One of the most difficult lessons for new leaders to learn is the need to shift from the "primary do-er" to the "primary leader." As the leader, you’re responsible for showing your team members the vision, explaining the goal, and in some cases, giving them a general idea of how to achieve success. You do not and should not be the one doing all of the work. What's more, you shouldn't presume that you are always the smartest person in the room. The "smart" leader is the one who knows that the fastest path to success is to hire a team of experts and then get out of their way. When you work with experts let them do what they need, to deliver the successful results that you want to achieve.
By letting go of the control, you achieve success faster because you’re not an expert in every single role on the team, so you get out of their way to inspire them. As the leader, you provide the overarching vision and the reasons to achieve the goal, but to truly inspire, you step back and let the team do what the team does best while you do what you do best.
Adding people to your team or attracting experts who know more than you about a topic is the best thing you can do as an inspirational leader because you immediately improve your chances for success. When you hear more perspectives, you will have more ideas to choose from, and one of them might be the most innovative and advanced idea ever heard. But you’ll never know if you’re not able to let go of control.
For example, you may realize that you need an expert in coding on your team, but that doesn’t mean you know how to code, so of course, you don’t tell the coder how to do their job. However, you may know how to do other things that you still assign to team members. Allow and encourage the team members to do their thing without taking over. This can prompt them to develop new skills and producing innovative solutions to problems.
Need help making the shift from do-er to leader? Schedule a complimentary strategy session and let's discuss your next steps!
