Stripping responsibility without undermining?

As the Washington Redskins have learned with Coach Jim Zorn, whose play-calling responsibilities were handed over to an offensive consultant, it's tricky bringing in someone to help compensate for a leader's particular weakness without appearing to undermine his leadership. In your experience, are there effective ways to pull that off, or is it a doomed strategy?

Ken Adelman is co-founder and vice president of Movers and Shakespeares, which offers executive training and leadership development. He was a Reagan-era ambassador and arms-control director.

Yes, you can "pull off" bringing in someone new to compensate for a leader's deficiencies -- but no one besides the leader can effectively bring in that person with the needed skills. To have Dan Snyder (in the case of the Redskins) do so undermines head coach Jim Zorn, who then becomes "head" of nothing much.

Every leader has strengths and weaknesses and should surround himself with those with strength in his weak areas. That's sound management. But that also requires the leader to recognize that he needs supplementing, and in which areas. Good leaders do so. Bad leaders either don't see it -- which is usual, since their egos block the view -- or they refuse to hire those who have the needed skills or refuse to delegate to that person once hired.

In Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," conspiracy leader Cassius recognizes that while he's a great organizer, he needs someone who's respected for moral legitimacy. He thus recruits Brutus, a senator with a great reputation, a nice speaking manner and a close relationship with Caesar.

Yet Brutus is a terrible at the top. He doesn't, maybe even can't, recognize that he's simply a bad decision-maker. So Brutus makes one bad judgment after another -- seven, I've counted -- and adamantly refuses to delegate any authority. Cassius recognizes each decision as a bad call and objects time after time -- but to no avail.

Brutus can't even recognize that a professional soldier like Cassius may have better judgment in military matters than he does.

Hence their stunning and sad defeat -- much like what Redskins fans have witnessed so far this year.

Ed O'Malley, a former state legislator and gubernatorial aide, is president and chief executive of the Kansas Leadership Center, a training center charged with fostering large-scale civic leadership for healthier communities.

It is not a doomed strategy, but its success depends almost entirely on Coach Zorn. Whether it was an objective of the owner or not, Coach Zorn has been undermined, and now the owner must hope the coach has the leadership competence to regroup and move the team forward.

No doubt Coach Zorn has been on the opposite side of this situation countless times. A running back fumbles too often and is benched. A defensive back is awful at defending the run and is brought in only for obvious passing downs. A kicker misses too many field goals and is demoted to kickoff specialist only. As in those situations, success will depend on Coach Zorn's ability to manage himself, despite the ego-crushing blow, in service to his team.

The owner's move diminishes Zorn's credibility among his players and coaches. Whether this strategy works for the betterment of the team is primarily up to Coach Zorn. He should see it not as a rebuke but as an opportunity to focus on other aspects of the game. Rather than be undermined, by modeling the behavior he would like to see from his players after they have been stripped of responsibility, Zorn will actually enhance his ability to lead this team. Chances of success in the case? Slim, but doable, and it is almost entirely up to Zorn.

Coaches, owners, bosses and other authority figures, beware: Once you engage in this strategy, success is almost completely out of your hands and in the hands of the very person you just undermined.

Lanre Akinsiku is a fellow in the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs, a full-time, nine-month, graduate-level experiential leadership training program that prepares individuals for public affairs leadership.

Few factors can undermine leadership more than ineffectiveness. The Redskins' inept offense has produced little this season, save for calls from an increasingly agitated fan base to change the strategy, personnel, coaching, uniforms and anything else seemingly connected to the team's slow start. At the center of the cacophony is Coach Zorn. Indeed, the greatest threat to his leadership isn't the public seizure of his responsibilities as play caller; it's his offense's offensive output.

Thus, the question at hand needs some reframing: Perhaps we should ask what puts leadership in a weaker position, the actual failure or the embarrassing aftermath. I argue the former. While Zorn's dismissal as play caller technically throws his leadership into question, it does so no more than the atrophied offense he has put onto the field thus far. Ultimately, his leadership was undermined as soon as the team started losing. And leaders often fall short: John F. Kennedy's failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs and Bill Clinton's aborted mission in Somalia come to mind. In each case, one could argue that the leadership position was undermined most by the failure itself and not by any restructuring of power that occurred afterward.

But there may be hope for Zorn after all. Kennedy's and Clinton's ability to reflect, recognize their missteps and accept change created future successes: Kennedy's Cuban missile crisis and Clinton's Kosovo intervention both revealed a shift in approach. Publicly, it appears Zorn has handled the change with humility, acknowledging his team's deficiencies and accepting the adjustments necessary to get back on track. While his future with the Redskins is currently uncertain, it's nothing that a few touchdown passes can't fix.