Slow Down to Grow Faster

So often as business leaders, we get stuck in a cycle of working harder and harder because that’s how we’ve always done it. Our skills and experience have served us well and gotten us this far, so surely by using more of those skills we’ll be able to grow faster, right?

Wrong. In fact, this approach will fail in any complex business because as a leader, you simply can’t do everything yourself and expect to grow. What's more, your team will feel uncertain about what they should be focusing on as you micromanage them.

Your role is not to do all the work. It is to identify and leverage the skills of your team to make sure everyone is aligned and working together to fulfill the mission of the business.

So the next time you find yourself jumping in to handle something that you think only YOU can do, pause and consider how that issue could be solved more effectively.

By slowing down, you'll do 3 things:
1. Create more space between you and all of the demands on your attention so you can become more clear about what's most important.
2. Open up opportunities for creativity that can't come when you're constantly occupied with what's most immediate.
3. Encourage everyone on your team to slow down and become more mindful of what's most important in their work.