Leadership Isn’t About Doing Everything

Have you ever felt the need to prove you’re worthy of your position by working harder than everyone else?

Particularly after a promotion or in a new role, it's natural to want to feel and be perceived as adding value, working hard and deserving of the new title.

It's a great motivator with good intent, but can be a slippery slope.

Instead of attending to the most important parts of the senior role that you've been selected for, you risk becoming entangled in a little bit of everything in an attempt to demonstrate your value, rather than delivering the true impact that you were hired for.

In the end you can end up burnt out, a bottleneck, or possibly both.

One of the greatest challenges of senior leadership is the confidence to back yourself, and courage to spend your time on the right things by avoiding the trap of busywork.

Leading sustainably and strategically requires resisting the guilt and temptation to get involved in everything, and to focus on what matters most, with the space, clarity and energy to action and lead it.

As a starting point, check in on what's driving your approach - it is beliefs about other's expectations (which may not be accurate), or a habitual way of operating that no longer serves you?

Sometimes stepping up means letting go of what's worked for you in the past.