Jun 9 / Natalie Savery

5 Signs Your Organisation Has a Leadership Problem (and What You Can Do About It)

When people hear the phrase "leadership problem", they might picture many different versions of the ‘bad’ leader.

You know the type. The leader whose ego makes the decisions. The one who's completely disconnected from what's happening on the ground. The micromanager. The leader who demands everything right now. Or perhaps the one who disappears when things get difficult.

Sound familiar?

While these leaders certainly exist, they're not actually the leadership problem we encounter most often.

In fact, many organisations are led by talented, committed people who genuinely want the best for their teams. Yet they still struggle with engagement, accountability, decision-making, performance or change.

Let’s face it, many leaders are under enormous pressure. They are expected to have the answers, make the decisions, solve the problems, drive performance, manage change and support wellbeing, often all at once. It's easy to fall into the trap of believing that good leaders should know everything, fix everything and carry everything. Society often reinforces this idea.

We celebrate the heroic leader. The visionary. The person who saves the day.

But in reality, that approach can create dependency, bottlenecks and burnout. It can unintentionally discourage others from stepping forward, taking ownership and developing their own leadership capability.

The most effective leaders we've worked with don't try to be everything to everyone. Instead, they focus on creating clarity, building trust, developing capability and creating the conditions for others to do their best work. In other words, they don't just lead. They enable leadership.

With that in mind, here are five signs your organisation may have a leadership problem… and what you can do about it.


1. People wait for leaders to lead

Have you ever found yourself wondering why people don't take more ownership? Why they don't make decisions, solve problems or take the initiative?

It's easy to assume people lack capability or motivation.
But most people want to do a good job. Most want autonomy, responsibility and the opportunity to contribute. So why do they wait?

Perhaps every decision has historically been made by someone more senior. Perhaps mistakes have been criticised rather than treated as learning opportunities. Perhaps people have become accustomed to seeking permission before taking action.

One of the simplest tests of this is to ask: What happens when the leader leaves the room?
Do people continue to collaborate, solve problems and make progress? Or does everything pause until someone more senior returns?

When leadership becomes too closely linked to position and authority, people stop stepping forward. They defer decisions. They avoid responsibility. They wait for someone else to solve the problem. The result? Slower decision-making, bottlenecks, frustrated leaders and missed opportunities.

Organisations move too quickly and face too much complexity to rely on a handful of leaders to drive everything. If we want agility, innovation and accountability, we need to create environments where people feel trusted, supported and empowered to act. Leadership needs to be something people do, not simply a role they hold.

2. Managers are expected to lead but aren't supported to develop

We've all heard the statistic – around 82% of managers have received little or no formal management training (CMI, 2023).
Despite this being well known for many years, not enough has changed. Many managers are promoted because they're good at their job, not because they've been prepared to lead people.

When we don't give managers and leaders the support and development they need, they often fall back on their own experiences or what they think good leadership looks like. Sometimes that's enough. But if they've only experienced poor leadership, that's often what gets passed on.

Micromanagement instead of trust. Control instead of empowerment. Avoidance instead of accountability. Assumptions instead of communication.

Most people don't set out to be poor leaders. They're simply doing the best they can with the tools they have. The problem is that the cycle continues. Today's unsupported manager becomes tomorrow's leader, who then shapes the experiences and expectations of the next generation.

If we want better leadership, we need to stop hoping people will figure it out for themselves and start investing in their development.

3. People bury their heads in the sand

Problems rarely get smaller when they're ignored. Whether it's a performance issue, a difficult conversation, a failing project, conflict between colleagues or a poor decision, some organisations develop a habit of waiting. 
Waiting for someone else to deal with it. Waiting for the problem to go away. Waiting for the "right time".

Unfortunately, the right time rarely arrives, and waiting just makes the problem bigger and harder to deal with. Small problems become bigger problems. Frustrations grow. Relationships suffer. Performance declines.

At its heart, leadership is about taking responsibility for what needs to be addressed, even when it's uncomfortable.

If we want healthier organisations, we need to create cultures where people feel able to raise concerns, challenge respectfully and tackle issues before they become crises.

4. Everything depends on a handful of people

Most organisations have them. The people who know everything. The people everyone goes to for answers. The people who keep things moving.

In fact, I was once one of those people– and honestly, it felt great. 
It was wonderful to feel valuable, needed, even indispensable. As if the organisation might come apart at the seams if I wasn't around.

But there was another side to it. It was exhausting.

I felt I needed to have all the answers. I felt I wasn't allowed to make mistakes. I carried problems that should have been shared, and I put pressure on myself to be the person who could always step in and save the day.

And where were my colleagues in all of this?

