Can You Take The Lead On This?

"Can You Take The Lead On This?”

If you are my boss and you ask respectfully, then yes, I’m happy to do the work that you are assigning me. 

But if you are my peer, this question is problematic.

What this typically means is “I don’t want to do the work on this, so it’d be awesome If you’d do the work instead.” 

A better framing would be to ask, “what part of this project would you like to lead?”

The assumption that one of you will lead and the other will follow is also flawed. That’s not how teams succeed. 

The best teams are those that repeatedly grant and claim team leadership roles as the situation dictates.

I know that sometimes it might feel “leader-like” to ask someone to take the lead on something. It’s not. That’s something a manager says.