The Challenge for Task-Oriented Leaders: Shifting Focus from Tasks to People
Posted on November 11, 2024 by Yoka Zhu | PCC, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
While this task-centric approach can yield short-term results, it often leads to a significant bottleneck.
A common trait I’ve noticed among middle managers who excel in logical thinking and have advanced through hands-on work is a strong focus on tasks over people. While this task-centric approach can yield short-term results, it often leads to a significant bottleneck.
Here’s why: After a period of managing with an intense focus on getting things done, these managers often find themselves exhausted. They end up handling tasks that their team hasn’t mastered to their standard. Worse yet, they receive feedback from upper management suggesting they need to improve their team leadership abilities. This feedback can feel discouraging, especially when they’ve invested so much effort.
The solution? Shift the focus from tasks to people. Picture leading a team of 15 or more in the future. Can one leader, no matter how knowledgeable, be an expert in every detail, guiding each individual minutely? The answer is no—because each team member is their own expert. Recognizing this is the first step in this transformation from task focus to people focus.
When leaders begin to invest in people over tasks, a powerful shift happens. Connecting an employee’s values to their work can unlock intrinsic motivation. Instead of a top-down directive, each person starts to contribute with their own drive, creating a natural flow of productivity and teamwork.
This is just the beginning of the conversation. If you also stucked by this, schedule my time. let’s explore.