The truth is, I had encouraged them to leave me to it. I'd kept up the façade that I didn't need help. I hadn't developed people as much as I should have. I hoarded knowledge without realising it and became a bottleneck.

When I left, I received phone calls for months asking where things were, how things worked and who was responsible for what. That wasn't a sign of success. It was a sign that I'd failed to build enough capability around me.

When too much knowledge, influence or decision-making sits with a small group of people, bottlenecks emerge. Work slows down. Leaders become overwhelmed. Others become dependent. What often starts as helpful leadership can unintentionally create a culture of reliance.

If we want organisations to be resilient, we need to focus less on creating heroes and more on building capability across the whole organisation.

5. Change initiatives struggle to gain traction

Most organisations aren't short of ideas. They have strategies, transformation programmes, improvement plans and change initiatives. Yet despite good intentions and significant investment, many fail to deliver the outcomes people hoped for.
When this happens repeatedly, it's tempting to blame the change itself or label people as resistant, difficult or stuck in their ways.

But in our experience, people rarely resist change for the sake of it.

What they often resist is confusion, uncertainty and feeling like change is being done to them rather than with them.

Successful change relies on more than a good plan. It requires leadership at every level. People who can communicate clearly, answer questions, build confidence, role model new behaviours and help others navigate uncertainty.

When leadership is concentrated in a handful of people, change becomes fragile. Messages become diluted, engagement drops and momentum fades.

If we want organisations that can adapt and thrive, we need to build leadership capability throughout the organisation, not just at the top.

What can you do about it?

If you recognised some of these signs, don't panic. Many organisations experience them at some point.

The good news is that leadership capability can be developed, and this can help to solve the leadership problems you are facing.

And when it is, many of these challenges become easier to navigate, and in some cases, disappear altogether.

1. Invest in managers and leaders

Because leadership capability doesn't grow in isolation. It grows when people have opportunities to think, learn, communicate and adapt together.

Don't assume people will figure leadership out for themselves. 
Many managers are promoted because they're technically competent, yet they're suddenly expected to manage performance, navigate conflict, coach others, communicate effectively and lead through change.

Provide structured development that focuses on practical leadership skills, not just theory. Give people opportunities to explore real challenges, learn from others and build confidence in a safe environment.

Leadership and management programmes are a great starting point, but attending a course alone rarely creates lasting change. The real difference comes when people have opportunities to practise, reflect, receive feedback and apply what they've learned in the reality of their day-to-day work.

That's why the most effective leadership development combines learning with coaching, reflection, action learning, peer support and real-world application.

2. Create opportunities for people to practise leadership

Leadership isn't reserved for people with leadership titles. Everyone in an organisation has the potential to demonstrate leadership within their own role, responsibilities and sphere of influence. 
To help enable this, we need to create opportunities for people to lead projects, facilitate meetings, solve problems, contribute ideas and take ownership of improvement initiatives. Encourage leaders to delegate outcomes, not just tasks. Give people the freedom to make decisions, try new approaches and learn from mistakes.

The more people experience leadership, the more confident and capable they become.

3. Build a culture of communication, collaboration, reflection and learning

Leadership isn't just about making decisions. It's about helping people make sense of what's happening around them.
Organisations that navigate change successfully tend to communicate openly, encourage feedback, create opportunities for reflection and involve people in shaping solutions. They create environments where people feel able to raise concerns, challenge constructively, learn from mistakes and adapt together.

Coaching, action learning, peer support and reflective conversations can all help people build the confidence and capability to navigate complexity, uncertainty and change.
Because leadership capability doesn't grow in isolation. It grows when people have opportunities to think, learn, communicate and adapt together.

Looking to strengthen leadership capability in your organisation?

At Leaderful Action, we help organisations develop leaders, managers and future leaders who can create clarity, build confidence and enable others to thrive.

Our leadership and management programmes, including the ILM Level 5 and Level 7 qualifications in Leadership and Management, are designed to do more than teach leadership theory. They help participants apply their learning to real workplace challenges, building the skills, confidence and behaviours needed to lead effectively in practice.

For organisations looking to develop coaching capability, we also offer ILM Level 5 and Level 7 Coaching and Mentoring programmes, helping leaders and managers use coaching approaches to develop people, improve performance and create more empowered, accountable teams.

What makes our programmes different is the focus on application and transfer. Alongside structured learning, participants benefit from coaching, action learning, reflection, peer support and practical workplace projects, ensuring that learning translates into meaningful change back in the workplace.

Because leadership isn't developed through knowledge alone. It develops through practice, reflection, feedback and real-world experience.

If you'd like to explore how we could support leadership development in your organisation, we'd love to have a conversation.

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