There is a common trap that a lot of leaders fall into, it is when they get in the way of their team. It's unintentional. Leaders (I did it too in my day) sometimes overvalue their presence when in reality, the team benefits more when they're aren't there.
For example, a colleague of mine was promoted to interim Director after her boss resigned. She had seniority on the team, her teammates (or former peers) were supportive of her new supervisory role and the Vice President was pleased with the transition. Yet, this VP now attends their team meetings in the name of “supporting the team”. My colleague shared that her team doesn’t like the VP there and feels they can’t speak freely with the VP in the room.
This VP is overvaluing their presence and instead their attendance at the meeting is negatively impacting the team dynamic. When teams feels like they can’t speak up, creativity and quality problem-solving are stifled.
An important competency for a leader is knowing when to step away, back off, or let go.
It’s no wonder it’s difficult, though. A wealth of leadership development literature says that the leader is responsible for the team’s success. I often say something similar, “Teams are the product of their leadership.” All true. A leader can make or break a team.
So, with the best of intentions, leaders will overstep and go where they aren’t needed.
It’s a nuanced behavior that leaders take time to pick up...or they never do, remain in the weeds of their team’s work, and settle into micro-management as their leadership style of choice.
If you are a manager, it’s wise to understand the following about team dynamics.
Teams Are Responsible for Accountability, Not the Boss
While it’s true that leaders have a great impact on the team, the boss isn’t solely accountable for performance. Each member of the team is responsible for its success and must hold each other accountable. When everyone recognizes this and takes ownership of teamwork, teams do great things together.
Joseph Grenney studies team performance and writes in Harvard Business Review that teams generally fall into three categories:
In the weakest teams, there is no accountability.
In mediocre teams, bosses are the source of accountability.
In high performance teams, peers manage the vast majority of performance problems with one another.
This means, bosses are not to be the referees of every disagreement or the “hall monitor” making sure everyone gets to meetings on time. Nor are they the sole provider of ideas or the problem-solver. In high-performance, the team is largely responsible for all of it.
To be certain, staff require skills and standard processes to be able to hold each other accountable. For example, members of the team not only need to skills to be able to resolve disagreements productively, but they also need a process for when there is an impasse.
Such as what Grenney offers “…set a policy that 'it takes two to escalate.' In other words, both peers need to agree they can’t resolve it [a disagreement] at their level before they bring it to you together.”
Teams who have clear processes for how to work together and a boss who understands when to stay back, don’t just perform better, they’re more satisfied in their work too.
Knowing when you aren’t needed as a leader boils down to trust. Every leader must ask themselves, “Do I trust my team to do the right thing?” If the answer is yes, then back off. If the answer is no, then develop their skills, establish some processes, and then back off. Everyone will benefit from it.
Until next time!
Amy Drader is a management consultant and credentialed coach with over 20 years’ experience in HR and operations. She knows first-hand the joys and challenges of leading people and is dedicated to helping managers and teams advance their performance. She is the owner of Growth Partners Consulting, a boutique leadership and team development consulting firm that provides customized training and coaching.