MY APPROACH: Involve your staff, be explicit about power and authority, and be open to new ways to map decision-making and accountability

Many organizations are interested in re-thinking hierarchy and empowering staff to be more engaged and invested in the big picture beyond their individual roles….but some organizational structures stifle innovation and prevent the team from being nimble and collaborative. By looking at hierarchy and power head-on, leaders can understand and be explicit about power dynamics that need to be neutralized or shifted, and build clear authority and accountability while enhancing collaboration and cohesion.

“Distributed leadership” fails when organizations shy away from being explicit about power, while at the same time striving to engage stakeholders across positional lines. Leaders talk about empowerment and distributed leadership but struggle to name where power actually lives, who holds it, and what they're willing to shift. They change job titles and people in chairs, but not team culture and relationships. This creates decision paralysis, dropped balls, and teams who have accountability without authority. Power-sharing becomes empty rhetoric, and trust erodes.

My belief: When you fully commit to re-thinking your organizational structure, being explicit about power expands your team’s capacity and level of engagement. Power can self-generate momentum and strengthen morale when teams have clarity and shared purpose across lines of responsibility.

I help leadership teams identify the functions and structures that currently exist, and shift them to serve their goals. Whether you're scaling, restructuring, moving from founder-led to distributed leadership, or experiencing tension you can't name—I facilitate the honest conversations that create clarity about who decides what, who has authority over what, and how power can create momentum instead of gridlock.