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As a leader in today’s VUCA world, you most probably feel overwhelmed by the range of responsibilities you have and the pace at which you are expected to function.Each stakeholder sees their needs as a priority and little consideration is given to the demands and pressures that come with your day-to-day people management and leadership responsibilities.

As the demand grows, your ability to juggle it all and deliver the quality of work that you expect of yourself suffers. This has a knock-on effect on your confidence; you struggle to focus, and you end up stressed.

A stressed leader has an impact on the atmosphere in their team. With prolonged stress, others become affected and the overall engagement and productivity of the entire team can suffer.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Fess up and ask for help.

One of the most self-limiting beliefs that I come across in leaders is that asking for help somehow means admitting that one isn’t coping.

On the contrary, a leader who coats their struggles and always shows a brave face, can inadvertently present themselves as a superhero. The people marvel at how in control the leader is and start to question whether they themselves have what it takes to become a leader one day.

So, here’s a piece of advice that I shared on a recent video:

“Be careful that you don’t cross the line between being powerful and being disempowering.”

Asking for help shows that you are human. Bringing that vulnerability into your leadership helps others connect to you, builds trust and feeds that “we’re in this together” feeling that is a feature of high-performing teams.

It also means that your team members see you as fallible, look out for you more and feel empowered to point out when they see a blind spot and think you’re about to make a wrong move.

You really couldn’t go wrong with this one. Be human.

This is one of the seven leadership mistakes shared in my e-book,

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If you would rather read about all mistakes at once and not wait for the weekly articles, subscribe to receive a copy of my e-book, “7 Leadership Mistakes That Stifle Your Team”,

In the e-book, I share stories of leaders who have made the shift from leading from the front, to sharing leadership and maximising their resources. My hope is that those examples will inspire you to think about new ways to serve your team as a leader.

If you would like to go a step further, apply to take our online diagnostic assessment and compare your view of your team’s strengths and weaknesses, and benchmark your team against high-performing teams worldwide.

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