Trying to protect the team from the crazy

Do you try to protect your team by taking on all of the hard stuff yourself? If so, you are doing yourself and your team a disservice. They need to see the dragons too! How do I know? I have done it too!

helping my team thrive

I am the type of manager that likes to see my team thrive. I love watching people do the things that they love and I often find that I get really protective of them.  I want them to be able to stay focused on what they are doing and so I put myself out as a buffer.  

I try to protect them from the other, non-essential, and distracting that that are going on around us.  I go to the trash meetings, I deal with the people who act inappropriately, I take on the hard conversations, and make the hard calls. 

protecting my team from the crazy was fine but... 

At the beginning this was just fine, because I could see how it was in the short term benefiting my team, but it came to bite me pretty quick because it meant:

• They had an unrealistic view of what was being done behind the scenes.
• I carried all the stress by myself which was not helpful.
• I had no protected time to do my own work. 

your responsibility as a leader

As a leader, you are going to shoulder many things the rest of your team will not. You are not, however, responsible for creating a fairy tale for them. 

You should let them see the dragons, 

You should talk to them about the things that are hard.

You should let them help you, the same way that you help them.

Being real with your team in this way, will actually deepen your relationship and help you stay more sane. → Both great outcomes! 

Are you sharing the dragons in your work, or are you letting the fire consume you?

THE FAILSUME