There are days when I look up from my computer and think, “How did I spend my entire day and never actually lead?”
Instead, I spent the day catching up on emails, approving vacation requests, reviewing compensation changes, submitting expense reports, responding to one more “quick question,” and jumping into meeting after meeting.
None of those tasks are inherently bad. They’re all part of leadership.
But sometimes being “in the weeds” has nothing to do with paperwork.
It looks like sitting in every meeting because you’re afraid you’ll miss an important detail. It looks like reviewing every presentation before it goes out. It looks like being copied on every email or shadowing an employee, not because you’re coaching them, but because you don’t quite trust they’ll get it right without you.
I’ve been there.
Sometimes we convince ourselves that because we’re involved, we’re leading.
But the longer I’ve been a leader, the more I’ve realized those aren’t actually the things I’m uniquely responsible for.
My job isn’t just to keep today’s work moving.
My job is to make sure today’s work is moving us toward tomorrow.
That means stepping back often enough to identify trends, connect dots across departments, anticipate challenges before they happen, and make sure we’re still headed in the right direction.
If I spend all my time in everyone else’s work…
Who’s doing mine?
Let’s Simplify It
Over the years, I’ve noticed leaders tend to drift into one of three traps.
The first is The Bottleneck.
Everything runs through them.
Every decision.
Every approval.
Every question.
At first, it feels responsible. You know what’s going on, your team appreciates how available you are, and things move quickly because you already know the answers.
Until one day they don’t.
Your team stops making decisions because they’ve learned that you’ll eventually make them anyway. People wait for approval instead of taking ownership, and suddenly you’re exhausted while your team is underdeveloped.
The second trap is The Bystander.
This leader swings to the opposite extreme. They cast a compelling vision, kick off the project, wish everyone luck…and disappear.
No coaching.
No checkpoints.
No course corrections.
Then they reappear when something has gone sideways.
Leadership isn’t about hovering over people, but it also isn’t about hoping everything works out.
Our teams still need us. They just need us in a different way.
Then there’s The Hero.
You know this leader.
They swoop in at the very end.
Fix the presentation.
Rewrite the email.
Take over the proposal.
Save the day.
The project gets finished, everyone breathes a sigh of relief…and the team quietly learns that no matter how hard they work, the leader will always own the final product.
Heroes create dependence.
Leaders create confidence.
Leadership Altitude
Over the past few years, I’ve started thinking about projects differently.
I call it Leadership Altitude because great leaders don’t stay at one altitude throughout a project. They intentionally move up and down depending on what their team needs.
It starts with Launch.
Stephen Covey said,
“Begin with the end in mind.”
I love that because before anyone starts working, it’s my responsibility to answer a few questions.
Where are we going?
What does success look like?
Who owns what?
What are we solving?
Confused teams don’t need more effort.
They need more clarity.
Next comes Lead.
One of my favorite leadership reminders is:
Inspect what you expect.
I think people hear that phrase and immediately think micromanagement.
I don’t.
To me, inspection is coaching.
It’s checking in while there’s still time to make adjustments. It’s asking thoughtful questions, removing roadblocks, giving feedback, and making sure the project stays on course.
You don’t have to own the work to stay engaged in the work.
The third stage is Lift.
There’s an old coaching principle that says:
Never do for others what they can do for themselves.
That’s hard.
Because it’s usually faster to just do it yourself.
But every time we rescue someone from solving a problem they were capable of solving, we unintentionally teach them to bring the next one back to us too.
Lifting isn’t abandoning your team.
It’s stepping back just enough that they have room to step up.
Finally comes Land.
Every project deserves a proper ending.
Celebrate what went well.
Recognize the people who made it happen.
Reflect on what you’d change next time.
I love saying:
Celebrate what went well. Edit what didn’t.
That’s how teams improve.
Not by pretending everything was perfect, but by taking the time to learn before launching into the next project.
An Interesting Perspective
I recently heard Gary Vaynerchuk explain a similar philosophy.
He said he spends about 15% of his time setting the vision, roughly 80% letting his team execute, and the final 5% refining before launch.
The percentages aren’t what stuck with me.
The principle did.
Leaders create clarity.
Teams create momentum.
Then leaders return to coach, refine, and celebrate.
That’s how organizations scale.
Three Questions Every Leader Should Ask
The next time you find yourself buried in the weeds, pause and ask yourself:
- Am I doing work that only I can do, or work I’ve simply become comfortable doing?
- Am I developing my team, or creating dependence?
- When was the last time I climbed high enough to see where we’re actually headed?
Sometimes the biggest risk isn’t what you’re missing.
It’s what you’re too close to see.
One Final Thought
One of the hardest transitions in leadership is realizing that the work that earned you the promotion isn’t the work that will make you successful once you get there.
As individual contributors, we were rewarded for execution.
As leaders, we’re rewarded for building people, creating clarity, and seeing what others can’t yet see.
That requires changing altitude.
Visit the weeds when you need to.
Coach your people.
Understand the work.
But don’t live there.
Because while you’re busy looking at what’s directly in front of you, someone still has to make sure the entire team is headed toward the right destination.
That’s the work of a leader.
Let’s lead with more clarity and less noise.
— Abby
