 Have you ever been in a situation where you have a job you need to get done, but no ability to tell people what to do? We've all been there, here's how you handle it. Welcome back, leaders, and congratulations on taking one more step towards becoming one of the great leaders of tomorrow. One of the things we all have in common as leaders is that we're always looking to accept new challenges to make our workplaces better for us and those around us. And what that might mean is that we take on a project or are asked to take on a project where we've been given a job to do but we haven't been assigned the resources we need to carry it out. In technical terms what this means is that we've been given a responsibility to complete the project but we haven't been given the authority to complete the project. Now there's a difference between responsibility and accountability and we've talked about accountability in the past as accepting the ownership for the outcomes and consequences of behaviors and actions. That is a little bit different. In our case here we've been given responsibility to complete a project but our boss might be the one holding accountability for the outcomes of that project. So we'll be responsible for getting the job done but our boss is the one who might be ultimately held accountable for how we do. Now there's a really fine line between accountability and responsibility especially in our scenario here so if you have any questions about how this is viewed in your organization you should talk to your boss about what he believes you're accountable for and what he believes you're responsible for. Now to pull on the thread about authority for a little bit really think of authority in terms of who gets to make the decision to spend money and to assign people. That's really what authority is when it comes to this kind of leadership. Now being held responsible for completing a project without having authority over the resources you need to do that project might sound like a pretty terrible situation to be in but it's really not so bad because situations like this give us an opportunity to do some peer and informal leadership and exercise our leadership skills in a way that we don't normally get to. One of the ways being in a peer or informal leadership situation helps us is it forces us to get out and around our organizations and learn about the different departments of our organizations and their priorities. By going out and looking for the people that have the resources that we need to complete our project and finding out what their priorities are it gives us better insight into our own organizations and will help us later on as we take on increasing responsibility. Another advantage of being in an informal leadership situation is that it makes us really think about what exactly we need to accomplish our goal and build the strategy to achieve it. When we don't have authority over people's time or priorities it forces us to really critically think about how much we're going to ask them for and how we're going to use their time wisely to get our project done. A project like this can also help us really enhance our communication skills. We need to learn to speak clearly and specifically when we're asking people we don't have authority over to contribute to our project. And it also helps us really listen and it helps us understand what people are saying, learn to speak their language and allows us to let them better contribute to the conversation. Above all else having responsibility without authority helps us up our game when it comes to negotiation and compromise. There may be times in a situation like this where you have to compromise a little in order to keep the relationship between you and the other department strong in order to complete your goal. Conversely there are going to be times when you're going to have to tell people you cannot or will not compromise on something because it will jeopardize the outcomes of the project. So here are the five key tips to leading your team when you have responsibility but not authority over your team members. First get to know the key players in your organization. Who do you need to get your project done? Go recruit them to be part of your informal team. Next you've got to build a strategy. You've got to know really clearly what it is you're trying to accomplish and what your desired outcomes are. Get buying from others on your strategy. Give them input into the products that need to be provided and the deadlines that need to be accomplished. And be ready to negotiate and compromise. If others have a good idea for how to accomplish part of the project why not use it. Also set clear priorities and be straightforward about things you cannot or will not compromise on. It's also important to communicate frequently. Check in with your informal team at appropriate intervals and let them know when to be checking in with them again. Make sure you're valuing their time by communicating important information and asking thoughtful questions. Don't just check in or schedule a meeting to see how it's going or have meetings with no purpose. Those are your five tips for leading your informal team. If you have any others leave them for us in the comments we'd love to hear them. And come back later in the week. We're going to talk a little bit more on the blog about peer and informal leadership. The best way to get ahold of that click on that globe off to the right. That'll get you subscribed to our email list and bring all of our content direct leader inbox. Thanks for joining us today. I appreciate it as always and remember the future is out there. Leave the way.