Are you an accidental diminisher?
Multipliers by Liz Wiseman explores how effective leaders bring out the best in the people around them by giving them ownership, challenging their thinking, and creating space for their ideas, rather than controlling everything themselves; the result is a team that becomes more capable, confident, and effective.
This book is one of my favourite recommendations for anyone who struggles with delegation, or who manages or leads teams and wants to get the best out of the people around them.
One idea which resonated was to think of the people you manage as clients of your leadership.
This book is particularly relevant if you have high positive traits of conscientiousness and agreeableness and these have tipped into perfectionism or people pleasing. Perfectionists can find it difficult to let go because of high, unrelenting standards. Difficulty delegating can also arise if you have a self-sacrifice schema or are driven by a need for approval; you may undertake work for others to feel useful and needed, or to protect your team from pressure because you do not want to burden others. Whilst that may feel helpful in the moment, it does not help others around you build resilience, confidence and independence.
Wiseman describes two types of leaders: Multipliers and Diminishers, borrowing the idea of an economic multiplier as a metaphor. Just as capital can be invested to generate greater returns, leaders can be Multipliers, people who create an environment where their teams can produce more than they could individually, without simply adding more people, more resources or more hours. Through investment in people, Multipliers can increase each team member’s contribution value. They identify people’s natural talents, develop their competence and give them genuine ownership and accountability. They use stretch assignments, debate ideas and provide coaching. Importantly, they do not take that accountability back the moment they feel nervous or think, “Actually, I could probably do this better myself.”
I use the analogy of a tennis coach here, helping you improve your serve, but not stepping onto the court to serve for you in a match. The same applies to leadership. A manager can absolutely coach and support someone when they need it, but Wiseman’s point is that you have to hand the accountability pen back.
The result is that Multipliers raise the level of excellence within a team. They create people who are more capable, more independent and, ultimately, more fulfilled.
Diminishers, on the other hand, are micromanagers rather than investors and can be exhausting when they make it all about them. One thing I particularly like about the book is that Wiseman points out that diminishing behaviour isn’t always deliberate. Leaders can be accidental diminishers.
You might be well intentioned but too quick to offer an idea or solution. You jump in and solve the problem before anyone else has had a chance to think. You rescue people from difficulty because you want to be helpful. Sometimes we are so keen to help and find quick solutions that we actually create dependency and learned helplessness. Your competence diminishes others instead of multiplying value because everyone around you gives up trying and does not develop their own judgement and problem solving skills; they know you will do it for them. This concept can be extended from the workplace into parenting too.
So perhaps the most challenging idea in the book is this: sometimes we are most helpful when we don’t help.
If you are new to management, struggle with delegation, or recognise perfectionistic or people-pleasing tendencies in yourself, I would highly recommend Multipliers. It is ultimately about getting the best team outcomes through creating conditions for others to succeed for themselves.