Leadership is ownership; you can’t delegate it. Some managers prefer to manage up and shift responsibility to their boss rather than own their role and earn their team’s respect. A leader cannot do the job if they expect their boss to step in whenever things get tough.
This dynamic only exists because leadership allows it. A cycle forms: the manager abdicates responsibility and blames their boss; leadership accepts it, starts micromanaging, and rationalizes it as “this is just the way it is.” Ego gets in the way. Instead of training, correcting, or replacing an unfit leader, they protect them. Even worse, when leaders fail to take ownership and allow responsibility to flow upward, the rest of the organization notices, further eroding whatever trust remains between managers and employees. Soon, employees learn the truth: their boss has no real authority. To get anything done, they bypass them and go straight to upper leadership. The end result: an organization where decisions slow down, everyone waits for top leadership, and no one feels responsible for outcomes.