Learn How to Let Go as a Leader

Introduction

“Letting go is the hardest part.” That’s a lyric from an early 2000s song by Ryan Adams, but it could just as easily describe what it means to be a leader.

Letting go of control and learning to let others do their jobs. Accepting that mistakes are inevitable and letting go of perfection. Letting go of rigid thinking and allowing your mind to explore new possibilities are all critical skills for any leader.

So don’t worry. Even if you’re new to this whole “leading” thing, we’ll be here with you every step of the way. Here’s how to embrace the power of letting go!

Not having to control everything as a leader.

• You don’t have to control everything.
• You can trust other people, even if you’ve had past experiences where others have let you down.
• Faith helps us move forward with our confidence in God and His ability to bring about a good outcome for all parties involved, whether we’re the ones leading or not.
• Openness to change and new ideas are critical. As leaders, we must be willing to adapt our strategies based on what’s needed at any given time.

“You can’t do it all.“

This is the mantra of leadership. But it’s also much more than that. It’s an attitude you must adopt to lead effectively and make your team members feel like part of the family, rather than just a tool for getting things done.

Here are some ways to embrace this mindset:

• Delegate. You can’t be everywhere at once! If someone else has the skills, knowledge, or experience to do something better and hopefully faster too—then let them take over so that you can focus on other tasks instead of wasting time micromanaging every tiny detail of a job they’ve already been trained on.
• Trust others (your team). Put faith in the people who work with you. Allow them to use their abilities as best suit their role within the company structure. Trust will breed loyalty which will lead directly to higher productivity levels among those who know they have your support when working through challenging situations or making tough decisions on behalf of others (who may not always agree).

“Perfect” isn’t real.

In the second step, you’ll learn how to let go of perfectionism and embrace progress.

Perfect is a myth. I know this because I’ve been chasing it for years. Trying to become perfect at everything from writing articles and books to traveling with my family. And yet, even though I’m far from perfect at these things—and probably never will be—I can still see that they’re not just good enough, but great! Letting go of the idealized version of ourselves isn’t easy; in fact, it’s one of humanity’s greatest mental hurdles. But if we’re going to be better leaders, we have no choice but to let go of our need for perfectionism and embrace progress instead.

As a leader, you get to choose your attitude.

You can be positive and grateful, patient and kind, forgiving and humble. Also, you can be brave and resilient in the face of challenges or setbacks.

You may not always feel like choosing these attitudes, but when you do it helps others around you as well as yourself. People are more likely to want to follow someone who is positive and inspiring than one who isn’t.

You’re not alone.

You’re not alone. In fact, you are not even unique in your struggle to let go as a leader.

The world is full of people who have felt overwhelmed by leadership challenges and been unable to let go. They’ve failed repeatedly because they were trying to do it all themselves, yet they were surrounded by others who didn’t know what was going on and should have helped them out.

Leaders who struggle with letting go need someone else’s help—but often don’t find it until their organizations are in serious trouble and the damage can no longer be undone anyway!

Failure can be a good thing.

Failure can be a good thing.

It’s important to remember that failure is not the end, but it’s just another chance to try again and do better. If you’ve ever failed at something, use it as an opportunity for learning and growth. The next time around will go much smoother if you take the time to reflect on what went wrong before embarking on your next attempt.

Your head doesn’t make the best decisions.

You’re not going to make the best decisions from your head.

It’s time to start making decisions from your heart, soul, and spirit.

Letting go as a leader is freeing and allows you to become the leader you were meant to be.

The most important thing to remember when letting go is that you’re not losing control. You are freeing yourself up to become the leader you were meant to be. This means you must clarify your expectations and delegate authority so that your team can take on more responsibility, which in turn will allow them to grow as leaders.

The benefits of letting go as a leader are many:

• Your people feel empowered, which creates an environment where they thrive and can reach their full potential. They also feel trusted by their manager and inspired by their work environment.
• You have time for other things in life outside of work without feeling guilty about not spending enough time at work with your employees or department members—and what could be better than that?

Conclusion

I hope these tips help you on the path to letting go of your leadership fears. Remember, not letting go doesn’t help anyone, so why not give it a try?

The best thing about starting fresh is that you get to choose how you approach any situation and change the outcome for yourself and others. Your job as a leader is to lead people, not control them—and as long as you’re working toward that goal, everything will be just fine.

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