When the Terrain Changes, So Should the Leader

Debbie Nicol, founder of ‘business en motion’, found on a recent trek in challenging terrain that multiple members of the group were needed to step into the leadership role.

OPINION PIECE

Debbie Nicol

10/3/20262 min read

Recently, a group of us spent a day out in the wilderness on a rugged 4WD drive.

There were steep drops. Hairy bends. Changing terrain. The occasional moment when you look at what lies ahead and quietly wonder whether the vehicle, or you, really should be going there.

Yet what struck me most wasn’t the terrain.

It was the leadership.

Not leadership in the traditional sense of one person being in charge and everyone else following. Leadership moved around us all day.

At one point, experience navigating a steep descent mattered most. Someone stepped forward, assessed the drop and helped the driver understand how to approach it safely.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?mibextid=wwXIfr&v=1397946462553719&rdid=d0rAMh46uG0suq9e

Later, different knowledge became important. Weather had changed the terrain, and someone else could read what those conditions meant for the journey ahead.

Then there are the mechanical moments. That unfamiliar sound. Something that doesn’t feel quite right. Suddenly, another person’s experience becomes invaluable.

And sometimes leadership looks far less impressive.

It is simply someone standing outside the vehicle, guiding the wheels around a difficult bend because the driver physically cannot see what they can see.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?mibextid=wwXIfr&v=2235715910618659&rdid=xWnqzYhKDaCGCflB

The moment calls for leadership, and somebody responds.

Nobody needs to formally hand over a title.

Nobody becomes less important because somebody else knows more in that particular moment.

Leadership simply moves to where it can make the greatest contribution.

Perhaps there is something in that for our organisations.

We spend enormous amounts of time developing individual leaders. We define leadership roles, responsibilities, competencies and reporting structures.

All necessary.

But what if we also became better at creating organisations where leadership could move?

Where people recognised when their attitude, knowledge or experience could improve an outcome, and felt both willing and able to step forward.

That requires more than technical expertise.

It requires people to be emotionally invested in a shared outcome. To notice what others need. To contribute without waiting to be asked. To challenge when necessary. To mobilise each other. And sometimes, to struggle together when conditions become difficult.

Perhaps most importantly, it requires interdependence.

I have something you need. You have something I need. Neither of us can create the same outcome alone.

That changes leadership.

It becomes less about who has the answer and more about whether enough leadership exists within the group to find one.

There is another side to this, of course.

For leadership to move, someone must also be willing to let it move.

A leader secure enough to say, ‘You can see something here that I can’t.’

A leader willing to follow someone else’s guidance when their knowledge is more relevant.

A leader who understands that allowing another person to step forward does not diminish their leadership. It may actually strengthen the leadership available to everyone.

The wilderness makes this wonderfully obvious because consequences can be immediate. Conditions change. Problems emerge. Visibility disappears. What worked an hour ago may no longer work now.

Organisations are not so different.

Markets change. Customers change. Technology changes. Strategies change. Unexpected problems appear.

And increasingly, no single leader can possibly see all the terrain ahead.

Perhaps that is why our next leadership question should not only be:

Who is leading?

Perhaps we should also be asking:

When the terrain changes, can leadership move with it?

Debbie Nicol, founder of ‘business en motion’, moves businesses and leaders ahead through change. ‘business en motion’ specializes in the arena of leadership, change and teams.

Debbie’s profile

linkedin.com/in/debbienicol