Hero = Zero

The other day one of my team members was having an issue which had potential negative impacts on our company. He and I talked through the issue and then created and executed a game plan to solve the issue. Unfortunately, this game plan led to other issues, which ultimately led to the involvement of more people. So, I decided to swoop in, manage the issue, become the point person for solving the issue and eventually we were able to de-escalate and fix the issue. I felt pretty good about myself! 

But after further review, my actions were more detrimental long term and I had robbed my team member of a fantastic learning opportunity to grow. I get that when the house is on fire, we may need to step in, give direction and put the fire out. But reality is not the same as perception, and nine times out of ten, the house really is not on fire in spite of how loud or emotional others can be. Thankfully, I have a very intuitive team member, and after I came in and saved the day (at least that was how I was feeling) he brought me back to reality. He let me know that although he was appreciative of my efforts, a much better, long-term approach would have been to have provided him feedback and guidance, and to allow him to work with the other players to solve the issue. In that way he would have been empowered to problem-solve, ultimately strengthening relationships with others impacted.

Truth be told, we all learn by doing. Trying, failing, trying something new, failing again, and finally trying another new approach is how we learn. Unless I give my team the opportunity to solve the problem, and unless I allow them to struggle, there is little to no learning for them. So, although it makes me feel good to be the hero, being the hero most of the time is an insight into my opportunities to improve as a leader. True leaders rarely need to be the hero…they leave that to their team members.