Welcome back to The Leadership Journal.
I’m Eric Pfeiffer, CEO of MPWR Coaching and Executive Coach to 9-figure founders, Fortune 500 Executives, NBA teams, and more.
Each week, I distill insights from my coaching sessions into this 5-minute leadership lesson to help you…
- Upgrade Your Leadership with 8 practical tools
- Cultivate high-performing teams that solve problems without you
- Become an Unshakeable Leader who thrives under pressure
I recently sat in on a client’s team meeting.
I noticed a subtle mistake that makes leaders lose “buy-in”.
The leader stood up and did what leaders do best. He started casting vision. He painted a picture of where the organization was headed, shared new ideas, and laid out what he wanted the team to focus on next.
I was surprised to see how fast the room responded.
People started scribbling notes, nodding along, and jumping straight to logistics. “What do you want me to do?” “How do we get this done?” Within minutes, the entire team had shifted into execution mode.
Sounds good, right?
On the surface, it looked like a great meeting led by a strong leader.
But I saw something different.
I saw a room full of leaders turn their brains off.
- No one pushed back.
- No one asked a follow-up question.
- No one offered an alternative perspective.
The leader shared the vision, and the team went straight to work.
I see so many leaders make this mistake, and it’s tricky because it looks like success.
The mistake is assuming that execution means buy-in.
Your team starts moving. Tasks get assigned. Deadlines get set. You walk out of the meeting thinking, “That went great! We’re all on the same page.”
But here’s what’s actually happening.
You handed them a vision that they don’t own. They’re complying, but that doesn’t mean they’re committed. And the difference between compliance and commitment will show up in the quality of everything they produce.
This is why so many leaders end up confused.
The project comes back, and it doesn’t look like what you envisioned. Your top performers start cutting corners on processes. The team seems engaged in meetings, but nothing meaningful changes afterward.
And you’re left thinking, “I thought we were all on the same page. What happened?”
Here’s what’s happening…
By the time you share a vision with your team, it’s been living in your head for months. You’ve been turning it over, testing it, wrestling with it from every angle. You’ve already done the hard work of making it feel clear and obvious (to you).
Think about it like growing a plant in your backyard.
You had to prepare the soil. You had to plant the seed, water it, give it sunshine. It took time before that little seedling became a young plant.
That’s what happened with your vision.
- You noodled on it during your morning commute.
- You kicked it around with trusted friends.
- You processed it from a dozen different angles.
By the time you walk into that meeting, you’re carrying a full-grown plant.
Then, you try to hand it to your team and expect them to feel the same ownership you feel… in thirty seconds.
But that’s like putting a plant in foreign soil.
I’m not a botanist, but I know you can’t pull a plant out of the ground it grew in, drop it into new soil, and expect it to thrive immediately. It needs time to establish new roots. It needs the right conditions to take hold. That’s what’s really happening when your team nods along, but nothing changes.
The vision was delivered, but it never took root.
So what do you do instead?
You create space for them to think for themselves and make your vision stronger. Ownership doesn’t come from nodding along in a meeting. It comes from wrestling.
It comes from your team asking hard questions, pushing back, offering different perspectives, and even bringing concerns. Not to put a wet blanket over your idea. But to make it stronger.
Think about how we build muscle.
We grow our muscles by pushing them to the point where they tear a little bit, and then they heal back stronger. Your ideas work the same way. When your team is allowed to challenge a vision, test it, and poke holes in it, that vision comes out more resilient.
But if you skip that process, your ideas will always be weaker than they could be.
And your team will execute on your ideas, but without the energy that comes from ownership.
That’s why the best leaders don’t just cast vision. They invite their team to help shape it.
Before you try to fix this on your team, I want you to feel it for yourself first.
Grab your journal and sit with these four questions:
- How do I feel when someone tells me to do something without asking for my perspective?
- How does it impact the quality of my work when I’m building something I don’t have ownership of?
- Now flip it. How do I feel when someone genuinely asks for my opinion before asking me to execute?
- How does it impact the energy and quality of my work when I’m fully bought in?
You already know the difference. You’ve lived it.
Your team is living it too.
The only question is which experience you’re creating for them.
Talk soon,
Eric Pfeiffer
Executive Coach & Founder of MPWR Coaching
P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are a few ways we can help you…
- Take the free “What’s Stalling Your Team?” Assessment. It only takes 5 minutes to pinpoint what’s holding your team back and get a clear next step.
- Get the $29 Leadership Starter Bundle. You’ll get my newest book, Upgrade Your Leadership, shipped to your door, and instant access to our Leadership Operating System Online Course.
- Interested in coaching? Schedule a Discovery Call.
