What if you don’t need to do anything?
Many high achievers like to solve problems themselves. They are rewarded for it as students and as individual contributors, and so they learn that solving problems brings them success.
But as they advance in their careers and become leaders, this strategy doesn’t work as well. Rather than step back and let their team solve a problem, they jump in and do it because they can do it better, or they worry that others will make a mistake while learning. Their approach now communicates the unintended message “I don’t trust you to do this without me.” It also carries a cost in the burden the leader feels that they “have to” do everything themselves.
And it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy; the more the team feels the lack of trust from their leader, the more they step back from doing anything, and the less the leader trusts them and feels compelled to do even more.
How do you change that pattern? By doing nothing. This may not feel like a viable solution for people that have built their careers by leaping in and doing things, but doing more will only reinforce the existing pattern.
I was reminded of this recently when I inadvisedly got in a power struggle with my 4-year-old son. I kept leaning in, getting more involved, until my wife told me to let it go. Once I backed off, and my son cooled down, he did what I wanted without me asking; he knew what the right thing to do was, but didn’t feel empowered to do it when I was trying to micromanage him.
So when doing more isn’t getting you the results you want, do something different by doing nothing. See what happens!
#leadership #empowerment #youhaveachoice