I once had a team that could lead itself. They just didn’t know it.

It only took someone to outline what they were already doing in a map form.

It wasn’t hard. A conversation, a morning of thought, a few more conversations.

Then, a short show, and a few concrete things that they could do to get it going — things they’d always wanted to do.

I’ve also had a team that didn’t want to be led. That already knew what they wanted and didn’t want anything else.

After being introduced to people who could teach them new skills, they’d say: We didn’t really talk about anything except careers.

They’d be invited to pitch ideas, but would complain they weren’t included in projects.

They’d kavetch about workload, but protest bitterly at the hiring of people to help.

They’d tell people they didn’t know where they were going, but never tried to go in directions that were pointed to.

They wanted to be given directions, but not when it they were inconvenient to follow.

Some teams get it. Some teams just hold everyone back, starting with themselves.