Stop Over-functioning. Start Leading
- Heath Haynes
- Oct 8
- 3 min read
“If I don’t do it, it won’t get done.”
“It’s just easier if I handle it myself.”
“They’re not ready to take ownership yet.”
Sound familiar?
If you’re a high-capacity leader, these phrases might echo in your head or overtake your calendar more than you’d like to admit. They’re the refrain of a common but costly leadership trap:
OVER-FUNCTIONING.
It looks like dedication.
It feels like responsibility.
But it often leads to exhaustion, frustration, and—ironically—a disempowered team.
Here is why this matters. If you want to lead at your full potential and enable your team to do the same, you’ll need to stop doing too much and start leading with intention.
What Is Over-functioning?
Over-functioning is when a leader consistently takes on more responsibility than they should.
It’s when you:
Solve the problem before others have a chance
Carry your team’s emotional load and your own
Constantly step in, follow up, rescue, and cover for others
It’s not because you’re weak.
It’s because you care. You’re committed. You want things to go well.
But over-functioning, if left unchecked, becomes the bottleneck to your growth—and your team’s.
Over-functioning leaders often wear invisible capes, but here’s the truth:
You weren’t meant to be the hero of your team.
You’re meant to be the guide… the “heromaker”
What It Costs You (and Them)
When you over-function:
You become overwhelmed and resentful
Your team becomes passive and dependent
Initiative disappears
Creativity stalls
Ownership declines
What feels like help becomes control.
What started as a desire to lead well results in a culture of low trust and low empowerment.
It’s unsustainable for you.
And it’s unproductive for them.
The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything
At L3 Coaching, as part of the GiANT Worldwide family, we’ve worked with hundreds of leaders stuck in this exact cycle—and the breakthrough almost always comes from the same place:
A SHIFT IN MINDSET.
That’s why we equip our clients with the Leader Mindset Questions—a simple tool that unlocks clarity and helps leaders move from Over-functioning to intentional development.
In a previous post, we explained a foundational concept to being a Liberating Leader called the Support/Challenge Matrix. If you have not read that yet, I encourage you to take a few minutes to go read that post as well. For now, The Leader Mindset questions:
These three Leader Mindset Questions reframe your thinking and re-center your role as a leader:
What specific support and challenge do they need from me?
(Not what’s easiest for me to give, but what they actually need to grow.)
What is the tendency or pattern most undermining their influence?
(Name the thing that’s holding them back—so you can coach them through it.)
How do I help them get to the next level?
(Shift from doing to developing. That’s where true leadership lives.)
What’s the Alternative to Over-functioning?
The alternative isn’t Under-functioning.
It’s becoming a Liberating Leader—someone who leads themself well and brings calibrated support and challenge to others with intentionality.
And that begins not with a new strategy, but a new mindset.
You don’t need to carry the whole weight.
You need to equip others to carry theirs.
Try This Today
Here’s a 3-step exercise to move from Over-functioning to Leading:
Reflect
Where are you rescuing someone instead of developing them?
Apply the Leader Mindset Questions
Pause and ask:
What support and challenge do they really need?
What tendency is limiting their impact?
What’s the next developmental step?
Act
This week, have one intentional conversation that shifts your posture from doing for to calling up.
Next Step: Let’s Map Your Mindset Together
At L3 Coaching, we help leaders stop Over-functioning and start leading with clarity, courage, and calibration.
Schedule a free 30-minute discovery session
You don’t have to carry it all.
You just have to lead on purpose with a Leader Mindset.
Stop Over-functioning. Start leading.
Let’s fight for the highest possible good—together.
