Leadership Impasse: Understanding Why Leaders Find Themselves Stuck and What Strategies to Employ in Order to Escape This Predicament

Leadership Impasse: Understanding Why Leaders Find Themselves Stuck and What Strategies to Employ in Order to Escape This Predicament

Trapped in a never-ending cycle of problem-solving and carrying the weight of improvement efforts? You're probably stuck in the infamous Doer Trap. The Doer Trap emerges when leaders, managers, operational excellence practitioners, or consultants take on too much responsibility and fail to empower their teams to lead.

The roots of this troublesome habit are embedded in our upbringing, where we're rewarded for having the right answers and developing a rapid response to crises. In a world that's constantly pressed for time, taking matters into our own hands may seem like the smart thing to do. Furthermore, many organizations suffer from understaffing, often forcing operational excellence practitioners into less strategic roles. Leaders themselves are often overloaded, struggling with burnout and feeling obliged to be the driving force behind everything.

However, the flip side of this story is that if you're always the one solving the problems, real change won't happen. Your role as a coach or a team leader is to enable problem-solving across your organization, not to be the one personally getting all the results. Instead, support the people around you in owning and executing the work, which will lead to sustainable, high-performing teams.

Transition from the expert problem-solver to the enabler of problem-solving by stepping back and handing over responsibility to the individuals who should own the doing. But be mindful when intervening in tasks, as doing someone else's work takes away their sense of ownership. If you want to cultivate a continuous improvement culture where you're not stuck doing everything, free yourself from the Doer Trap.

Recognizing the Roles That Keep You Stuck

If you find yourself constantly playing "worker bee" rather than steering the ship, you might be entangled in one of these Doer Trap roles:

**The ProDigit (aka "The Hero" or "The Rescuer"):You're always rushing in to save the day with your problem-solving skills. But not every problem needs your unique solution. Resisting the urge to take charge and enable team members to find their own ways to solve problems is crucial to fostering a culture of growth and learning.

The ProDigit's overzealousness may stem from a desire for recognition and validation from peers or, sometimes, a misguided sense of duty. The key to breaking this cycle is to recognize that fostering confidence and problem-solving skills in others leads to greater resilience and self-sufficiency in the long run.

**The Illusionist (aka "The Magician):It looks like you're delegating tasks and giving your team members ownership over those tasks. However, you're secretly manipulating the outcomes behind the scenes. By micromanaging your team members and shaping their work without their knowledge, you're hindering their ability to grow and develop their own unique problem-solving skills.

What the Illusionist needs is to let go and trust that the "process may smudge," allowing room for mistakes and learning experiences. By providing your team with the necessary tools, resources, and guidance, you'll help them learn, grow, and develop their skills independently.

Breaking Free: Taking the Leap from Doer to Transformational Leader

To leave the Doer Trap behind and move toward becoming a transformational leader committed to fostering team growth, consider adopting the following practices:

1. Revisit and Reaffirm Roles

• Clearly define each person's role, both in the "what" (outcomes) and the "how" (thinking and problem-solving processes).
• Be willing to handle the work when necessary but focus on setting clear conditions for success and supporting team members in executing the work.

2. Communicate Expectations

• Set boundaries and expectations with the people you support, whether direct reports, coaches, or broader teams. This will help you avoid wandering into "pair-of-hands" or "surrogate leader" roles.
• Create alignment by discussing expectations and discussing how success will be measured.

3. Model the Way and Invite Reflection

• Model reflective leadership behaviors by communicating your intentions openly ("I’m asking this question to help you think, not because I expect a certain answer")
• Encourage team members to reflect on their successes and challenges, as this will help them develop their skills and cultivate the habit of continuous improvement.

By adopting these practices, you'll begin to break free from the Doer Trap and transform into a transformational leader who multiplies team potential and fosters a culture of growth and learning. Listen to more about these shifts and hear stories of other successful change leaders in the Chain of Learning podcast. Here’s to stepping out of the Doer Trap and into your full leadership potential!

To achieve true, sustainable change, focus on cultivating autonomy, clarity, and empowerment within your teams by following these practices:

1. Delegate with a clear purpose and direction.
2. Communicate the "why" behind your delegation, enabling team members to own "how" they achieve the desired outcome.
3. Use appropriate language to model your intentions and remove assumptions about your involvement. For example, "I'm pausing to let you think," or "I have experience with this but I want you to share your thoughts first."
4. Build trust through empowerment.
5. Encourage independent problem-solving by consistently resisting the urge to provide immediate solutions. Instead, ask open-ended questions to stimulate critical thinking.
6. Create psychological safety by normalizing mistakes and framing errors as learning opportunities.
7. Foster continuous learning by prioritizing mentorship over micromanagement.
8. Allocate time to coach and guide others in their growth, simplifying tasks when necessary to free up more time for strategic coaching.
9. Embrace the power of small wins by removing non-essential tasks, allowing team members the opportunity to experiment, self-reflect, and make progress.

[1] Argyris, C., & Schön, D. A. (1978). Organization and management: A significant recasting. Academic press.[2] Fineman, S. (2016). The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook: The Fast Track Guide to Problem Solving and Process Improvement for Managers, Engineers, and Project Managers (The Lean Six Sigma Toolbook Series Book 1). Productivity Press.[3] Kim, H., & Mauborgne, R. (2005). Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant. HarperCollins.[4] Tomasulo, E., & Hyatt, J. (2021). 6 Habits of Highly Effective Continuous Improvement Coaches. IndustryWeek. [5] Weinstein, A. (2017). Overcoming the Doer Trap: Shift from Saving the Day to Coaching the Team. HR Break Room.

1. Transitioning from a problem-solver to an enabler of problem-solving is crucial for fostering a culture of growth and learning. This requires stepping back and allowing team members to find their own solutions instead of always rushing in to save the day.
2. The Illusionist, another Doer Trap role, may appear to delegate tasks but in reality micromanages the outcomes. To break this cycle, it's essential to trust team members and provide them with the necessary tools, resources, and guidance to grow and develop their unique problem-solving skills.
3. Adopting practices such as clearly defining roles, communicating expectations, and modeling reflective leadership behaviors can help leaders move towards becoming transformational leaders who multiply team potential.
4. To achieve sustainable change, leaders should focus on cultivating autonomy, clarity, and empowerment within their teams. This can be done by delegating with a clear purpose and direction, communicating the "why", using appropriate language, building trust, encouraging independent problem-solving, creating psychological safety, fostering continuous learning, and allocating time for coaching and guidance.

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