Do you see this in your organization: managers returning from vacation and being disappointed with how their team performed in their absence? Subsequently, they quickly regain control, convinced that under their inspiring leadership, the team functions best?
If so, it's worth considering the following: could it be precisely the leadership style that causes team members to achieve less without the presence of the leader? Is it possible that these managers mainly distribute work, assign tasks, tell and explain to everyone what and especially how to do it, and then check whether it has been done that way? In other words, are they perhaps managing based input rather than output?
Do you recognize this, or perhaps even recognize it in yourself?
If so, there is much to gain! Because you can only expect people to be successful when they are given the space and trust to chart their own course, to give their own interpretation to their responsibilities, and to make their own mistakes. When you provide them with just the context and crystal-clear criteria for the desired end result, let them be professionals, and coach them to further develop themselves, they don't need the constant presence of their manager to be successful.
Or, as the American Sheryl Sandberg (Vice President at Google and later Chief Operating Officer at Meta) aptly puts it: "Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence."
Easier said than done, of course!
Noortje Bloch & Heleen Prakke