Giving Up Your "Bike": Knowing When It's Right to Move Out of the Way

Have you ever recognized that moment when the one you are training up is now ready to pass you up? The proper leadership advice is to celebrate the success of the next generation and gladly move out of the way. I’m not sure about you, but the pride in me sometimes drives me to want to push harder, which means that I can stay in the way.

Titus, my 17-year-old, and I were mountain biking at Centennial the other day. It’s my first time back on a bike since a knee injury in March. Titus rode behind me not because he was slower, but because he was watching out for me! A couple of years ago, I was riding slower to watch out for him and to teach him how to ride.  Now the roles have swapped. A few times on the trail, I found myself trying harder and going faster at attempting to keep the pace, but the attempts were short lived due to my limited lung capacity and choosing humility over a hospital visit! The whole time he knew he could ride in front, but he choose to stay behind.

The question for me became: How long will I hold him back?

During that ride it became clear that this was a perfect picture of the joys and pains of succession planning. Leaders are always expected to be developing their replacement so they can take on new roles. That means you are working yourself out of a job so you can take on a new one.

When leaders don’t develop a replacement:

*            They get stuck in a rut.

*            They lose leadership capacity and organizational influence.

*            They lose their emerging leaders to competitors.

When leaders develop a replacement:

*            They continually take on new challenges.

*            They gain leadership capacity and a voice in the organization.

*            They build up high performing leaders.

Quite frankly – those 6 bullets (above) aren’t anything new to most of you. What we don’t talk about very often is the challenge of “getting out of the way”. What we’re talking about is the recognition that our self-worth and value is not wrapped up in what we have done or where we are going. The tasks we have successfully completed are not the sum of our identity. They are simply work that we are good at and love to do. Because our self-worth is not wrapped up in our work, we can build up others at work without fear of losing our self-worth and value.

You might be trying to barrel down the trail right now while holding on to aspects of your job that deep down you know belong to the emerging leader who’s waiting for you to pass the baton of the task, project, or role on to them. You are taking on too much and limiting the development of your team. They will only stay behind you for so long.

This is when you must dig deep and have the courage to make the change. Swallow your pride and do for them what you want someone else to do for you. Leave a legacy worth remembering by improving the life of your team members. Don’t be like the rider making everyone slow down simply because you want to stay in front. Moving out of the way doesn’t make you less valuable or less worthy. Moving out of the way means you’ve done something right, and you will find new ways to bring value to the team.

You might be in a place right now where you have made the handoff and you are watching your successor succeed. Now you are working hard to learn what it means to lead the organization and not a department, or lead a department instead of team, or lead a team instead of project. Lean in and make the shift. Study, seek mentors, call us to coach you, or do whatever you need to do to succeed in your new stage of life and work. Don’t look back on what used to be; look forward to what CAN BE.

You might be in a place like my son, Titus, when we were on the bike trail. You know you can move faster, smoother and better, but you keep watch out of respect and empathy. Be patient, ask the right questions, and seek feedback. When the opportunity to move up presents itself, then take it. Don’t lead with false humility and sink back saying you aren’t ready. Say you are ready and then rock-n-roll.

For leaders, leadership is about building others up. Leadership is not about holding on to power and responsibility for dear life. Leadership isn’t “white-knuckling”.

My son and I made it to the top of hill. I was allowing oxygen to enter my body when we heard a large “POP”. The bike tire on my son’s bike exploded. He was ready for 7 more miles, and I was cooked. That’s when we traded bikes, and I sent him on the next leg of the ride. There was no reason to hold him back. The leader’s role is to provide resources to help team members succeed. Sometimes that might mean giving away what’s been yours.

*            What challenges have you felt while waiting to step into a new role?

*            What challenges have you faced while preparing someone to take on your role?

*            What joys have you experienced while helping leaders develop and take the next step in their careers?