Are you leading a situation where everything seems to be falling apart?

• Funding for a big project has suddenly dried up?

• A critical event didn’t go as planned?

• Your new offering is a flop?

• A key leader just quit?

In moments like these, our “leadership” instincts kick in: 

We feel pressure to fix it. To be the superhero. To have all the answers.

But here’s what I’ve learned:

That might be the worst thing you can do.

I learned this the hard way.

When one strategic initiative I was leading started to unravel, I went into overdrive.

• I held daily “war room” reviews, frantically analyzing the data, solving problems, and trying to hold it all together.

• I was exhausted. My team was stuck.

• And honestly, I was wearing myself out trying to plug every hole.

I turned to a mentor, expecting a little sympathy. Instead, he said something I’ll never forget:

“Honestly, YOU are the problem.” What???????

He continued, “Look, there’s a hole in the dike, and you’re using every finger and arm to stop the flood.

You need to find someone with the fattest thumb to plug the hole while YOU go find people with buckets of concrete.”

That was my lightbulb moment.

I’d been feeling like a noble martyr. But I suddenly realized I was NOT an adaptive leader.

I was NOT building an adaptive team —I was standing in their way.

What Adaptive Leadership Really Means

Adaptive leadership doesn’t mean having all the answers. It means helping your team find their own.

It means creating a space where people can face challenges honestly, use their strengths, and think creatively—without fear of failing in front of their boss.

It means asking powerful questions instead of providing ready-made solutions. Questions like:

• What strengths can we use to tackle this?

• What haven’t we thought of yet?

• How could this challenge actually help us grow?

When you shift from fixing to facilitating thinking, everything changes.

Your team gets stronger. Ideas get better. And you stop being the bottleneck.

A warning: Creating an adaptive team doesn’t mean encouraging chaos.

You still need to keep people on the same page, aligned around purpose and outcomes.

But keep people aligned by engaging them: 

• Spell things out. Be honest about what’s happening and the risks and why it matters.

• Open up—even if it’s uncomfortable. Create a comfortable environment for uncomfortable conversations. Enable people to share, explore, and even challenge assumptions.

• Stay grounded. Make sure your new direction still aligns with your mission and strategy.

You’re not just solving the problem—you’re teaching your team to navigate change with clarity and courage.

Letting Go of the Need to Know Everything

Here’s the part no one tells you: letting go of having all the answers is freeing.

When you stop trying to solve everything yourself, you create space for others to step up. 

You unlock collaboration. 

You help your team build real muscle around problem-solving, not just firefighting.

And that’s what separates adaptive leaders from reactive ones.

If you’re navigating a high-stakes strategy, and things aren’t going well — you CAN help move people to action and keep your strategy on course—even when the winds change.

You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be the hero.

You just have to create the conditions for your team to thrive through uncertainty and emerge stronger on the other side.

Have you ever realized YOU were the problem? Welcome your thoughts! 

— Susan 

PS. I share more about how to avoid common mistakes when leading new strategies in my half-day virtual Strategy Reboot Workshop, where you’ll receive an advanced copy of my upcoming book, ” FAST TRACK YOUR BIG IDEA! Navigate Risk, Move People to Action, and Avoid Your Strategy Going Off Course. Join us! 

This article is part of “Fast Track Insights”, a newsletter providing practical ideas once or twice a month — whether you are driving a new strategy or getting one back on track. I want to help you avoid common mistakes. Why don’t you subscribe?