Leader "Fix-it" Obsession: Being the Hero Hurts

A common pitfall for first-time leaders is, the "Fix-it" Obsession. I will explain why "rescuing" your team often leads to burnout for you and stagnation for them. You attempt to be the hero, but you become a bottleneck, holding your team back.

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Transcript

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Welcome to First Time Leaders Accelerated. Leading people is the most important responsibility in the world, yet 60% of first-time leaders fail. This failure impacts your profit and loss statement while distressing your people. It's preventable, and I teach you how. I've condensed my four decades of leader transformation experience into concise, practical solutions you can apply immediately to begin reducing your operating expenses. This is your podcast if you're a first-time leader or you're responsible for selecting first-time leaders. I'm Timothy Dean Smith, your host. Each month, from January through July, I deliver you practical solutions to real leader problems. Now, let's solve one of your leader problems. A common pitfall for most first-time leaders is what I call the fix-it obsession. I will explain why rescuing your team often leads to burnout for you and stagnation for them. You attempt to be the hero, but you become a bottleneck holding your team back. As a leader, you should not attempt to do everything yourself simply because you want it done right. You should develop your team to think on their own and solve their own problems. To do this, you must transfer ownership, decision making, and initiative to the people. As a first-time leader, you want to start off on the right foot. So you arrive early and leave late. And your inbox ends up being a catch-all for your people's problems. It actually feels good to be the hero, to be the Mr. or Mrs. Fixit everyone relies on. What if I told you by solving every problem you're becoming your team's bottleneck? Today I'm talking about the fix-it obsession and how your desire to be helpful is actually hurting your team's growth. Now here are a few reasons for the leader fix-it obsession. The first is the hero's high. Solving a problem provides you an immediate hit of dopamine. It feels good to be the person with the answers. The second is competence comfort zone. Most first-time leaders are selected to lead because they were great individual performers who fix things. It's just simply what they did. And third is fear of failure. If a leader doesn't trust their team yet, they fix things themselves to ensure the result is exactly how they would have done it. Now here are some of the actual symptoms of the fix-it obsession. The first is the bottleneck. Your team can't move forward without your final touch or approval. There's something I call calendar chaos. Your day is filled with quick questions from your people, leaving you no time to lead. And then there's team silence. In meetings, your people stop offering ideas because they know you will provide the right one anyway. So why being the hero hurts? You have taught your people learned helplessness. You are unintentionally training your team to stop thinking. If you always have the answer, they have no reason to find it. Another thing is stunned growth. Resilience is a muscle and it's built by solving hard problems. When you rescue people, you prevent that muscle from growing. And then this one is huge. Leader burnout. You are doing one and a half jobs, yours and part of your teams. This is the fastest path to exhaustion. Now, how to cure the fix it obsession? First ask, don't tell. Instead of giving the answer, ask what's the first step you think we should take. Another, define the what, not the how. Tell your team what the final product should look like, but let them figure out how to get there. And also you should celebrate the attempted fixes. Even if they fail, praise the fact they tried to solve the problem without coming to you first. Your job is not to solve every problem. Your job is to develop your people's capability to solve their own problems. The next time someone brings you a problem, pause and ask these two questions. What is the problem? Second, what solution do you feel is best and why? Answering these questions transforms your team into proactive problem solvers, shifting them from bringing you problems to bringing you solutions. If you found my solution valuable, share it with others. Leading people is the most important responsibility in the world. I ensure the right leaders are prepared. Are the right people leading your people? How do you know? If you're not sure, let's find out together. Click Meet Me in the show notes or visit tdspi.com. That's tdspi.com. Until next time, treat people like they make a difference and they will. Thank you for listening. Take care.