Borrowed authority

“If this is supposedly a priority, why am I chasing it so hard?” That question tends to surface when a leader has been given responsibility for something important, but the people required to deliver the work report to someone else. The strategy is agreed, the outcome matters, the expectation is clear, and yet progress depends on individuals whose priorities are ultimately set in a different part of the organisation. Responsibility sits with one leader while the authority over the resources sits somewhere else, and suddenly leadership becomes less about directing work and far more about influencing it. This is the reality of how many organisations now operate. Work moves across regions, functions, and programmes much faster than reporting lines ever will, which means leaders regularly find themselves accountable for results they cannot simply command into existence. The leaders who navigate this well eventually recognise that the role has quietly changed; the work is no longer about pushing harder or chasing activity, it is about building the alignment and influence that makes progress inevitable across teams that technically belong to other managers. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. It is one of the most common leadership tensions I see inside complex organisations, and it is exactly the kind of moment where leadership stops being positional and becomes deliberate.  DM me if you are navigating borrowed authority inside your organisation and want to explore how leaders build influence at that level through The ROGUE Signature®.