208: Do You Make This Common Mistake in Engineering Management?

When you’re ready, here are three ways I can help you build your engineering career:   1. Engineering Career Accelerator Scorecard … foundational development actions and key points you can check, score, and apply immediately to stand out and excel at work.   2. Join us at Happy Hour … a limited-attendance LIVE monthly workshop where we dig deep into career growth strategies and provide 1:1 open coaching for you at the end of the session.   3. Work with me directly … start with a free chat and ensure it’s a great fit, then work with me and my team privately in our intensive coaching program, exclusively for engineers.   ============================   If you had to rehire your entire team today, would you enthusiastically say yes to every person?   In this episode, I share the story of Greg, who found himself trapped in a lose-lose leadership dilemma—step in and fix his team’s mistakes, or delegate and risk failure. Sound familiar?   Greg had been making great progress in his leadership journey, but when pressure hit, he fell back into old habits of doing instead of leading. The result? More hours, more stress, and creeping burnout.    Together, we unpacked the real issue—not just delegation, but the hidden cost of keeping underperformers on the team. I share the most important leadership question that will transform how you assess and develop your team, and we break down the two clear choices every leader must make: coach them up, or coach them out.   If you’ve ever struggled with letting go of work, managing underperformance, or balancing leadership with workload, this one’s for you.   So press play and let’s chat… Are you leading your team, or covering for them?   > Full Show Notes, Resources, & More   ============================   WE GROW BY WORD OF MOUTH   If you have received value from The Happy Engineer Podcast, would you help us pay it forward by SHARING this episode with another engineer?   Hit the SHARE button, or copy the episode URL and paste it into a text message or social media post!   Thank you for helping us grow the show.   ============================   Connect with your host, Zach White:   LinkedIn (primary) Instagram YouTube