Why Protecting Your Team Can Backfire
As leaders, we often pride ourselves on protecting our teams.
Protecting them from overwhelm.
From constant interruptions.
From ways of working we know would drain us.
It usually comes from a good place.
But sometimes, that instinct quietly becomes the problem.
When strong leadership creates hidden friction
I once worked with a manager who was widely seen as excellent.
They were clear, thoughtful, and deeply respectful of people’s time. They believed in focus, clean priorities, and seeing work through properly. They had intentionally built an environment where people could concentrate without being pulled in a hundred directions.
It was exactly the kind of environment they needed to do their best work.
But over time, one of their team members began to stall.
Nothing dramatic. No obvious performance issues. Just a gradual loss of momentum and engagement.
At first, it looked like disengagement.
Underperformance isn’t always about effort
When we slowed things down and looked more closely, it became clear that effort wasn’t the issue.
This person wasn’t overwhelmed.
They were under-stimulated.
What the manager experienced as distraction, the team member experienced as energy.
Variety helped them stay engaged.
Switching between projects helped them spot patterns and move faster.
Responding to changing priorities kept their momentum alive.
By trying to protect them from variety and context-switching, the manager had unintentionally removed the conditions that allowed them to thrive.
Why leaders manage people like themselves
This is more common than we realise.
Most leaders manage from their own nervous system, their own preferences, their own lived experience of work.
We tend to:
Design roles around what drains us
Avoid environments we personally struggle in
Assume focus looks the same for everyone
We call this good leadership.
But leadership isn’t about creating the most comfortable environment for you.
It’s about creating the right conditions for different kinds of people to do their best work.
Focus is not a one-size-fits-all concept
For some people, focus means deep, uninterrupted concentration on one task.
For others, focus comes from movement, variety, and responsiveness.
Neither is better.
Neither is more professional.
They are simply different ways of working.
When this manager adjusted how work was structured — allowing more range, more autonomy, and more flexibility in how tasks were handled — the shift was immediate.
Energy returned.
Output improved.
And the relationship between leader and team member softened.
Not because anyone tried harder, but because difference was finally being acknowledged.
A better question for modern leaders
If you’re managing someone and finding yourself thinking:
“Why can’t they just focus?”
It might be worth asking a different question instead:
What if focus isn’t the issue at all?
Often, what looks like disengagement or inefficiency is actually a mismatch between how work is structured and how someone is naturally wired to operate.
Leadership that works with energy, not against it
The most effective leaders aren’t the ones who force consistency at all costs.
They’re the ones who can recognise difference, adapt conditions, and lead people as individuals rather than templates.
That’s where clarity improves.
That’s where performance becomes sustainable.
And that’s where work starts to feel lighter for everyone involved.
About Carly Ferguson
I work with leaders who want to understand how people actually operate at work — beyond job descriptions, personality labels, or surface behaviours.
My work sits at the intersection of leadership, communication, and Human Design, helping organisations create environments where people can work with their natural energy rather than constantly fighting it.
If you’d like to explore this further, you can find out more here.
