Welcome back to The Present Leader.
There are moments in management where you can see something isn’t working, but it’s not yours to fix.
Maybe you see a gap in thinking, or a decision that lacks sound judgement. It’s clear something needs reworking, but no one has handed you the responsibility to do so.
So you hesitate. You wait. You stay in your lane. You assume someone else will step in.
Sometimes they do. Usually, they don’t.
The Insight: Some of the most important work isn’t assigned. It’s recognized and taken.
There's a gap between seeing something and saying something.
Stepping in can create tension. Not stepping in has consequences.
This is where management can get blurry. Not because the situation is complicated, but because the responsibility hasn’t been formally given. And when it isn’t clear, most people wait.
This is where credibility builds. In how you read the moment and what you decide to do next, but it only works if you can step in without making it about yourself.
That’s where you grow into your position. Knowing when to step in, even when nobody assigned it to you.
The Leadership Story: When not making a decision can cost more than the monthly retainer
The work day was long, and you're about to pack it up for the night.
A few people are still at the office and decide to meet up for a drink. You decide to join them. You’re there longer than you planned.
Then someone jumps up. They’ve just gotten an email. An urgent client request. They need to get to an event right away. You can tell they’ve already had a couple.
There's a pause. A few people keep talking. Someone glances at their phone. No one says anything. You can feel it.
You’re not on the account. No one else there is either.
You could leave it. You could say something. You could pull them aside and ask if there's anyone else who could go. None of it feels right.
It's not your client. If you say something, you risk overstepping. If you don't, something could go very wrong.
So you sit with it for a second. And you say nothing.
They head to the event. They manage it. The client never knows.
But you knew. And the next morning, nobody talked about it. Not because it wasn't worth addressing, but because it was easier not to.
That silence is where the real cost lives. Not in what happened that night. In the pattern it quietly sets — where everyone saw it, nobody owned it, and that becomes the culture.
The Tool of The Week: The 3 N’s
I’ve shared this before. It was designed for exactly these moments. It slows you down enough to make a deliberate call instead of defaulting to inaction.
Notice: What's actually happening here? Step back from the discomfort for a second and look at what’s actually happening. What are you seeing that others might be avoiding?
Name: What's the risk if no one steps in? Put words to it, even if it’s just for yourself. Unnamed problems stay unresolved. When you can articulate the cost of inaction, the path forward gets clearer.
Navigate: What's the right way to step in? Not whether to act, but how. With what tone, timing, and intention. Stepping in well is a skill. Doing it without making it about yourself is the real test.
Question to Sit With This Week:
What's the last time you saw something that needed to be managed, and didn't say anything? What stopped you?
Got a leadership challenge? Email me at [email protected] and I’ll tackle it in a future issue of The Present Leader.