Reply To: Distinctive Leadership II Discussion Board 1

[saysay]

MY REPLY TO CALEB AMOTSUKA.
You have explained the characteristics and principles of leadership regarding authority and accountability well. You said that accountability and authority work hand in hand, which I buy into. But I feel you did not hit the nail on the head. This is very much unlike you. It’s like you didn’t have time to attend to this question.
The question is “In what ways can a leader be accountable while having authority, which you touched on in a way. However, what was required of us was a real-life situation, to balance accountability and authority.
The lecturer gave us a series of examples. He used the church organogram and family group unit to explain this. Let me use the church office setting as an example. The man at the apex is Pastor Nkecki Ene (Mrs.). She cannot do all the work alone hence there is a delegation, which is to the person of Pastor Sola, who in turn delegates part of his tasks to others (the assistant Pastors/supervisors), and on-and-on to the least staff in the Ministry. The subordinates are responsible to their immediate leader.
Whatever task Pastor Sola has delegated to his subordinate(s), he is solely accountable. Whether it was properly done or not, delayed (did not meet the deadline), he cannot go and tell Pastor Kech that he is sorry that Sister Felicia for instance did not deliver as expected. He will maintain his authority, yet be accountable for the authority delegated to him.
Accountability rests on the one with the delegated authority and is mostly channeled to the one at the apex.