Learning the Joy and Challenge of Letting Go

Many of us spent the weekend becoming armchair experts on gymnastics, handball, shooting, shot put, and all the other sports we are obviously great at … we just chose to read emails like this rather than become Olympians. I think we chose well!

There was an incredible scene this weekend of an exchange between Noah Lyles (current fastest man in the world) and Usain Bolt (former fastest man in the world). Usain was encouraging Noah to be himself and continue to be a great personality for the sport. It was a great exchange because no one has brought more attention to sprinting since Mr. Bolt himself. Bolt could have worked to suppress the new up and comer or he could embrace and encourage. He could be frustrated it’s no longer him in the spotlight or celebrate the new sprinter in the spotlight.

There’s joy in embracing the move from player to coach. There’s also a tension many of us feel when we start to let go of what once made us great. Here are three shifts I think many of us have to work through to get there …

1) Recognize Your Capacity

Leaders – I’m not saying you are not capable but am I saying you are limiting your capacity to focus on what’s most important by not letting your team take on what you used to love to do.

Some have shared the perspective that Michael Jordan (when he joined the Washington Wizards) should have recognized his capacity when he became a player for his new team. Yes, he still performed well. Yes, he was able to dominate young players. But he wasn’t able to lead them to become a championship team on his shoulders. I wonder what could have happened if he would have chosen to embrace the owner/manager role versus trying to improve the team as a player.

Small business leaders and Fortune 100 leaders have a few things in common and one of those realities is that we struggle with letting go of the responsibilities that propelled us to where we are. The problem is we were responsible for those pillars without our current responsibilities in place. When we hold on, stay in the weeds and choose not to let go of responsibilities, we limit our organizations, team members and ourselves. Who knows – your team could have the next “gold” medal team member. Who knows – maybe you will learn to love and embrace leading at a new level when you stop holding on to areas of your work your team should be doing.

Ask yourself:

• What decisions did you make in the past two weeks that your team members should have made?

• What tasks did you complete in the past two weeks that your team members should have accomplished?

• How much time did you spend doing what others should be doing?

2) Understand Your Capability

Last week my brother-in-law texted and asked if I wanted to do 9 short sprints over a lunch hour. I thought … I have the time and could use a change up in the workout. How hard could 9 sprints really be?! When I arrived at his house, he said we were doing a warmup run to the school first. One and a half miles later, he was ready to sprint, and I was ready to find an Uber! I was never the fastest sprinter in track, but I held my own. Peter was a state champion and collegiate sprinter. Three sprints in I realized, it’s good for me to “sprint”, but I am no means a “sprinter” … anymore. Some might call it a fast jog.

Yes, you could code like no other in the past. Yes, you understand the nuances of project management better than most. Yes, you can operate a pivot table in ways 27 years old have never seen. However, the more you do those things for your team the more you limit yourself and your new team. Maybe they can bring in new technology and resources that amplify your business and decision making, but they can’t because they aren’t empowered to lead. The challenge is those team members might view you as they view me trying to sprint … with appreciation, but knowing that if given the chance, they could do better.

What I used to do well I can’t do as well as the next generation. We must remember that lesson as leaders. Just because we used to be great at something, maybe even the best at it, doesn’t mean we have to continue to be the leaders responsible for it.

Ask yourself:

• Are there some responsibilities or tasks you continue to do that a team member might be able to do more efficiently?

• Is there a skill you are still proficient at but your current responsibilities don’t require you to be great at?

• Who on your team can take on some of the tasks you need to let go of?

3) Embrace Your Responsibility

If a coach spends an entire practice trying to prove to the team they are better at the sport than the team they coach – will they be a great coach? The coach’s role has shifted from player to coach and the coach needs to embrace the new responsibility. If they don’t … well we’ve all heard stories of little league coaches who forget they are coaching 12-years-olds.

Great leaders have learned to embrace their new responsibilities without trying to manage and stay overly involved with their former responsibilities. The new role is to train, encourage, strategize, give feedback, and prepare team members to be successful. Great leaders set their team up to receive the gold medal and don’t try to get the gold medal themselves.

If there is one encouragement, I can give you this week it is this: Embrace your responsibility and delegate any responsibility that truly doesn’t belong on your plate.

Ask yourself:

• What do you continue to think about, process, stay involved in that you don’t need to anymore?

Start Coaching and Leave a Legacy Worth Remembering

Every leader has a responsibility to care for and grow what they steward. Meaning, we need to care for, support and grow the people making the organization work. That’s a shift in what makes you great. This is a shift in what the organization needs from you.

A leader said something wise the other day and it took me a minute to process. “Just because you are right, doesn’t mean you are right.” This took me a minute because quite frankly, I love being right. What the leader was saying is this … sometimes it’s okay if something isn’t perfect. Sometimes small mistakes have to be made so team members can grow and develop. When the leader is always “right”, the team member will stop making decisions and thus will stop growing.

Don’t make the mistake of always telling and reminding the team of your past glory. Coach the team member to greatness today because today it is their responsibility not yours. You have bigger areas of responsibility to focus on.

Ask yourself:

• What would your life and leadership look like if you focused solely on your responsibilities and not everyone else’s?

Insight Leadership Group offers tested and proven coaching and training to help leaders and managers successfully own and transition in their roles.

Reach out today to Michael (michael@insightlg.com) or Ryan (ryan@insightlg.com) to take the next step in developing yourself and/or your team.