From Fixer to Facilitator: The Leadership Shift That Elevates Performance
- May 6
- 3 min read
By Laurie Maddalena
CEO & Chief Leadership Consultant at Envision Excellence
After two years as a human resources generalist at a credit union, I was promoted to director of human resources. Before my promotion, I had developed strong technical skills in compensation, benefits, and payroll, and had built a reputation for being someone who followed through and got results. Those qualities served me well and ultimately led to my promotion.
I thought the value I brought to the department was my technical expertise, so even after my promotion, I continued doing the things that had previously led to my success.
About three months into my new leadership role, my VP gave me direct feedback that I needed to stop doing what I had been doing before. Fixing payroll issues and answering benefit questions was no longer my responsibility; I needed to delegate those tasks to the two employees on my team. She wanted me to work at a more strategic level, focusing on things like creating a leadership development program for our employees.
What hadn’t occurred to me was that when I was promoted, the value I needed to bring to my new role was no longer technical. It was a different set of competencies required to effectively lead a team.
This is where many leaders struggle.
Over the past few decades, leadership has shifted significantly—from a more transactional approach focused on tasks and results to a more relational approach that facilitates results through coaching, appreciation, and development. The expectations are higher, the environment is more complex, and the skills required to be effective today have increased significantly.
Yet the way we prepare leaders hasn’t kept up.
In many organizations, employees are still promoted based on their technical expertise, not their leadership capability. Like me, many managers don’t receive formal leadership training and aren’t set up for success. A barista at a local Starbucks receives more formal training than most leaders do. And leadership carries a tremendous responsibility, with a significant impact on employees’ daily experience at work.
Many of us were conditioned to be strong doers—fixing issues, getting in the trenches, and solving problems. But the very skills that contributed to success in a technical role are often the ones that limit effectiveness in leadership roles.
Most leaders stay stuck in task-related work. They’re in back-to-back meetings, putting out fires, and constantly reacting. When it comes to strategic decision-making, there’s little time left for reflection or thoughtful planning.
To be effective in today’s environment, leaders must shift from being problem-solvers to facilitators of results. If you’re making every decision and answering every question, you’re not leading—you’re creating dependency.
Leadership requires being intentional with your energy and focus every day. That means creating space to think, protecting your focus, and prioritizing your people. Effective leaders schedule time for key priorities like strategic planning and meaningful one-on-one meetings that focus on coaching through challenges, building critical thinking skills, providing feedback, and ensuring alignment.
Impactful leaders ask better questions. They involve their team. They’re not just focused on the immediate fix; they’re thinking about the long-term impact.
When leaders shift from fixing to facilitating, they improve performance, engagement, and results.
The way we create exceptional cultures is by treating leadership as a true profession with standards—and by preparing employees for leadership roles so they can build the confidence and capabilities to lead others, not just manage the work.
That is how we elevate our impact as leaders and create a company culture where people love to come to work.
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