There’s something satisfying about being the person who can fix things.
Someone comes to you with a problem. You know the answer. You tell them what to do, they go away & everyone gets on with their day.
Simple enough.
Except I’ve learnt that sometimes being the person with all the answers is actually part of the problem.
I’ve spent the better part of eight years working as an Integrator with leadership teams running on EOS®. And one of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt is that being good at solving problems doesn’t automatically make you good at helping other people solve them.
Sometimes it’s quite the opposite.
When Everyone Waits for You
I used to think a big part of being an Integrator was having the answers.
When something went wrong, I wanted to fix it. When the leadership team got stuck, I wanted to help them move forward.
It felt like the right thing to do.
But there’s a difference between helping a team solve problems & becoming the person they depend on to solve everything.
I remember working with a leadership team that was stuck on the same issue for the third Level 10 Meeting® in a row.
Same problem. Same arguments. Different words.
I could feel everyone waiting for me to step in.
So I did.
I gave them what I thought was the answer.
Everyone agreed, we wrote it down & moved on.
The following week, the issue was back.
It wasn’t necessarily a bad solution. The problem was that it was my solution, not theirs.
The next time we tackled it, I tried something different.
I asked a question.
Then I stopped talking.
There was an uncomfortable silence. Eventually, the operations lead spoke up with a solution.
Interestingly, it was close to what I’d been thinking. Except hers was better because she’d worked it out herself.
She owned it.
That experience stuck with me.
The Hardest Part of Solving Issues
One of the things I appreciate about EOS is the discipline it brings to solving problems.
The Issues Solving Track® follows three steps: Identify, Discuss & Solve.
Sounds straightforward.
But I’ve found that the difficult part is often getting people to spend enough time on the first step.
Identify.
Someone raises an issue. Perhaps customer onboarding is too slow.
Immediately, the suggestions start coming.
We need another person. Better software. A different process.
But have we actually identified the problem?
Maybe the issue isn’t onboarding at all. Maybe nobody owns the handover between sales & operations.
If you jump straight to solving, there’s a good chance you’ll fix the symptom & find yourself discussing the same issue again next month.
That’s where good facilitation matters.
Not because the facilitator has all the answers, but because they help the team find the real issue before trying to solve it.
And sometimes that means asking another question & being comfortable with the silence that follows.
Clear Accountability Changes Everything
The same principle applies to accountability.
I’ve seen businesses where the founder seems to own everything.
Customer issues, staffing decisions, operational problems. Somehow, it all ends up back on their desk.
That’s where the EOS Accountability Chart® becomes useful.
It’s not simply about who reports to whom. It’s about who owns what.
When responsibilities are clear, decisions can sit with the people who should be making them.
But here’s the catch.
You can have a perfectly structured Accountability Chart & still have a business where everyone waits for the owner.
Because the chart doesn’t change behaviour on its own.
People have to be given the space to actually own their seats.
And leaders have to resist the temptation to take that ownership back whenever things get uncomfortable.
Learning to Get Out of the Way
Moving from the Integrator seat into becoming an EOS Implementer has reinforced something I’ve been learning for years.
My job isn’t always to provide the answer.
It’s to help the leadership team find it themselves.
That doesn’t mean sitting back while everything falls apart. It means knowing when to challenge, when to guide & when to stop talking.
I’m still working on that last one.
Old habits are hard to break.
But I’ve come to realise that a strong leadership team isn’t one where the leader can solve every problem.
It’s one where people have the clarity, confidence & accountability to solve problems without constantly looking for someone to rescue them.
Your leadership team doesn’t need another hero.
It needs the opportunity to become stronger without one.