Coach Kaisi Kask: A Leader Who Cares Too Much Can Cripple Their Team

Coach Kaisi Kask raises an important question: does excessive helpfulness from a leader damage the team? Constantly solving problems for employees can lead to the team losing independence and the leader experiencing burnout.

Good leadership is not just about setting goals and monitoring results – it is also about knowing when to step back. Kaisi Kask, an experienced coach and management expert, draws attention to a common trap that many leaders fall into with the best of intentions: helping too much.

Kask notes that most leaders are accustomed to being constantly available, responding quickly and finding solutions for others. On the surface, this appears to be caring and responsible leadership. In reality, however, such behaviour can be harmful to the team – employees don't learn to make their own decisions or take responsibility, because someone else always does it for them.

In the longer term, this creates a double setback: the leader becomes exhausted because they are carrying too much of the burden, and the team becomes helpless because they haven't had the chance to practise independent thinking and action. Responsibility, which should actually be shared, becomes increasingly concentrated on the shoulders of one person.

According to Kaisi Kask, the solution is deliberate delegation. This doesn't mean caring less, but redirecting that care differently – by supporting employee development rather than replacing it. The leader's task is to create conditions in which the team can grow, make mistakes and learn from them.

Adapting to this style of leadership requires changing both habits and expectations – both of oneself and of the team. The question that Kask recommends leaders ask themselves regularly is simple but powerful: am I solving this problem because only I can, or because it's easier than waiting?