"I feel like I’m always behind. I want to be present for my team, but it takes so much of my time that I can’t focus on the work I was hired to do," Lisa, head of compliance at a fintech company, shared during one of our coaching sessions.
This scenario is all too familiar. Many leaders, despite their best intentions, end up being the bottleneck for their teams. They want to be supportive and accessible, but in doing so, they unintentionally stifle collaboration and growth within their teams.
This scenario is all too familiar. Many leaders, despite their best intentions, end up being the bottleneck for their teams. They want to be supportive and accessible, but in doing so, they unintentionally stifle collaboration and growth within their teams.
Let’s break this down.
What Good Leaders Do—And What They Miss
If you’re a leader, you’re likely already doing a lot of things right. You offer coaching and feedback, ensure regular one-on-one meetings and promote team-building activities. These actions are foundational to leadership, and they’re essential for creating a positive team environment. But there’s something critical that often gets missed.
Even with all those good practices, many leaders fail to cultivate the kind of peer-to-peer connections that are essential for high-performing teams (I've written about this previously). Instead of relying on one another, team members often default to seeking guidance or approval from their manager. And that’s where things start to break down.
When your team consistently comes to you for answers, you end up overwhelmed. Your time is consumed by managing day-to-day issues, leaving little room for the strategic work you were hired to do. Meanwhile, the team’s performance stagnates because they haven’t developed the capability to collaborate independently.
When your team consistently comes to you for answers, you end up overwhelmed. Your time is consumed by managing day-to-day issues, leaving little room for the strategic work you were hired to do. Meanwhile, the team’s performance stagnates because they haven’t developed the capability to collaborate independently.
Why Interdependence Is Crucial
In a high-functioning team, members don’t work in silos, deferring all decisions to the leader. They work together—leveraging each other’s strengths, skills and insights to solve complex problems and achieve shared goals.
Interdependence is the cornerstone of any successful team. When your team members feel empowered to turn to one another, they can make quicker decisions, solve problems more effectively and execute plans with greater cohesion. In other words, they don’t need to wait for you to guide them at every turn.
What’s The Solution?
To move from being the central hub through which everything flows to fostering a team that functions as a cohesive, self-reliant unit, you need to shift your leadership approach. Instead of leading from the front, your role should evolve into one that enables your team to build connections and rely on each other.
Here are five ways you can get started:
1. Promote a culture of collaboration.
Make it clear that you expect team members to engage with one another, not just with you. Encourage them to lean on each other’s expertise and insights before coming to you for solutions. This helps build a sense of ownership and trust within the team.
2. Facilitate peer-to-peer learning.
During team meetings, create opportunities for team members to share their knowledge with one another. Whether through cross-functional projects or knowledge-sharing sessions, these moments can strengthen relationships and deepen collaboration.
3. Encourage problem-solving within sub-groups.
Rather than stepping in to solve every issue, ask your team to work together and then present their solutions to you. This empowers them and fosters a sense of accountability while also freeing up your time for more strategic work.
4. Be intentional about relationship-building.
It’s not enough to simply organize a social event and hope for the best. Actively encourage team members to get to know each other on a deeper level to create trust. This can be done by pairing them for projects or facilitating small group discussions where they can connect over shared challenges and goals.
5. Connect your team with stakeholders.
In my experience, many leaders overlook this step. It’s not just about fostering internal collaboration; you should also be connecting your team with external stakeholders—whether they are other departments, clients or key decision-makers.
By doing this, you empower your team to build relationships outside of your immediate purview. Let them present their solutions and ideas directly to stakeholders. Over time, this reduces your role as the middleman and allows your team to operate more autonomously.
The Leader's Role In A High-Performing Team
At the end of the day, your role as a leader isn’t to be the sole problem-solver or decision-maker. It’s to create an environment where your team feels empowered to rely on one another and work together to move forward. By fostering interdependence within your team and encouraging external connections, you’ll not only free yourself from the constant demands of being the go-to person but also unlock your team’s full potential.
Taking these steps will help you create a self-reliant, high-performing team—one that can operate effectively without your constant input. And in the process, you’ll regain the time and space you need to focus on the strategic work you were hired to do.