In one of my favorite sequences in the Mission Impossible movie franchise, two characters find themselves handcuffed together in a tiny, but incredibly high-performance car as they attempt to elude capture. 

One character is our hero Ethan Hunt who literally does this for a living. The other character is Grace, a clever pickpocket who has been pulled into this escapade without any background in high-speed car chases.

With Grace behind the wheel at a crucial moment, struggling to control the vehicle as their pursuer gains on them, Ethan grabs the wheel from the passenger seat and forces the car onto a new path.

Grace yells, “WHO’S DRIVING?”

Ethan immediately pulls his hands off the wheel, “YOU’RE DRIVING! YOU’RE DRIVING!”

It was such a perfect picture of how leaders confuse the situation they are trying to remedy by grabbing the wheel and leaving the people they lead unsure of who is supposed to be at the helm.

The problem for you is that your people are less likely to demand clarity about who is supposed to be driving after you grab the wheel.

Instead you’ll either find yourself doing the thing you intended to delegate…or they will assume you’ve fully taken back control and neither one of you will actually be driving anymore.

Thankfully most of you aren’t trying to help someone you lead navigate a do-or-die car chase from the passenger seat, so the stakes are a little lower.

So if you’ve put someone else in the driver’s seat, keep your hands off the wheel.

TRY THIS: When you delegate to your team, are you clear on how you will and won’t be available to support them? Do they understand what it looks like for them to drive? Where might you have the inclination to grab the wheel and how can you be intentional about keeping your hands to yourself? The idea is not to abandon them, but to coach them while they drive instead of putting yourself back in the driver’s seat. 

My free PDF, “The 5 Secrets of Impossibly Effective Teams,” will show you the simple leadership moves that help teams unlock their full potential and deliver outsized results, without burning out. Grab your copy now at geoffwelch.com/secrets