Insights

Leadership without a mandate

Decisions keep returning because no one truly decides.

Leadership in discussion — decision-making and collaboration in a management team

Leadership without a mandate

Decisions drift. No one guards the boundary. Everyone does what is needed, but no one holds the whole.

You often notice it in small moments. A decision seems to have been made, only to return a week later.

Formally, you hold the role. Informally, you carry the system. Or the other way around.

Then leadership no longer fits.

Position, authority and responsibility no longer align. What happens does not follow the organisation’s formal structure, but an established pattern.

Decisions keep returning. Mandates remain vague. Responsibilities shift.

Someone looks at you before speaking, even though the responsibility belongs to them. You feel pressure, but no direction. That costs energy and slows down everything you are trying to guide.

What is actually happening?

First, we need to see what is actually happening. Who takes over? Where do people wait? Where do things come to a halt?

This usually becomes visible within ten minutes. You can see the difference between what belongs to the role and what happens because someone else takes over.

Often, everyone knows what is going on, but no one says it. Only then is there room to set boundaries, clarify authority and let responsibility land where it belongs. This work is systemic in nature.

How this becomes visible in practice

We work with what is happening now. We look at where the formal line is interrupted, where someone takes over and where things come to a halt.

Here, you can see directly:

where authority lies
who decides
what belongs to you, and what does not

Sometimes a whiteboard and a precise question are enough. Sometimes we explore the relationships spatially. Always concretely.

What we work towards: decisions that hold and collaboration with less confusion.

This is often called executive coaching. At its core, it is leadership coaching focused on position and authority. I regularly encounter these questions in my work as a leadership coach in The Hague.

When your position is unclear

When position is unclear, people compensate. You start pulling, pushing or waiting.

In teams, you see it immediately. Decisions are made away from the table and confirmed at the table. Roles still exist, but function differently.

What helps is not necessarily a big intervention. It needs to be precise:

Name who decides on each issue.
Distinguish between the sponsor, decision-maker and influencer.
State what you do and do not carry.

This is more than tidying up a process. It provides a backbone. For teams and executive groups, management team coaching can help maintain that clarity.

What a coaching process looks like

We always begin with what is happening now: a decision that keeps returning, tension in the management team or a project that does not land.

We map the roles, both formal and informal. Sometimes one conversation is enough. Sometimes several are needed.

Sessions last 90 minutes. They usually take place in The Hague, and sometimes online. A coaching process often involves six to eight conversations, with time between them.

That space makes it possible to see what changes: in how you speak, how you decide and what you do, or no longer, carry.

Working with teams and management teams

Patterns become more visible in teams. What one person can still carry becomes unstable collectively.

Tasks shift without anyone saying so. One person carries too much weight. Another fades into the background. Decisions are made away from the table and repeated at the table.

Here, I work with what happens between people, rather than only with what one individual needs to change.

We make visible: