How Do I Get Out of the Weeds as a Leader?
If too much of your day is spent in meetings, details, approvals and problems your team could handle, you are probably too deep in the work.
Getting out of the weeds starts by getting clear about where your leadership is actually needed, then resisting the pull back into work that feels familiar.
The Weeds Usually Feel Productive.
You know this work. You are good at it. You can answer the question, fix the detail or jump into the meeting and move things along.
That is exactly why it is easy to stay there. You get the immediate feeling of being useful while the harder work your role now requires waits somewhere else on your calendar.
Your Old Strengths Can Keep Pulling You Back In.
Many leaders built their reputation by knowing the work, solving problems quickly and being the person people could count on.
Once you are responsible for results through other people, that same instinct can turn you into the fixer. You keep showing up where you can help, even when the team could carry more without you.
Ask yourself: “Am I here because this needs my leadership, or because this is work I know how to do?”
Look at What Keeps Getting Pushed.
The cost of being in the weeds is usually sitting somewhere else on your list.
The difficult conversation. The strategic decision. Developing someone instead of giving them the answer. Thinking ahead. Building the next layer of leadership. Work that may be less comfortable, but requires you in a way the details do not.
Getting Out Does Not Mean Checking Out.
You still need to know what is happening. You still hold the standard. You still step in when your judgment is truly required.
The shift is becoming more deliberate about where you spend your time, so your team has room to own more and your attention goes where it creates the most value.
Bring One Place You Keep Getting Pulled Back In.
We’ll look at why it keeps happening and what you could do differently the next time.
45 minutes. Bring one real situation. We’ll start there.