What are the leadership lessons that stay with us long after the books have been read and the courses have finished? In this series, we sit down with some of Australia’s most influential NFP leaders to explore the defining moments and insights that shaped how they lead.

First in the chair is Grant Bayldon, CEO of World Vision Australia. Grant has spent much of his career in leadership roles for purpose-driven organisations across New Zealand, including World Vision New Zealand, Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand and Oxfam Aotearoa. 

Here, he reflects on the most important leadership lesson of his career: that the role of a leader is not to be indispensable, but to build an organisation that can fulfil its purpose without depending on any one person.

Earlier in my career, I thought leadership was about having all the answers and being the smartest person in the room.

What I’ve come to realise is that it’s much more about creating the conditions for others to succeed – building something that works when you’re not in the room and that works long after you’re gone.

That’s why the most important leadership lesson I’ve learned in my career is to build an organisation that can fulfil its purpose without depending on me.

Now, that’s easy to say, hard to do – so it’s worth breaking down some of the processes and behaviours I’ve picked up over the years to put that idea into practice.

Make it safe to name problems

One of the most important things a leader can do is create an environment where people feel safe raising problems. In practice, that means celebrating challenge rather than punishing it. After all, if a person who points out a problem gets shut down, the system won’t work.

I’ve learned that when a team member identifies a problem, the best response is: “Great. You’ve named it. Now we can have a real conversation. Now we can support you and work out how to change it.”

Ultimately, this is about creating a culture of safety and trust so that the things that are unsaid, the issues that are off track, and the conversations people are skating over come to the surface. You want to bring those things into the open before they become bigger problems.

Don’t try to fix everything

If the goal is to build an organisation (or team) that can thrive without depending on you, then your role as a leader can’t be to jump in and fix every issue that arises.

I’ve often faced the temptation to be the chief problem solver. It feels helpful in the moment, but over time it creates dependency. When everything flows through the leader, people stop solving problems for themselves and start looking upwards for answers.

One of the ways I’ve tried to avoid that is by building systems that allow problems to be identified and solved at the right level. For me, that’s about operating rhythms – the weekly, monthly and quarterly processes that track progress and help people see where things are getting stuck. Anything that’s off track needs a plan. Who’s accountable? How is it progressing? What needs to change?

It’s all basic leadership stuff, but it’s often not done well. Most organisations have plenty of meetings, KPIs and reporting. The difficult part is bringing the critical issues into a forum where people can see blockages and move things forward.

Get underneath the problem

One of the most valuable things a leader can do is help their team identify the root cause of an issue. This is where I’ve been heavily influenced by the strategist Richard Rumelt. One of his big insights is that leaders often mistake symptoms for problems.

When performance isn’t where it should be, or things aren’t working operationally, it’s tempting to focus on what’s happening on the surface and jump straight to solutions. But the better leadership question is: what’s really going on here? What’s underneath the problem?

In my experience, there are usually only a handful of underlying issues sitting beneath the dozens of challenges every organisation faces. The key is having the discipline, insight and often the courage to diagnose them, because they’re not always comfortable to confront.

Let’s say a fundraising campaign isn’t delivering the results you’d hoped for. It’s easy to focus on the symptom – lower response rates or missed targets – and immediately start looking for ways to improve the campaign itself. But the underlying issue may be something quite different.

I’ve often seen NFPs adopt very corporate marketing approaches without recognising that fundraising is a specialist discipline with its own body of knowledge and best practice. In those cases, the real problem isn’t the campaign. It’s that somewhere along the way, the organisation forgot how to fundraise.

Often they’re so disconnected from that reality that they don’t even recognise it as the issue. But without the right diagnosis, they’ll double down on a corporate brand-led marketing approach rather than tapping into fundraising expertise that can identify what’s really preventing supporters from engaging and giving. This is why it’s important not to rush to solutions.

Ensure alignment within the leadership team

I’ve learned that the cracks at the centre become crevices at the edges. If leaders aren’t aligned on priorities and direction, those issues won’t stay at the executive level – they’ll ripple throughout the organisation. People working at the edges are then left trying to navigate competing priorities or bridge silos that have been created at the centre.

In my experience, what often looks like a communication problem, a performance problem or even a culture problem can usually be traced back to a lack of clarity at the top. The solution isn’t more communication – it’s greater alignment between leaders about what matters most and where the organisation is heading.

Make purpose tangible

One of the traps for NFPs is assuming purpose doesn’t need attention because it’s obvious. In reality, team members need to be able to see how their day-to-day work contributes to the organisation’s bigger goals. Otherwise, they’re left with a vague sense that their work matters, without really knowing how.

For me, it’s about drawing a straight line between purpose, strategy and people’s roles. The key is being able to articulate purpose, break it down into tangible outcomes and make it memorable. It’s not about the hundred good things an organisation does. It’s about identifying the few things that matter most and helping people see how they can influence them.

Ultimately, the test is whether the organisation can fulfil its purpose without me in the room – or even after I’ve gone. If people understand that purpose, can see their role in it, and the systems around them reinforce it, then that’s success.

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