I've read a lot of material about leadership, but rarely have I read on how to follow, something that is just as hard to do effectively.

I've come to a more complex position, where the task needs to align with the team for them to be leadable. With the right amount of incentives, any group can be pushed to deliver, but those incentives might differ by task (shit work needs different encouragement and support compared to creative work) and sometimes the needed incentives cost more than the end result is worth.

Understanding this alignment between task and team helped me triage how to approach the situation, or if it's even possible with the given people.