You’re Doing Your Job—and Too Much of Theirs.
You started the week knowing what you needed to get done.
Instead, work came back unfinished. A decision waited for you. Something started going sideways, so you stepped in and fixed it.
By Thursday, your priorities had barely moved. And you were still the person everyone depended on to keep things moving.
45 minutes. Bring one real situation. We’ll start there.
Of Course You Stepped In.
You care about the result. You have high standards. When something starts to drift, your instinct is to get closer to it.
The deadline is still real. Other people are counting on the work. Your name is attached to what happens next.
That instinct has probably helped you succeed for years. Under pressure, it can also pull you right back into the work.
The Controller Becomes the Fixer. Then the Team Learns the Pattern.
Something slips. You tighten your grip. When the pressure rises, you step in and fix it.
The team learns where the real ownership lives. People get cautious, wait longer, or let you take it back.
Soon you’re the bottleneck. Your priorities move again, and you start wondering why everything still depends on you.
A lot of your time is still going to places that feel productive because you know how to help there. Meetings you no longer need to attend. Details someone else should own. Problems you already know how to solve.
Meanwhile, the harder work only you can do keeps waiting.
That is the pattern we work on.
Bring Me One Situation Where You Had to Step Back In.
We’ll slow it down and reconstruct what happened.
I’ll ask questions. I’ll also tell you what I see, including the moment your own instinct may have pulled you back into the middle.
Then we’ll decide what to try next. One move you can test in the real work.
You should leave seeing the situation more clearly, with a different response to try the next time the pressure shows up.
“Can I tell you what I think happened?”
This Reminds Me of Another Leader I Worked With.
He ran multiple businesses and was used to being the person who could solve things quickly. Too many decisions and day-to-day problems still found their way back to him.
We started looking at the moments that triggered his instinct to take control. He became more deliberate about when his involvement was useful and when stepping in was teaching the team to depend on him.
Over time, the team began carrying more. He had more room for the strategic work across his businesses and less need to be the fixer every time something went sideways.
You Should Be Able to Lead Without Everything Depending on You.
Bring one real situation where the work, decision or responsibility came back to you.
We’ll pull it apart together, look at what happened under pressure and decide what is worth trying next.
45 minutes. Bring one real situation. We’ll start there.