Early in my career, I worked with two exceptional leaders in HR and organizational development. I was the only one of the three without a formal leadership title, yet we operated as a leadership team across the departments we supported.
Each of us had specific functions, but we constantly shared updates. Not because someone required it, but because transparency helped us stay aligned. If one of us were out, the others could step in immediately and keep work moving.
Something surprising happened as a result. Decisions were made closer to the work rather than waiting for approval from the chain of command. Our service levels improved, our reputation across the organization grew and the team moved faster with far less friction.
That experience taught me a lesson I’ve seen repeated many times since: Authority isn’t really about a title; it’s about clarity. When people understand who decides what, how decisions get made and what they’re accountable for, leadership naturally spreads across the team.
That shift came down to four habits that anyone can develop, regardless of their title:
1. Clarify who owns the decision
When teams slow down, it’s often because no one is sure who actually owns the decision. You’ve probably seen the symptoms — meetings that circle the same topic, email threads that stall out or people quietly waiting for someone more senior to speak first.
One of the simplest fixes is to clarify decision roles. Whenever a decision matters, ask a few basic questions:
Who’s affected by the decision?
What knowledge or expertise do they have?
Who owns the final decision?
Who will execute the decision?
When should something be escalated?
When you openly name these roles, ambiguity disappears. People stop asking, “Is this OK?” and start asking, “How do we move this forward?”
This kind of clarity produces immediate change. Meetings get shorter, handoffs become smoother and people begin taking ownership of outcomes rather than simply completing assigned tasks.
2. Stop asking for permission
One of the biggest barriers to distributed leadership is the instinct to ask for approval. Many people assume leadership means being the one who signs off on decisions. But when everyone waits for permission, work slows.
A simple shift in language helps. Instead of saying, “Can I do this?” try saying, “Here’s what I plan to do, here’s my reasoning and here’s what I’ll be accountable for.”
This approach changes the dynamic. You’re not pushing responsibility upward, but showing ownership of the outcome. When people adopt that mindset, confidence grows quickly and teams begin moving with far more momentum.
3. Build influence through better questions
Some of the most influential people I’ve worked with had no formal authority. What set them apart wasn’t their position, but how they showed up in conversations. Instead of dominating discussions, they asked thoughtful questions that helped the group think more clearly.
One colleague on a cross-functional team did this consistently. She’d ask things like:
What assumption are we making here?
What might we be overlooking?
What would happen if we tried a different approach?
Those questions changed the tone of the room. People slowed down, thought more deeply and often arrived at better solutions together.
Kendra Ruether, managing editor at full-funnel digital marketing agency Intero Digital, knows this dynamic well. “My job is to draw out someone else’s expertise and shape it into something that represents them well publicly. I work with CEOs and high-level leaders all the time, and I’m not on their level — but by asking the right questions, I can still have a real influence on how their ideas come to life.”
4. Create the conditions for confident action
The fastest teams usually aren’t the ones with the most hierarchy. They’re the ones where people understand the boundaries and feel confident acting within them. With clear expectations and the result in mind, constant oversight isn’t necessary. You can move forward, make decisions and adjust quickly when new information appears.
You can help build that environment through small, consistent habits: summarize decisions out loud in meetings, confirm who owns what before the conversation ends and share your reasoning so others understand how you made your choices. Over time, these habits create a culture where people step forward rather than wait to be told what to do.
That’s when leadership stops being tied to a title and becomes something much more powerful: a shared capability that helps the entire team move faster and think better together.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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