Leadership Freeze: Identifying the Catch and How to Escape it as a Leader
Fed up with feeling like a one-man army, tackling every problem, while others watch idly? You might be caught in the Doer's Dilemma. This happens when you take on too much responsibility, preventing your team members from stepping up and leading.
In leadership, we're often rewarded for having the answers – schools, early careers, and even in management position us for solving problems. The pressure of a sense of urgency can make it tempting to handle issues ourselves instead of guiding our teams. As organizations struggle with under-resourcing, operational excellence practitioners are often tasked with the "pair-of-hands" role, rather than a strategic one. Debilitated leaders, overwhelmed and exhausted, think they're the only ones who can make things happen, leading to a cycle of burnout.
The problem? If you're constantly solving the problems, no real change occurs. As a continuous improvement coach or team leader, your role as the catalyst for building a sustainable, high-performing organization shouldn't be about personally delivering results but also about supporting others to take ownership and progress towards those results.
Instead of focusing on being an expert problem-solver, strive to enable problem-solving across your organization. By becoming a problem-solver enabler, you're giving others a fair shot at ownership, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. When you tackle tasks that aren’t truly your responsibility, you are undermining the ownership of others. If you aspire to create a continuous improvement culture but find yourself doing all the doing, you are inadvertently standing in your way of achieving the very outcome you want.
Five Leadership Traps That Inhibit Change
If you find yourself perpetually "doing" instead of leading, you may be ensnared in one of these five Doer's Dilemmas:
- The Superhero: You rush in to save the day. But not all issues require a hero. Treating everything as a crisis trains others to depend on you, while keeping you locked in crisis mode. Your ego is at play, and the reward of firefighting is appealing.
- The Rescuer: You hate seeing others struggle, so you jump in with the solution. Your rescue attempts may be helpful, but they hinder the learning opportunity. Learning to be comfortable with discomfort is a key aspect of true leadership.
- The Magician: It appears as if others are doing the work, but behind the scenes, you manipulate the outcomes and processes. Being slyly efficient, especially for continuous improvement practitioners, might feel efficient but it stifles growth.
- The Pair of Hands: You're not leading; you're just doing it because it's "simpler to do it yourself." Managerial expectations or feelings of urgency keep you stuck in execution mode. The risk? Your ability to lead transformative change gets buried under a mountain of to-dos.
- The Surrogate Leader: You take charge of direction, follow-ups, and accountability, even though it's not your role. When leaders shirk responsibility, it's easy to fall into the trap of assuming the leadership mantle. The downside? It creates the illusion of progress without true ownership or sustainability.
Which trap do you find yourself in the most?
Escaping the Doer's Dilemma: Transitioning from Doer to Transformational Change Leader
How can you extricate yourself from the Doer's Dilemma to create sustainable change and embrace your full leadership potential?
If you've found yourself ensnared in the Doer's Dilemma or wish to avoid it altogether, consider these three shifts that can instigate immediate change in your leadership style:
- Define Clear Roles:Start by understanding your role and setting boundaries. Know which tasks are yours and which tasks belong to your team. Remember, your influence comes from shaping, enabling, and empowering, rather than doing everything yourself.
- Clear Communication:Be open with the people you support – your team, your peers, or the group you mentor. Set expectations and share your role responsibilities. This prevents confusion and fosters trust, alignment, and a successful work environment.
- Model the Way and Encourage Reflection:Break free from the Doer's Dilemma by embracing a new leadership style and fostering growth. Model the behaviors you want to see in your team, communicate your intentions, and make room for reflection. This approach encourages ownership, reinforces your role as a facilitator, and sets your team up for success.
- While being a one-man army can initially provide a sense of achievement, it may lead to the Doer's Dilemma, where lack of delegation prevents team members from stepping up and exhibiting leadership.
- The constant pressure to solve problems and the desire for operational excellence can lead to being tasked with the "pair-of-hands" role, instead of a strategic one, contributing to the Doer's Dilemma.
- To escape the Doer's Dilemma and foster growth, consider modeling the way, encouraging reflection, and reinforcing your role as a facilitator, rather than a constant problem-solver.
- In leadership, redefining roles and communicating clearly can help prevent the Doer's Dilemma, by establishing boundaries and fostering trust, alignment, and a successful work environment.
