Great leaders know when to step aside. — Tara Jaye Frank
New leaders (sometimes not so new!) often struggle with giving up control and allowing their team members to do what they need to. There are a couple common reasons for that. The first reason is lack of trust. This happens often when a leader has a new team and has not built trust with them or developed trust in them yet. It takes time to get to know the team, their level of expertise and quality of work. I recently worked with a leader who stepped into a new company and immediately hired a consultant friend of his to come in and evaluate what the department had been doing. As you can imagine this action did not go over well with the team members! They felt like their work and expertise was being questioned without leadership taking the time to find out what level of knowledge was already there on the team. Come to find out the leader discovered that he had several people on his team with more experience in this technology area then the consultant he brought in. They ended up teaching the consultant. Had he taken a minute to sit down with each member of the team and find out their areas of expertise he would have been reassured that they really knew what they were doing. If not, then he could have brought in a specialized consultant at that time. Instead he spent months repairing the trust he had broken.
The second reason leaders have troubles giving up control in certain areas is that those areas are their comfort zone. It’s what they are really good at! I was working with a recently promoted technical leader. She was excellent at developing software but now as a leader she had to leave the programming in her team’s hands. In many ways she missed the chance to create something that she could see and watch work. Instead she spent her days in meetings focusing on high-level strategy. Although she enjoyed the strategy she missed the comfort and tangibleness of programming. It was easy for her to get involved with her team on the programming level, asking them to program as she would. As we worked together she had to keep reminding herself of her purpose and role. She begin to catch herself stepping in to control those areas she was comfortable in and instead focus and move into her new function.
As you are promoted into higher levels of leadership take the time to make a list of areas you need to let go. Focus on the most important aspects of your new role and let your team step up.
Have an Amazing Monday (and everyday!)
Leanna Fredrich, Leadership, Career and Stress-Management Consultant
Leanna@amazingmondays.com
PS: Stepping into a new role? Having troubles letting go and delegating? Email me for support.