Stop Fighting Fires. Start Leading. (#249)
The Confident Leader
BOOST YOUR LEADERSHIP IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
You have a vision, a strong roadmap, and momentum. However, it continues to be hijacked by the latest office fire or drama. A CEO recently told me: “Robin, I dedicate time for strategic thinking, but I spend it putting out flames or refereeing emotional dodgeball.”
“The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.” —Tony Blair
This Week’s Edition
How much strategy advancement are people on your team costing you because you’re too busy solving issues they should be handling themselves?
Clarify Your Thinking
A founder I work with recently blocked off a Friday morning for in-depth strategy work. He arrived early, coffee in hand, with the whiteboard ready.
Thirty minutes in, he received a Slack message: “Hey—can we talk? Sam and Lauren are at it again…”
The remainder of the morning? Vanished.
This is a common trap: the leader as fixer. Leaders tell themselves it’s leadership. You’re helping. You’re needed. You’re responsive.
But what’s really happening is this: you are expending your best energy on issues that someone else should be addressing.
When your leaders escalate the noise to you instead of addressing it, you’re not actually leading; you’re managing dysfunction.
The real issue isn’t that the team has problems, that may always exist. It’s that your leadership system either doesn’t exist or isn’t equipped to handle them.
Old Thinking:
I have to stay involved, or things will fall apart. It’s part of my role as a leader.
New Thinking:
I’m not helping by staying involved; I’m enabling dependency. It’s time to teach my leaders how to handle these situations, thereby training them on what earns my attention.
Thoughts Lead to Actions
If your strategy meetings are replaced by hallway interventions or your calendar is overrun by emotions, reclaim your leadership role.
Here’s how to transition from firefighter to future-builder:
➤ 1. Reset expectations.
- Clarify the responsibilities for each role concerning leading their team.
- Clarify their responsibilities, what should be escalated, and to whom.
➤ 2. Identify underdeveloped skills.
- Inquire with each leader about their struggles concerning the new expectations.
- Trouble holding people accountable? Having crucial conversations? Engaging in discussions with emotional individuals?
- Raise awareness of their development areas.
➤ 3. Train your team.
- Establish a training protocol to help each leader improve in their areas of development.
- Employ a training model: I do, you watch. I do, you help. You do, I help. You do, I watch.
The ultimate goal is for you, the leader, to return to dedicated strategy time that is not interrupted by issues your leaders should be handling. That’s what you hired them for. Let them do what they can so you can focus on what only you can do for the organization.
You can’t lead the future if you’re babysitting the present. If you always respond to panic, you’ll keep training people to panic.
Start elevating the standards for what disrupts your day. You’re not the fire chief. You’re the architect of a fire-resistant culture.
Boost Your Performance
What’s Your Opinion?
What’s one team issue you’re still solving—but shouldn’t be? Share it with me at robin.pou@robinpou.com.
If you are going to be a leader, you might as well be a good one. Don’t let doubt count you out. Have a confident week!
Robin Pou, Chief Advisor and Strategist
We live to make bad leadership extinct so forward this newsletter to others who strive to be confident leaders.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE CONFIDENT LEADER
Let’s Connect
Follow me on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.
What is “The Confident Leader”?
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began a video series called “Panic or Plan?” It was designed to equip leaders to navigate the doubt they experienced and to rise in the confidence they needed to lead during turbulent times. It took off. I then started this newsletter to equip leaders in the same fashion each week for the doubt that crashes across the bow of their leaderSHIP.
