One of the most difficult transitions in leadership is moving from being the person who gets things done to being the person who makes sure the right things get done.
Most new leaders are promoted because they are good at doing. They solve problems. They work hard. They are dependable. When something goes wrong, they step in and fix it.
Those qualities probably helped make them leaders.
Unfortunately, those same qualities can eventually keep them from leading.
I have watched capable leaders become exhausted because they believe that greater responsibility means personally carrying more of the organization. Every problem becomes their problem. Every unhappy customer requires their attention. Every employee difficulty needs their involvement. Every unexpected situation becomes another fire to put out.
At the end of the day, they have solved a remarkable number of problems.
And they may have done very little leading.
The Three Levels of Leadership
It is helpful to think about leadership at three levels: strategic, tactical, and operational.
Where are we going? What are we trying to accomplish? What must become true for this organization to succeed?
How do we organize our people, resources, priorities, and systems to get there?
What needs to be done today?
All three matter.
The problem comes when a leader who should be spending significant time at the strategic and tactical levels becomes consumed by the operational.
Operational work is seductive because it gives us immediate feedback.
- Someone has a problem. We solve it.
- A customer complains. We respond.
- An employee makes a mistake. We correct it.
- A deadline is approaching. We jump in.
- Something breaks. We fix it.
There is satisfaction in solving problems, and there are times when good leaders absolutely should roll up their sleeves and help.
But if the leader is always the person solving the problem, the organization has a bigger problem.
The Leader Cannot Be the System
I sometimes see leaders who have unintentionally made themselves indispensable. Everything flows through them. Everyone comes to them. Important decisions wait for them. Problems move upward until they reach the leader’s desk.
At first, this can look like strong leadership.
It isn’t.
A healthy organization should not require one exhausted person at the center holding everything together.
The leader’s responsibility is not merely to solve today’s problems. The leader must develop people and build systems capable of solving tomorrow’s problems without requiring the leader’s constant intervention.
That requires a different way of thinking.
When a fire reaches you, of course you may need to put it out. But after the fire is out, ask three questions:
Who should have been empowered to handle this without me?
What system failed that allowed this to become a fire?
What do I need to teach, empower, or change so that I don’t have to handle this again?
Those questions turn firefighting into organizational improvement.
Without them, we simply become better firefighters.
Don’t Delegate. Empower.
There is an important difference between delegation and empowerment.
Delegation too easily becomes giving someone else something to do.
Empowerment gives someone something to own.
That distinction matters.
If I give you a task but require you to return to me for every meaningful decision, I may have reduced my workload slightly, but I have not necessarily developed you as a leader.
Empowerment goes further.
What empowerment requires
I give you responsibility. I make the desired outcome clear. I give you appropriate authority to accomplish it. I make sure you have the resources you need. I remain available when you genuinely need me. And then I allow you to lead.
That includes allowing you to make decisions I might have made differently.
This can be uncomfortable for leaders who have spent years becoming very good at what they do. They know they could probably accomplish the task faster. They may even be able to do it better.
But that isn’t the point.
If everything must be done exactly as I would do it, I haven’t empowered anyone. I have simply created assistants.
Leadership should create more leaders.
Your Job Changes When You Become a Leader
This is one of the most important lessons a new leader can learn:
When your responsibility increases, the amount you personally do should not necessarily increase with it.
Your work changes.
You should spend:
- More time thinking.
- More time observing.
- More time developing people.
- More time asking questions.
- More time identifying patterns.
- More time anticipating problems before they become emergencies.
- More time making sure the right people have the authority and resources to do their jobs.
- And more time considering where the organization needs to be six months, one year, or three years from now.
Some leaders feel guilty doing this because it doesn’t always look like work.
Solving ten problems feels productive.
Spending an uninterrupted hour thinking about why those ten problems keep occurring may feel less productive.
But the second activity may be far more valuable to the organization.
The Fallacy of the Servant Leader
Servant leadership is a good idea that is sometimes practiced very badly.
Some leaders hear the word servant and conclude that good leadership means constantly making life easier for everyone around them. They absorb other people’s problems, take tasks off their plates, step in whenever someone struggles, and make themselves perpetually available.
They serve and serve until they are exhausted.
But that is not necessarily servant leadership.
Sometimes the most loving thing a leader can do is not solve someone’s problem for them.
If I continually step in and do for capable people what they should learn to do themselves, I may feel as though I am serving them, but I may actually be keeping them dependent upon me.
There is an enormous difference between serving people and rescuing people.
A servant leader asks, What does this person need from me in order to become more capable, more confident, and more effective?
- Sometimes the answer is help.
- Sometimes it is instruction.
- Sometimes it is encouragement.
- Sometimes it is resources.
- Sometimes it is removing an obstacle.
- But sometimes the answer is simply, “I trust you. You can handle this.”
That is empowerment.
The purpose of servant leadership is not to make the leader the servant of everyone’s responsibilities. It is to use the leader’s position, authority, experience, and resources for the good and development of the people being led.
A leader who continually rescues people may inadvertently create an organization filled with people who wait to be rescued.
A leader who empowers people creates an organization filled with people who learn to lead.
Good servant leaders certainly roll up their sleeves when circumstances require it. No task should be beneath them. But there is an important difference between being willing to do anything and believing that you should do everything.
Being willing to do anything.
Believing you should do everything.
Sometimes serving your people means carrying something for them.
Sometimes serving them means teaching them how to carry it themselves.
Wisdom in leadership is knowing the difference.
Exhaustion Is Not a Leadership Strategy
There will always be demanding seasons in leadership. Sometimes leaders work long hours. Sometimes emergencies genuinely require us.
But chronic exhaustion should not become a badge of honor.
If an organization routinely requires its leader to sacrifice sleep simply to keep things functioning, something needs attention.
- Perhaps too much is reaching the leader.
- Perhaps other people have not been sufficiently empowered.
- Perhaps expectations need to be reset.
- Perhaps people need additional development.
- Perhaps the organization lacks systems that should be carrying some of the load.
- Or perhaps the leader simply hasn’t learned yet that not every problem deserves the leader’s personal attention.
The solution is not always to work harder.
Sometimes the solution is to lead better.
From Hero to Leader
Organizations do not ultimately need heroic leaders who continually rescue them.
They need leaders who build organizations that require less rescuing.
That means developing people you trust. It means establishing clear expectations. It means empowering people with real responsibility and appropriate authority. It means creating good systems. It means resisting the temptation to solve every problem simply because you can.
And it means occasionally stepping away from today’s urgent problem long enough to think about tomorrow.
The goal is not to become detached from operations. Good leaders understand what is happening throughout their organizations and are willing to step in when necessary.
But stepping in should be intentional, not habitual.
Your organization does not need you to carry everything.
It needs you to lead.
And sometimes the most important transition a leader can make is realizing that those are not the same thing.