Why Fixing Everything Yourself Is the Problem Not the Solution
If solving problems were the path to the top, every CEO would be a former help desk manager.
You are probably proud of your ability to handle any challenge that lands on your desk. Your team knows they can count on you for answers and quick fixes, and you wear that reputation as a badge of honour.
That reputation is the problem.
The Village Fisherman Trap
Your brain is a solution-generating machine. The moment someone starts sharing a challenge, you are already three steps into solving it. Years of experience have taught you to pattern-match problems with solutions at speed.
This is a sophisticated form of career limitation. We call it being The Village Fisherman: everyone relies on you to eat.
Here is what is happening right now. A problem appears, and within seconds you are sharing your wisdom, outlining solutions, feeling good about being helpful. Everyone leaves satisfied. You feel valuable. Your team member feels supported.
Something critical is happening beneath the surface, though.
What Your Helpfulness Is Actually Costing Your Team
Every time you jump in with an answer, you rob your team of the chance to think deeply. Your solutions, however brilliant, are stunting their growth. Your helpfulness is creating dependency. And dependency means:
- Escalations keep landing on your desk
- Decisions get made at the wrong level
- You keep missing hours you cannot afford to lose
Every time you jump in with an answer, you rob your team of the chance to think deeply. Your helpfulness is creating dependency.
Are you the bottleneck?
Take the two-minute assessment and see exactly where work is queueing around you, and what to hand over first.
What a Different Approach Looks Like in Practice
When someone brings you a problem, ask: "What's your suggestion based on your thinking?" Then do the hardest thing a leader can do. Sit in silence and wait.
The discomfort you feel is your ego fighting for survival. That silence you are avoiding is where your leadership growth lives.
Try It Tomorrow
When someone brings you a problem, resist the urge to solve it. Create space for them to think. Watch what happens when you stop filling the air with your solutions and start asking thoughtful questions instead.
Your team will get uncomfortable at first. They might struggle. In that struggle, something useful emerges: their critical thinking, their own solutions, often better than what you would have suggested.
Your experience, however valuable, matters less than their growth. Your solutions, however brilliant, matter less than their development.
Are You Stuck in the Solution Trap?
Want to test whether you are stuck in the solution trap? Think about your last five team interactions. How many ended with you providing the answer? If you are solving most of the problems landing on your desk, you are not leading. You are a bottleneck.
Leadership is about building a team that is confident finding its own solutions, making decisions without you, and thinking critically without your input.
Your silence is often worth more than your solution. Your questions create more than your answers.
Where is the friction in your team?
The Leadership Friction Finder pinpoints where effort is leaking, so you fix the cause rather than the symptom.
Your Next Step
In your next leadership interaction, fight the urge to solve. Create space for others to think. You might be surprised at what emerges when you stop being the answer to every question.
Jimmy Burroughes transforms overwhelmed managers into strategic leaders. Through his Amplify Leadership programme, he helps leaders reclaim their time and maximise their impact.
If this sounds like your week
Your managers are not the problem. They are where the problem is stuck.
When your last leadership spend was signed off, did anyone go back to those managers' bosses and ask what changed? That question is the JBL Outcome Standard, and it is how I work.
- Find the friction. A short diagnostic that shows which decisions are stalling, and at what level.
- Am I the bottleneck? Ten questions on where your week is actually going.
- How I work with GMs. Six weeks, one hour a week, up to twelve of your managers, scored by their own bosses.
- Beat Burnout, Boost Performance. The book.
- The High Performance Leader podcast.
Managers I work with reclaim around four hours a week, and their bosses score the change 8.75 out of 10. Would it be a crazy idea to find out how we did this? Book a scoping call.
Start this week
Busy all day and still behind?
The Quick-Win Pack is five five-minute fixes for the overloaded leader, each built on a framework I use with paying clients. Every fix runs live on the page and hands you a finished, ready-to-use plan in minutes, with no AI account of your own needed. Just $19, and included free with AMPLIFY and the Six Week Reset.
Get the Quick-Win PackQuestions managers ask about this
How can I stop being the bottleneck in my team?
Stop providing immediate solutions to every problem. Instead, ask your team members what they suggest and wait for their response. This encourages them to think critically and make decisions independently, reducing dependency on you and preventing bottlenecks in your workflow.
Why is solving every problem myself a leadership problem?
When you solve every problem, you prevent your team from developing their own problem-solving skills. This creates dependency, causes escalations to pile on your desk, and wastes your time. Effective leadership means helping your team grow by encouraging their critical thinking and decision-making abilities.
What should I do when a team member brings a problem to me?
Ask them what their suggestion is based on their own thinking. Then, resist the urge to fill the silence with your solutions. Allowing space for their thought process helps them develop better solutions and builds their confidence to handle challenges independently.
How do I know if I am stuck in the solution trap as a leader?
Reflect on your last five interactions with your team. If most ended with you providing the answer, you are likely stuck in the solution trap. Effective leaders create space for their team to think and decide, avoiding becoming a bottleneck by solving every problem themselves.
Explore this topic
Hear this discussed on the podcast
Episodes of The High Performance Leader that cover the same ground.
Jimmy Burroughes
FounderFormer British Army officer and corporate GM who has transformed nearly 3,500 managers into leaders across 30+ organisations. Creator of the Simplify to Amplify methodology, author of Beat Burnout, Ignite Performance, and two-time Global Recognition Award winner.
Keep exploring
Want to know where the drag really is?
Before you change anything, get an honest read on the friction slowing your team down. Take a short, free diagnostic and see exactly where the time is going.
