The trouble with self-organization

A common anti-pattern of  self-organizaing teams is the lack of a "capable" leader. Often people end up in leadership positions and they are not the "right person" for the job. What is worse is that we do not provide them with adequate tools or a support system to help them succeed. In my opinion good leaders are:

• Knowledgeable - How well does this person 'know' your flavor of agile?
• Empowered - Can actually make a difference? Do they have the authority to remove impediments?
• Trustworthy - Does the technical team and the business believe in what this person has to say?

What about your team? Really? Wow you guys have a good team! That is pretty rare because...

Research has found that 97% of people are followers and only 3% are good leaders. If this is true it means that the contact person role is the responsibility of the wrong person 97% of the time. This also proved to be the fact. The self governed teams had become very reactive and ineffective, so now this organization faces this fact and reinstitute the positions of front line leaders. http://www.idcon.com/article-good-to-great.htm

I consider myself a three-percenter, ninety-seven percent of the time. ;)