When to Step Back

There are times when, as a leader, you do have to step back; to “take a back seat,” as it were.  5 Reasons Why Leaders Must Sometimes Take a Backseat shares some thoughts on when and why you might want/need to do that.

So let’s think about this. One of the reasons is “To better allocate resources.” Makes sense to me! And, it is similar to one of the things mentioned in my last post about how not everyone can or should be a boss: and that is the importance of delegation. But there are other great reasons too, such as “To learn.” That’s right, even if you’re the boss, someone else may know more about a certain project than you do (hard to accept, right?). Then it makes sense to let them take the lead while you observe and learn—and perhaps guide the project, if necessary, so it has the desired results.

The 5 Reasons post also lists 3 different kinds of leaders, and although I agree there are certainly those 3 kinds, I think there are other kinds of leaders too. For example, I suggest you look at 6 Leadership Styles and When You Should Use Them. Different styles work better in different situations.

So, let me know how and when you take the backseat, and how that’s working for you. Sometimes the view is better from the backseat!