How Servant Leadership is Stalling Your Team’s Performance
Does your workday feel like a never-ending series of urgent problems, last-minute favors, and venting sessions?
Perhaps you stepped into your leadership role with the best intentions and a few misconceptions. You were ready to serve your team, empower their growth, and foster collaboration. But somewhere along the way, this approach has left you buried in daily tasks, solving problems others could handle.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. While servant leadership is rooted in noble intentions, when misdirected, it can stall your team’s performance and your own. The good news? With small, intentional shifts, you can reclaim your time, refocus your energy, and lead in a way that not only serves your team but also drives results and reignites your passion for leadership (or sparks it for the first time.
The High Cost of Constant Reacting
Let’s be real. You may have earned this leadership role because of your technical knowledge and ability to solve problems in the jobs you held before. Being the leader means you need to relinquish all that. Trust your team. Empower them to make decisions and solve problems the way you learned to do. Not to do it for them.
If you ever listen to a problem, ask what they already considered, then jump in with your recommendation, you may be a micro-manager, not a servant leader.
And there’s a hidden cost: disengagement, burnout, bottlenecks, and missed opportunities.
When Everything Falls on You
Getting stuck in the weeds means the big-picture vision drifts further out of reach. Strategic projects stall, your professional growth takes a back seat, and burnout starts to feel like an inevitable outcome. It can feel isolating, as if the weight of the team (or even the whole company) is on your shoulders alone. You deserve more than this grind, and so do the people you lead.
The Solution: Shift to Empowerment
If you find yourself thinking “Servant Leadership” feels a lot like doing their work for them, it’s not Servant Leadership. If you spend most of your days “serving” and your evenings and weekends doing your actual work, it’s time for a shift in what “Servant Leadership” really means.
Servant Leadership is about empowering your team to do their job, making sure they have the resources, support, and tools for individual and collective success. Servant Leadership is not doing their work for them and solving their problems for them. That’s called micro-managing. Yes, even with the best intentions.
Sure, when they’re in a bind or something personal comes up, and they need reinforcements, you’re there.
But imagine what might change if you let go of always having to “rescue” and started creating space for your team to shine. Having all the answers is not what leadership is. Leaders inspire others to grow and tackle challenges on their own.
Catch yourself in the act
When someone asks for help, stop.
Is this within their job description and expectations?
Do they have the knowledge, skills, and ability to do/answer this themselves?
Ask powerful questions: What’s the real challenge for you here? What (outcome) do you want? What were you thinking you’d do? How can I help?
Resist the urge to offer advice.
Stay in your lane, crossing over only when it’s clear to them that they need help getting unstuck.
You already know this. But to know and not to do is not to know at all. Now it’s about building the habits and mindset that turn daily chaos into momentum and growth. The secret? Moving from doing it for them to coaching them to do it themselves. Your team is full of strengths. All they need is guidance, accountability, and a little encouragement from you.
Taking a coach approach to your Servant Leadership style can help you:
Build deeper trust and engagement across your team.
Empower others to take ownership and make decisions confidently.
Create a culture rooted in growth, collaboration, and real accountability.
Free up your time and energy to be proactive and strategic rather than reactive.
You don’t have to do this alone, and you don’t need to try to be a superhero. With a shift in approach, you can lead with clarity and heart and watch positive change ripple outward.
How Leadership Coaching Helps You Thrive
Here at Thriving with Honor, we’ve walked this path alongside leaders in all kinds of organizations. Our coaching provides steady, practical changes that help you and your team build skills and trust, together.
Here’s how we can walk this journey with you:
1. Discover Your Unique Leadership Strengths
We’ll start with a clear and supportive process that helps you identify where you excel and where you face challenges. Together, we’ll set goals that fuel your energy and map out a step-by-step personal growth path.
2. Develop a New Leadership Mindset and Toolbox
With coaching, you’ll gain practical skills to ask powerful questions, encourage your team’s growth, and build systems for real accountability. Rather than solving every problem yourself, you’ll learn how to guide others to find solutions, freeing up your time and theirs for the work that really matters.
3. Deliver Results For Your Team and Yourself
As these new habits take root, you’ll notice your team stepping up, feeling more invested, and collaborating more effectively. With less time spent putting out fires, you can focus on strategy, vision, and your own development. And yes, you’ll see the difference in outcomes, from cost savings to stronger revenue to a more energized, committed team.
Investing in Your Leadership Ripples Outward
Remember, this isn’t only about your journey (though you absolutely deserve support and growth). When you invest in your leadership, you’re also investing in the future of the organization and each individual team member. Coaching creates a ripple effect: trust deepens, collaboration improves, and a culture of continuous growth takes hold.
If you’re reading this thinking that more people in your organization would benefit, bring this to your HR team or leaders. Building a coaching culture doesn’t just help individuals grow; it lifts everyone. Sessions can include 1:1 or small group settings where we work as a collective leadership team.
Start Your Journey Today
No one is meant to do this work alone, or to keep running on empty. With a supportive partnership and actionable tools, you’ll become the leader you set out to be: focused, confident, and able to inspire lasting change.
Your next chapter as a leader is just one step away. Together, we can move from barely surviving to thriving.