One of the biggest shifts I see leaders struggle with isn't a skill issue, it's an identity issue. Most people are promoted because they're good at solving problems. They're capable, reliable, and highly knowledgeable. They are the person everyone turns to when something goes wrong.
In fact, if you've built a successful career, there's a good chance you've spent years collecting gold stars for being the person with the answers. Then one day you're promoted into leadership, and suddenly the very thing that made you successful becomes the thing holding you back, because leadership isn't about solving every problem, it's about creating an environment where problems get solved without you.
This happened to Sarah, who had moved into a mid-level role in a large organisation. It was an important role in a business area that impacted many other sectors of that organisation. The team was not all in place at the start, and Sarah had to hire new members, which took time. The amount of work was overwhelming as Sarah tried to do it all while the team grew.
She was across and doing pretty much everything, which made it harder to delegate responsibilities as new team members came on board. She wanted to make sure the work was done ‘right’. And that led to things getting dropped, missed, stalled, or forgotten, as Sarah was involved in everything but not across everything as thoroughly as she had intended. When she did hand work over to the team she was micromanaging them to do it just as she wanted it done. This was exhausting and overwhelming for everyone.
I often think of leadership like building a house. Many leaders are still walking around the construction site carrying bricks. They're lifting, moving, fixing, checking, and patching things up all day long. They're exhausted, and yet the building never seems to get finished.
Why?
Because they've forgotten they were hired to be the architect. Architects don't spend their days carrying bricks, they design the structure, they create the plans, they ensure everything has a solid foundation. And that's where I think many leadership challenges actually begin. Not at the roof, or in the walls, and not even in the team. It's In the foundation, because every leadership behaviour is built on top of a belief.
If your foundation says: "If I don't do it, it won't be done properly," you'll struggle to delegate.
If your foundation says: "I need to have all the answers," you'll struggle to coach.
If your foundation says: "My value comes from being needed," you'll find it difficult to create an independent team.
You'll keep carrying bricks long after you've been promoted out of the brick-carrying business.
The problem is that foundations are largely invisible.
People see the micromanaging, the overwork, and the reluctance to delegate. But underneath those behaviours is often a belief quietly running the show, and no amount of leadership training can fix a foundational problem.
That's why when I work with leaders, we don't just talk about what they're doing, we explore what they're believing because sustainable leadership isn't built on techniques alone, it's built on a foundation that can support the leader you want to become.
The leaders who create the biggest impact aren't necessarily the smartest people in the room, they're the people who have built a strong enough foundation to trust others, let go, and focus on creating success through their team. Their value no longer comes from what they personally do, it comes from what they create.
So here's a question for you. If your leadership was a building, what belief is currently holding up the structure? And more importantly...Is it strong enough to support where you're trying to go next?
Because every great building starts with the foundation. Which is what changed things for Sarah, and how she lead her team, she focused on building her leadership foundation.
And every great leader does too.
If your leadership feels like it's carrying more weight than it should, it may be time to check the foundation. The Are You Leading at the Right Level? Scorecard will help you identify what's keeping you stuck in the doing and where to focus next. Take the scorecard here.
Maree