How many times have you held back from giving an employee “too much” to do because you believed they weren’t ready?

As a parent, have you ever just done the assigned task yourself because you didn’t think your child—or even your near-adult—could handle it yet?

Do you have a habit of taking over after someone else has started because you know you’d do it faster, better, and with fewer errors?

We convince ourselves that if we just do it for them one more time, they’ll be ready the next time.

It’s easy to believe we are doing it for their good. We do it because accuracy matters. We do it so they don’t fail.

What we actually communicate is our lack of trust. Our actions say, “You aren’t good enough.”

If you want to grow a leader, allow them to lead. Allow them to take responsibility and feel the weight of struggling to accomplish a goal—even if they don’t do it to your standards.

Growth requires space.

To help someone really grow, give them room to do it.