Control, rescue, reward: The habits that weaken strong teams
Hi {{first name | there}},
Welcome back to The Leadership Edge, the space where ambitious professionals learn to step beyond performance and into impactful leadership.
This week, I want to talk about a frustration almost every senior leader has felt: when a capable team underdelivers.
On paper, the talent is there. You’ve hired smart people, invested in development, built the structures to succeed. And yet… something feels off. Performance is steady, but not exceptional. Ideas don’t flow as freely as they should. Accountability slips.
It’s easy to assume this is about the team — maybe they’re not hungry enough, maybe they’re missing that spark of drive. But more often than not, the root cause sits closer to home.
Because the habits that make you a strong individual leader can sometimes work against you when it comes to unleashing your team.
The hidden killers of performance
When a team underperforms, the instinct is often to look at the people. But in my experience, this is rarely due to a lack of talent. More often, it’s the habits of leadership that are holding them back.
It often happens in subtle ways. You step in to solve problems because it feels quicker, so your team learns to wait rather than think for themselves. You rescue people from mistakes because you want to protect them, so your team stops stretching and growing. You reward flawless delivery because it feels fair, but in the process you overlook the behaviours that build real impact: collaboration, influence, innovation.
None of this comes from bad intent. I know that good leaders care deeply about their people and their results. But the impact is the same: instead of building ownership, you build dependency. Instead of developing thinkers, you create doers. And slowly, often without noticing, you cap the very performance you want to see.
A meta-analysis by the Journal of Applied Psychology found that teams with higher autonomy (leaders delegating decision-making and control) showed 20% higher performance and satisfaction compared to those under high control.
The cost of good intentions
One of my clients, a senior director in fintech, came to me with this exact frustration: “I’ve hired the best people, but why does everything still land on my desk?”
She was exhausted — working long hours, constantly pulled into the detail, always the one with the final say. And yet her team, despite being smart and capable, wasn’t stepping up.
As we worked together, she began to notice her own patterns and realised the issue wasn’t her people. She had hired them for their expertise and brilliance, but she wasn’t giving them the autonomy to use it. Every time a decision came up, she stepped in. What felt like control and efficiency was actually signalling that she didn’t believe they could deliver without her.
So she started to let go. She pushed decisions back to her team. She stopped fixing problems the moment they appeared. She gave them space to make choices and, when necessary, to make mistakes.
The shift was uncomfortable at first — but it changed everything. Within weeks, her team was making bolder decisions, solving problems before they reached her desk, and taking real ownership of results. For the first time in years, she had the headspace to think strategically instead of firefighting all the time.
3 shifts to build autonomy and trust in your team
Trust and autonomy don’t happen just because you’ve hired great people, they are shaped by the habits you model every day. These three shifts can help you create the conditions for your team to step up:
From answers → to questions
Every time you give an answer, you close a door. Every time you ask a question, you open one. Before you jump in with what you think, pause and instead ask: “What options do you see here?” or “How would you approach this if I weren’t around?” You’ll be surprised how quickly your team starts thinking differently when you create the space for them to.From fixing → to coaching
It feels faster to fix a problem yourself, but the cost is that people never learn to solve it without you. Next time someone brings you an issue, resist the urge to take it on. Instead, sit with them in the discomfort. Ask them to walk you through their thought process, challenge them to propose a way forward.From rewarding output → to recognising impact
Output is easy to measure, but impact is what moves the team forward. Recognise the person who shifts how the team approaches a problem, who spots the risk no one else saw, or who sparks a new way of thinking. Because what you shine a light on is what people believe is valued.
Leaders often complain that their teams aren’t proactive enough. But if your people aren’t stepping up, it’s worth asking: have you created the conditions for them to?
ICYMI
Two conversations shaping leadership right now — one driven by technology, the other by politics:
AI and the future of leadership
When technical brilliance is no longer enough, what does it really mean to lead in an AI world?Why gender equality is political — and why it matters for leadership
Equality isn’t “done”. It’s being challenged in real time, and the consequences reach far beyond politics.
Leadership isn’t built overnight. It’s built in the choices you make every day.
Each week, The Leadership Edge brings you one step closer to leading with influence, presence, and impact. Keep leaning into the edge, that’s where growth happens.
See you in the next edition,
Tania Carvalho
Founder & Executive Coach