January 31, 2026

Read Time - 4 minutes

"Delegate authority, not just tasks." ~ Stephen Covey

I'm grateful for the leaders I've worked for—all of them. Some showed me what great leadership looks like: keeping me in the loop, problem-solving with me behind the scenes, protecting my authority even when things got messy. Working for them, I felt capable. Empowered. My boundaries were clear.

Others taught me what to avoid—often unintentionally. Being unpredictable. Undermining the authority they'd given me or others. Finding out about problems only after they'd blown up. They showed me how leadership breaks down when the principles aren't clear. Both kinds of experience were valuable. The good examples gave me something to aim for. The hard lessons showed me what to protect against. Over the years, I've developed three leadership rules I try to stick with. I use them when leading my team, and I hold myself to them when working with my own supervisor. They work both ways.

Rule No. 1 - I Will Never Undermine You

What this means: When someone tries to go around you, I redirect them back to you. I don't make decisions in your domain without you. I don't overrule you publicly—if I disagree, we work it out privately first. I protect your authority because undermining you teaches everyone they don't have to respect your leadership, which ultimately creates more work for me.

What this looks like:

• A faculty member emails me directly about resolving a class conflict with another faculty member—something that's clearly the department chair's call. My response: "This is exactly the kind of decision the chair handles. Please loop them in, and let me know if I can support you both in working this out."

• My associate dean makes a call I privately disagree with. Instead of correcting them in front of their team or overruling them in a meeting, I ask for a one-on-one: "Help me understand your thinking on X. Here's my concern..." We work it out, and then they communicate the final decision—as theirs, not mine.

Why this is hard: Sometimes people come to you with legitimate complaints about your direct reports. Sometimes it's genuinely faster to just solve the problem yourself. Sometimes you actually disagree with the call they made.

The coaching insight: Every time you let someone bypass your team, you're training your organization not to trust them. Even when it feels like you're being helpful or responsive, you're eroding the very authority you need them to have.

Reflection: Think about the last time one of your leaders undermined you—publicly overruled a decision, made a call in your domain without telling you, or let someone go around you. How did that feel? What did it do to your credibility with your team? Now flip it: When was the last time someone tried to bypass one of your direct reports—and what did your response teach everyone watching?

Rule #2: No Secrets. No Surprises.

What this means: If you're facing a controversial decision, bring me in early—not after it's already blown up. I can't support you if I don't know what's coming. Transparency isn't about asking permission; it's about partnership. I appreciate learning hard news early, but I will struggle to support you if I'm blindsided.

What this looks like:

• A department chair is about to deny a controversial request for course release. She calls me first: 'Here's what I'm planning and why. Wanted you to know before the email goes out.' When the faculty member complains to me, I'm ready to support her decision.

• I hear through the grapevine that someone is unhappy with a decision one of my associate deans made. Before it escalates, I reach out to him: "I'm hearing some rumblings about your call on X. Want to talk through it so we're aligned if this comes back around?" He appreciates the heads-up, and we problem-solve together before it becomes a crisis. (And he does the same for me when he hears things I should know about.)

• I'm about to implement a new policy that will affect how my provost's office operates. Before I announce it, I send her a note: "Wanted to give you a heads-up on something coming down the pipeline. Here's what we're doing and why. If you have concerns, let's talk before it's public." She appreciates not being blindsided, even if she doesn't love the decision.

Why this is hard: It takes discipline to pause and loop someone in when you're moving fast. It feels like it slows things down. And there's always the fear that bringing up a potential problem will make it worse—but in my experience, the opposite is true.

The coaching insight: "No surprises" doesn't mean micromanagement. It means trust. It means your team knows you'd rather hear the hard thing early than get caught flat-footed later.

Reflection: Think about the last time you were blindsided by news you should have heard earlier—when someone made a decision in your domain without telling you, or let a problem fester until it landed on your desk fully formed. How did that feel? What did it do to your ability to respond well? Now flip it: When was the last time you gave someone on your team a heads-up before a decision went public—or failed to? What did that teach them about whether it's safe to bring you hard news?

Rule #3: You're the Authority in Your Domain

What this means: When you make a decision, own it—don't deflect to me. "Because the boss said so" is lazy leadership and trains people not to trust you. Your team needs to see you as the authority, not as a messenger. This connects directly to Rule #1—if I won't undermine your authority, you can't undermine it either by deflecting upward.

But here's the other side: I need you to actually be the authority. You're the resident expert in your area—you should be generating ideas and solutions, not just problems. You were hired for your judgment and insight.

What this looks like:

• My associate dean has to tell a department they can't hire an adjunct this semester. Instead of saying "The dean won't approve it," he says: "After reviewing our budget priorities, I've decided we need to allocate those funds differently this year. Here's why..." He owns the decision, even though we discussed it together.

• A department chair comes to me with a thorny scheduling conflict. Instead of asking "What should I do?" they say: "Here's the situation and here's how I think I'll handle it and why. Are you comfortable with this?" They're bringing their expertise, not outsourcing the thinking to me.

• My provost and I disagree about a new reporting structure. After working through it, we land on her approach. When I present it to my faculty, I don't say "The provost wants us to..." I say: "We're moving to this structure because..." I own it, even though it wasn't my first choice.

Why this is hard: It's safer to hide behind someone else's authority when you know a decision will be unpopular. It's also easier to bring problems to your supervisor and let them figure it out—that way, if it goes wrong, it wasn't really your call. But every time you deflect responsibility upward, you erode your own credibility and train your team not to trust your leadership.

The coaching insight: Your faculty and staff don't need to know every internal debate that led to a decision. When you deflect to me or come to me without solutions, you're teaching them that you're not really in charge—and that makes it harder for you to lead next time.

Reflection: Think about the last time your supervisor made you feel like a messenger instead of a leader. How did that feel? Now flip it: Are you training your team to see you as the decision-maker—or as the messenger?

Bottom Line

Leadership clarity is a gift—both to the people you lead and to yourself.

When you're explicit about what you expect from others and what they can expect from you, you remove the guesswork that creates anxiety, second-guessing, and unnecessary conflict. You create the conditions for people to lead with confidence instead of looking over their shoulders.

It took some time to establish, but the leaders on my team don't wonder how I'll respond when someone tries to go around them. They don't worry about being blindsided. They know they can bring me problems early without being punished. And they show up as real authorities, not messengers.

That's the power of a few clear rules you actually keep. And it starts with naming what you actually believe.

Try This Before Friday

Create your leadership user manual.

Set aside 30 minutes this week and answer two questions:

1. What do I expect from the people I lead? (How should they bring me problems? What authority do I need them to own?)

2. What can they expect from me? (How will I protect their authority? What will I always do? What will I never do?)

Write it down. Be specific. Then share it with your team—in a one-on-one, team meeting, or email.

Thanks for reading. Until next week!