Leadership‿ in the workplace

My name‿ is Tina. I have led‿ a team‿ of six for two years,│ and‿ I have concluded that leadership‿ is largely the management‿ of‿ information‿ and‿ accountability,│ and‿ only incidentally the exercise‿ of‿ authority.

My firs(t) month was‿ a failure‿ of‿ a specific kind:│ I sought consensus‿ on‿ everything,│ which mean(t) that decisions were never taken│ an(d) nobody could be held‿ accountable for‿ anything,│ because‿ everything had nominally been‿ agreed by everybody. Charisma,│ which‿ is what we usually reward,│ is largely irrelevant;│ people follow a leader│ who is transparent‿ about the criteria far more readily than one│ who is‿ entertaining. Now I delegate‿ almost‿ everything‿ an(d) reserve the final call‿ on‿ a small number‿ of decisions,│ and‿ I say clearly│ which‿ is│ which.

The mos(t) difficul(t) part‿ is feedback,│ which requires‿ a nuance that‿ authority does not provide. I praise publicly an(d) correc(t) privately,│ and‿ I never‿ apportion blame‿ in front‿ of‿ others. When‿ I promoted the wrong person las(t) year,│ I explained the error to the whole team‿ an(d) changed the criteria,│ which did more for my credibility than‿ a speech could have. A leader│ who cannot be seen to be wrong will be surrounded by people│ who never take‿ an‿ initiative,│ and‿ a team that takes no initiatives‿ is merely a group‿ of people‿ awaiting‿ instructions.