The Power of Pausing

As leaders, it’s natural to believe progress comes from constant action—jumping in, solving issues quickly, and pushing for immediate results. But over the years, I’ve discovered that sometimes the most powerful move is… to pause.

In the past, whenever there was a project escalation, my instinct was to jump in immediately. I worried about it, pushed the team to resolve it as quickly as possible, and carried the pressure myself. The issue usually got fixed, but it came with side effects—my other priorities were delayed, and the team often felt the extra weight of “the leader’s attention.” They couldn’t work freely because I was hovering over the issue.

Over time, I realized this wasn’t sustainable—for me or the team. So, I changed my approach. Now, when an escalation happens, I don’t step in right away. I let other leaders handle it, and I only ask to be updated once it’s sorted out. This simple pause has brought two powerful outcomes:

• I can stay focused on my own priorities.
  
• The team feels trusted, works on the issue calmly, and resolves it without unnecessary pressure.
  

Later, once the project has cooled down, I take time to reflect and understand what happened—not to assign blame, but for my own learning.

For another case, we had challenges working across functions. Different teams often clashed, and people came to me asking to step in and sort it out. At first, I jumped in immediately and mediated between them. The conflict would calm down temporarily, but it kept happening again and again—until I became part of the cycle. Then I tried something different. Instead of intervening right away, I asked them to wait. And many times, after some time, they came back saying, “We’ve sorted it out ourselves.” By pausing, I gave them space to take ownership and build stronger relationships.

These experiences taught me something valuable:
👉 Pausing is not neglecting leadership. It’s trusting your team, reducing unnecessary pressure, and creating space for growth—for them and for you.

But let me also emphasize this—there are situations where a leader must step in immediately. When the issue is critical, when customer trust is at risk, or when the team truly needs support, the right action is to act fast. Leadership is about balance: knowing when to jump in and when to step back.

True leadership is measured by the ability to pause without losing momentum and act without hesitation when it matters.