Build trust rather than throwing shade

Don’t be the person who shades other people out.

Org charts can’t be described in hierarchical terms anymore. In their place are relationships and teams that span area of focus and level of responsibility. To be effective in these environments, people need to be able to trust one another enough to make good decisions to move the shared work forward.

Consider, do you allow the people you work with the freedom and flexibility to make final decisions? Do you give them latitude and discretion on matters that impact their work?
Or, is there second-guessing? Overanalysis. Scrutinization. Requests for rework. Might it be, unconsciously, that you fail to support the execution of other people’s choices?

Make room for other people.

Let them breath. Let them stretch, fall down, learn, and grow. You’ve seen trees that get warped and structurally unsound when they’re forced to try and grow around the shade of a larger tree. Don’t be the person who shades other people out. Bend a little. Share the sunlight. Why?

Because no matter how capable you are, how much deeper your expertise, you need the support of other people to accomplish anything meaningful in your life. When people are consistently shaded out, they wilt. They disengage. People don’t do their best work when they’re disengaging.

Besides attracting deeper engagement, making room for other people and letting them make decisions does something else for you.

You get room, too.

Things come off your plate. They get handled. Maybe not how you’d have done it, but they get handled, and people learn and get better for the next time. In time, you get the bandwidth you need to take your work to the next level something that wouldn’t have happened if you’d stayed consumed with decisions other people are perfectly capable of making.

Trust begins with you!

Trust Tip:

  • What decisions are you currently holding on to that could be given back to someone else?
  • Why are you holding on to the power to make that decision? What is it doing for you, truly?
  • Let the decision return to its rightful owner. Gift that person with the opportunity to learn and grow.


Posted in Empowerment, Leadership, Relationships, Transformation and tagged , , .