Transform Your Leadership and Empower Your Team: How to Shift from Doing to Leading Under Pressure
In today’s dynamic, high-stakes world, I often meet leaders that are caught between immediate demands and long-term goals. The enormous pressure to deliver high-quality results on time can push even the most well-intentioned leaders into a cycle where they take on more and more work themselves. While this might seem like the quickest path to success, it often comes at a significant cost: personal burnout and missed opportunities to develop a high-performing team.
The Trap of “Doing” Instead of “Leading”
When deadlines loom and quality standards must be met, many leaders default to their strongest skill set—often their hard skills like technical expertise or subject matter knowledge. It’s tempting to jump in and solve the problem yourself, especially when you’re confident in your abilities. But in doing so, you risk sidelining your most important role: developing your team.
If you constantly step in to “get things done”, you are inadvertently sending a message to your team that you either lack confidence in their abilities or that they are not needed. This not only adds unnecessary stress on you as a leader but also stifles the growth and performance of your team. Over time, this approach can create a dependency where the team expects you to always take charge, further entrenching the cycle of doing instead of leading.
Uncovering the Internal Barriers
Beneath these actions often lie unconscious fears, beliefs, and commitments that influence how you lead. For many, the act of doing instead of leading is rooted in a fear of a perceived risk and a belief for a commitment to self-protection. Ironically, these narratives you tell yourself can lead to self-sabotaging behaviors, where you unconsciously protect yourself from perceived risks by maintaining a hands-on approach. However, this protective mechanism can also block your growth as a leader.
To break free from this cycle, it’s essential to confront these internal barriers. Reflect on what might happen if you embraced a different approach to leadership—one that trusts and empowers your team. Consider the narratives you’ve created around your role and how they may be limiting your effectiveness. By testing these assumptions and challenging the fears that hold you back, you can begin to shift from a leader who does to a leader who truly leads.
The High Cost of Not Delegating
When you take on too much yourself, you not only strain your own capacity but also deprive your team of the opportunity to develop their own skills and confidence. Delegation isn’t just about offloading tasks; it’s about entrusting your team with responsibilities that will challenge and grow their capabilities. Effective delegation allows you to focus on strategic leadership—guiding, mentoring, and building a team that can perform at a high level even under pressure.
Failing to delegate can lead to burnout, diminished team morale, and ultimately, a bottleneck in performance. As a leader, your role is to empower your team to succeed, not just to ensure that tasks are completed.
Integrating Technical Knowledge and Subject Matter Expertise into Leadership
It’s common for leaders to have started their careers as highly successful individual contributors. Their success often stems from deep technical knowledge and extensive subject matter expertise. Naturally, when these individuals transition into leadership roles, they might lean heavily on the very skills that brought them success in the first place. However, the key to sustainable success in leadership is different from excelling as an individual contributor.
While your technical prowess is valuable, true leadership success lies in integrating those hard skills into your broader leadership strategy. Instead of using your expertise to solve problems directly, leverage it to coach and develop your team. Share your insights and experiences, explain your thought process, and encourage your team to think critically and independently. Provide them with a clear vision of the outcomes you expect and give them the space and support they need to figure out how to achieve those results.
By adopting this approach, you’re not just teaching your team valuable skills—you’re also demonstrating trust in their abilities. This builds their confidence and fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement, which are essential components of a high-performing team.
Shifting from Pressure to Empowerment
The shift from doing to leading requires a conscious effort to change how you respond to pressure, and it’s here that embracing humanness and adopting a human-centric leadership approach become crucial. Instead of succumbing to the urge to take over, ask yourself: How can I use this situation to develop my team? What can I delegate, and how can I support my team in delivering high-quality results?
Human-centric leadership recognizes the importance of seeing your team members as individuals with unique strengths, needs, and aspirations. It’s about leading with empathy, understanding, and a commitment to fostering an environment where people feel valued and supported. When you lead with humanness, you prioritize the well-being and development of your team, even under pressure.
Empowerment in this context comes from entrusting your team with real responsibilities and supporting them as they navigate challenges. This doesn’t mean stepping back entirely—it means being present as a guide and mentor, not just a problem-solver. By leading with a focus on the human aspect, you create a ripple effect that not only alleviates your own workload but also builds a resilient, capable team that can thrive under pressure.
Leading with Purpose and Strategy
Leadership is about more than just getting things done; it’s about leading with purpose, developing your team, and building an environment where everyone can succeed. By shifting your focus from doing to leading, you can reduce your own stress, avoid burnout, and create a high-performing team that is equipped to handle the pressures of today’s fast-paced world.