For much of my management career, I was taught that when a team member came to me with a problem to solve, I would serve them best by inviting them to find their own solutions, rather than volunteering to solve it for them. In most cases, that’s the most helpful approach. When you step in too quickly as a fixer, you condition your team to become dependent on you, and you position yourself as an indispensable bottleneck.
But there are some cases where stepping in to be a fixer is precisely your job as a manager. This happens when your inaction would cause harm to another person. Here are some examples:
🔵 When a team member is being treated unfairly by someone with more power, authority, or influence.
🔵 When rudeness, harshness, or potential retaliation is eroding psychological safety and silencing voices that have valuable input.
🔵 When misunderstandings, rumors, exaggerations, or unfair assessments are spreading about a team member’s competence or commitment.
🔵 When systems and processes outside the team members’s control are structured in a way that pose a health or safety risk or set them up to fail regardless of their skill level.
🔵 Any kind of bullying, harassment or discrimination.
I didn’t always understand when it was time to step in and fix a situation. Unfortunately, I can look back now and see areas where I should have taken action. Instead, I lost team members and allowed harm to come to others. It’s a situation that I regret today.
If you’d like another perspective to help you evaluate a situation you’re facing, let’s talk. Visit stevedwire.com/talk to start the conversation.
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