up for over 400 carry-out meals that night. There were no issues, we did not run out of supplies, the team knew what to do because we were prepared.

Sitting with my coffee this morning I thought about how differently that could have gone. Not because of the leader. Because of me.

I had knowledge. I had context. I had the ability to see what was needed. The question was whether I was willing to use it.

That is the conversation leadership training rarely has. We spend enormous energy teaching leaders to communicate, delegate, and inspire. We spend almost none teaching team members that they are stakeholders, not bystanders. A volunteer, an employee, or a crew member on the floor carries almost as much responsibility for the outcome as the person with the title. Their lack of contribution hurts the team as much as a leader who fails to share the plan.

Here is what makes this painful. In many cases the team member standing quietly in the back of the room is not clueless. They see the problem with the plan. They know the inventory is short. They recognize the method being described will not work. Their knowledge could make the difference between success and failure.

And they say nothing.

Not out of malice. Out of a misread of their own role. They are "just" a volunteer. "Just" an employee. "Just" a crew member. That word, just, is doing enormous damage. It gives people permission to withhold exactly what the team needs most.

Silence is not neutrality. A stakeholder who watches a plan fail when they had the knowledge to prevent it is not innocent. They are a contributor to the outcome, with or without a title.

The next time you are standing in the back of the room and you see something the leader does not, stop them. Look them in the eye. Tell them what you know.

That is not insubordination. That is what a stakeholder looks like.