The Leadership Trap of Being Helpful

Photo by Neil Thomas on Unsplash 

We all want leaders who are helpful, willing to pull their sleeves up, jump into the trenches and get dirty with the work that needs to be done. When employees see leaders do that, they communicate that they are not above the work and are invested in the team’s success.

Consider the following examples:

Carlos manages a department of twelve people. He is known as the person who can fix anything. When a project falls behind, he jumps in. When an employee struggles, he takes on part of the work himself. When a deadline is tight, he stays late to make sure everything gets done.

Jennifer leads a nonprofit with a talented staff. When someone brings her a draft report, she edits it. When a difficult conversation needs to happen, she steps in. When a committee gets stuck, she takes over. She is passionate about supporting her staff.

Mark owns a growing manufacturing company. As soon as he arrives at the office, he is in high demand from his staff: a supervisor has a question, a customer needs an answer, a production issue pops up. Being so available, he believes, ensures that staff don’t make costly mistakes.

Each of these leaders is capable, committed, and conscientious. And certainly, they deserve credit for keeping the company on track and successful. 

And yet, they are all putting their organizations at risk.

By being so helpful and continually jumping in to solve problems they are making themselves indispensable. The more they help, the more indispensable they become. And the more indispensable they become, the less effective the organization becomes.

Carlos notices that every time he takes a vacation, operations grind to a halt.

Jennifer’s staff come directly to her when they need something and wait for her approval before moving forward.

Because he got pulled into the weeds, Mark hasn't touched the strategic planning work he keeps saying is his top priority. 

Over time, this kind of helpfulness can quietly turn into over-functioning. Rather than promoting smooth systems, the leader becomes the system. The organization’s success rests on one person’s shoulders.

The costs of an overhelpful leader are not always easy to spot but over time they have a very tangible impact on the organization.

Cost #1: The Leader Becomes the BottleneckWhen everything flows through the leader, nothing moves without them. Projects stall while waiting on decisions from the top. The organization may look busy, but efficiency is sacrificed.

Cost #2: The Team Stops GrowingWhen leaders do all the analysis, problem solving, and decision making, they block opportunities for their staff to develop skills, build confidence, and learn from their mistakes. Rather than feeling empowered, employees hesitate. Over time, they stop taking initiative and develop a form of learned helplessness, assuming the leader will step in to solve problems, make decisions, or remove obstacles for them.

Cost #3: Leaders Lose Sight of Their Real Job

The more time leaders spend solving the operational issue du jour, the less time they have for strategic thinking, relationship building, long-term planning, and organizational development. This keeps the company stagnant and unable to effectively respond to changing market conditions. 

Cost #4: Burnout and Resentment DevelopLeaders trying to be everything to everyone are on a sure path to burnout and its devastating ripple effects. They can become difficult to be around or develop health problems that take them away from work. In addition, what begins as helpfulness can give rise to resentment between leaders and employees. The leader feels overburdened and unappreciated, while employees feel micromanaged and underused.

In subsequent blogs we’ll discuss the underlying motivations of an overhelpful leader and steps leaders can take to correct the dynamic.

Until then, reflect on the following questions to see if this might be an issue that needs your attention:

• If I disappeared for two weeks, what would happen in the organization?

• Am I making progress on the things that only I can do as a leader?

• If I stopped helping in this area tomorrow, would the organization get weaker? Or would someone finally step up and grow?