You know that feeling when you're leading your team, making progress, and then your boss jumps in with "helpful" feedback that derails everything?

Or when they start talking directly to your clients instead of going through you?

It's not malicious. But it's frustrating.

If you've ever felt caught between managing your team and managing up, this week's article is for you.

Transform vague feedback into clear direction with the "I Don't Want / I Do Want" technique. Instead of saying "reports need to be better," effective leaders specify: "I don't want reports submitted late and unvetted. I do want them by 3pm Friday, checked for accuracy." Learn how this simple leadership communication method eliminates confusion, protects relationships, and improves performance by showing both boundaries and targets.

The future of leadership isn’t about doing more; it’s about leading differently — with calm, clarity, and conscious energy. Learn how to lead with a soft front and strong back — open, grounded, and ready for what’s next.

Most leaders think their biggest problem is time.

It's not. It's friction.

The meetings that overrun. The questions that break your focus. The decisions that loop back because the brief wasn't clear.

Friction turns an eight-hour day into twelve—not because you don't have time, but because you burn mental energy in the stop-start.

You can't remove pressure, but you can remove friction. And that's what creates sustainable leadership..

From Coordination to Leadership: Practical Shifts

Stuck solving problems for your team? Learn three simple phrases that shift you from coordinator to coach—and help your team develop real capability.

Stop Coordinating. Start Leading.

You're good at keeping everything running smoothly. Your team delivers, projects get done, nothing falls through the cracks.

But sometimes you wonder... is this all leadership is?

You've seen other leaders whose teams bring solutions, not problems. Where delegated work comes back right. Where the leader focuses on strategy instead of daily coordination.

You're not failing. You're just stuck in a pattern that got you promoted — but won't take you further.

Ever felt frustrated when work comes back nothing like you imagined? The problem probably isn’t your team—it’s the expectations you set. Here’s how to fix the confusion cycle.

When someone's behaviour triggers us, we don't just feel something. Our feelings drive our reaction. And that's where lots of leaders get themselves into trouble - they inadvertently add fuel to a triggered fire instead of using their most powerful tool: calm, clear facts.

AI can optimise tasks, but it can't lead people through change. Your front line leaders control whether any transformation actually sticks—yet 87% feel unprepared and 60% never received training. The 70% multiplier is already on your payroll. Are you developing it?

Why New Leaders Feel Like They're Failing

When you get promoted from being great at your job to leading people who do that job, it feels like someone handed you complex equipment with no manual.

You're now responsible for other people's problems, not just your own. Everything takes longer than when you did it yourself. You'll question every decision obsessively.

The hardest truth? You'll probably feel like you're failing for the first six months, even if you're doing fine. But after working with hundreds of new leaders, I've learned this struggle is actually a sign you care about doing it right.

That Conversation You’ve Been Dodging

It’s the performance issue, the crossed boundary, the team dynamic you keep hoping will fix itself.

It won’t.

The longer you wait, the bigger the problem — and the harder it is to lead without blowing up.

When ChatGPT Told Them to Fire Someone…

A few months ago, a client called me in a panic—they’d just been hit with a wrongful termination claim.

Frustrated with an underperforming staff member, they’d asked AI for advice. The response? “Consider a performance plan, extra training… or termination.” So they skipped the coaching, skipped the conversation—and fired them.

The employee filed a claim. The team lost trust. And my client learned the hard way: AI can offer options, but it can’t offer judgment.

Leadership isn’t just about answers. It’s about responsibility.

AI can support your thinking—but only you can lead your people.

Tough conversations don’t have to derail you.

Whether you’re giving feedback, addressing behaviour, or navigating resistance, the way you start, manage your energy, and recover matters. This post shares clear, practical strategies to help you stay grounded, lead with clarity, and handle things when conversations don’t go to plan.

If you’re stuck in the Helper Trap, always jumping in, always needed, always stretched …it’s time to reset the way you lead.

Let it go to grow.

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks.

It’s about building capability, creating trust, and giving others a chance to rise.

When you hold on too tightly, you block growth — theirs and yours.

Leadership expands when you let go with intention.

Every leader hits this moment: a team member who’s emotionally sensitive, well-intentioned, but stuck in gossip or rehashing past issues. It quietly affects morale, trust, and momentum — and avoiding it only adds to your mental load.

You don’t need to tiptoe or launch into confrontation. What you need is a grounded, clear approach that respects the person and sets a better standard.

In my Essential Leadership Skills workshop, I teach leaders how to use simple, powerful frameworks — like Keep / Shift / Try — to handle conversations like this with confidence, clarity, and care.

“I really appreciate how tuned in you are to the team. What I’d like to shift is how those observations are being shared — especially when they come through as side conversations or keep circling back to old issues. Let’s try bringing anything that feels off straight to me, so we can deal with it directly and move forward.”

Because being a strong leader isn’t about avoiding hard conversations — it’s about having them in a way that actually strengthens the team.

“We’d drifted — right into a shipping lane. The anchor hadn’t held. It hadn’t even been secured properly.”

That moment, out on the water as a kid, taught me something I’ve seen over and over again in leadership:

We give people responsibility before we give them the tools.

Leaders are often eager, capable, and well-intentioned — but without proper guidance, they’re left to guess, react, and hope they’re doing it right.

This story has shaped everything I do as a leadership coach.

Front-line leaders face genuine challenges that often go unaddressed. Perhaps most critical is the struggle with reactivity—constantly responding to urgent demands rather than important priorities. This reactive approach cascades through teams, creating cultures where firefighting is valued over prevention.

Equally problematic is the difficulty in calibrating effort appropriately. Without clear guidance on which tasks deserve excellence versus which simply need completion, leaders often misallocate precious team resources.

These gaps aren't character flaws but skills deficits that targeted development can address.

Most of us believe great leadership means doing more - working longer hours, making every decision, having all the answers. But what if the secret to impactful leadership is actually doing less?

After twenty years working with leaders, I've discovered that true leadership is the art of achieving more by doing less. It's not about working harder - it's about empowering yourself and others.

Want to learn how? Read on to discover the practical shifts that transform overwhelmed managers into empowered leaders.