In the final episode of our 6 Part Series, "Communication Lies Leaders Believe", Tammy delivers a hard truth: some of the support you're giving your team isn't helping—it's enabling. This episode busts the myth that constantly helping will lead to growth and exposes the codependent patterns that can quietly destroy a team's culture. Tammy reveals how over-functioning for your people can lead to burnout among your top talent and a cycle of learned helplessness in your low performers. She provides a reset with 3 clear steps to stop rescuing and start truly empowering your team. Your job is to coach, not to coddle.

• Helping Can Be Hurtful: "Support becomes enablement when you take the responsibility for someone else's growth."

• The Codependent Cycle: You rely on your team to make you feel needed, and they rely on you to fix their problems.

• The High Cost of Coddling: Over-functioning for a low performer can cause your top talent to feel undervalued and lead to a 20% increase in overall turnover.

• Recognize the Signs: You're rescuing instead of leading if you're more invested in solving their problems than they are, or if you feel guilty when they fail.

• Break the Cycle: Coach people forward, not where they're at.

1. Name It and Claim It: Step in and address the pattern directly. Acknowledge that you've been solving their issues and state that it's not sustainable.

2. Give Responsibility Back: Map out what success looks like and make it clear that your role is a resource, not a rescuer.

3. Hold the Line: Set clear boundaries and expectations. If they don't act, don't step in. Let the natural consequences of their inaction play out.

If this episode hit home, it's time to break a pattern. Go to theleadershipsandbox.com/groups to join the waitlist for our upcoming mastermind groups, where you can tackle these hard truths in a safe place.

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In this milestone 100th episode, Tammy J. Bond tackles one of the biggest lies leaders tell themselves: that hope is a strategy. She celebrates the podcast's journey and shares why consistency and intentionality, not hope, are what keep a vision alive. This episode, part 5 in the 6 part series, powerfully debunks the myth that optimism or hard work will magically fix dysfunction.

Tammy reveals how relying on hope leads to passivity, sets teams up for disappointment, and creates a culture of reaction instead of intention. She provides a clear, three-step toolkit for replacing passive hope with a proactive leadership strategy that gets results. This is a must-listen for any leader who knows their team can achieve more and is ready to stop wishing and start leading.

• Hope Is Not a Strategy: Relying on hope creates passivity and sets your team up for repeated disappointment and failure.

• The Cost of "Hoping": Harvard Business Review found that teams without clear strategies are three times more likely to fail, even with high morale.

• Where Hope Hides: Hope often hides in your hiring process, performance management, strategic planning, and conflict navigation.

• If Everyone Owns It, No One Owns It: Without clear accountability, goals become everyone's responsibility, leading to finger-pointing and chaos.

• Clarity Beats Chaos Every Time: The only way to move forward is by identifying and naming the problem, then creating a clear path to a solution.

• "Hope is a beautiful feeling, but friends, it's not a great strategy."

• "Your strategy is to let them know what your expectation is. That's your responsibility."

• "Hope is not the strategy. Leadership is about the clarity, ownership, and action that you bring to it as the leader."

• Why relying on hope can be a financially and emotionally expensive mistake.

• The three key areas where leaders unknowingly rely on hope instead of a plan.

• A three-step practical toolkit for replacing passive hope with a proactive leadership strategy.

• How to build accountability ladders and create clear "sandbox rules" for your team.

• The difference between a leader who hopes and a leader who leads with intentionality.

Call to Action:

To celebrate our 100th episode, I'm challenging you to identify one area where you've been hoping instead of leading and take one bold step to fix it.
Please subscribe, share this episode, and leave a review to celebrate with us!

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In this powerful episode of the "Communication Lies Leaders Believe" series, Tammy tackles a hidden saboteur in every team: employee baggage. Your team members aren't just bringing their skills to the table; they're bringing their past fears, limiting beliefs, and insecurities. Tammy busts the myth that it's a leader's job to fix this. Instead, she provides a clear, three-step framework to name it, frame it, and lead through it. This isn't about being an "accidental therapist"; it's about setting strong boundaries and creating a culture of accountability where insecurity doesn't become the “pink elephant with purple polka dots” in your room.

• Baggage Isn't Just Luggage: Your team's past experiences and insecurities are a real force in the workplace. It's your job to lead through it, not fix it.

• The Insecurity Lie: Don't believe the lie that giving more clarity or reassurance will make their insecurity go away. Insecurity is a story they're telling themselves, often rooted in past wounds, not current reality.

• Separate the Person from the Problem: Learn to disconnect their identity from their performance. A key phrase to use is: "Your value isn't in question here; your behavior in this role is."

• Set Boundaries for Growth: Your role is to support someone's growth, not to carry it for them. If they're unwilling to work on their limiting beliefs, it's a performance issue, not a leadership failure.

• How to identify when a team member's behavior is rooted in insecurity, not incompetence.

• The three-step process to name, frame, and lead through a team member's baggage.

• Why staying silent on emotional baggage is more costly than any conflict.

• The difference between helping a team member and being a "fixer."

• The questions to ask that will help a team member personally investigate their own limiting beliefs.

This is just one of many lies we're busting! We're celebrating our 100th episode next week as we continue this series. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it!