Bring The Donuts
Sometimes it's the most important thing you can do for your team
Leadership can feel weighty—and it should.
As leaders, we have an incredible responsibility to nurture and grow our teams and our organizations. Some days that looks like:
Leading with empathy
Hiring exceptional talent
Trusting your team
Developing your top performers
Leading through change
And other days? Leadership looks like a big box of donuts.
You’ve Got to Show Up
We don’t often answer frontline calls, write code, or execute project plans as leaders. Nor should we—that’s not our job.
If we’re doing the work of the team, we’re often not doing the important work we need to do as leaders—setting strategy, developing people, steering the (metaphoric) ship.
That said, I’ve …
Configured graphic files for printing to deliver an order as a sales VP
Tested URLs during a website migration as an IT director
Imaged computers to ready computer labs for fall as a CIO
I’ve also stayed at the office well past midnight to support the team during a major system cutover, cleared my calendar for days to help orchestrate a cybersecurity response, and worked on Thanksgiving to manage an email outage response.
Although I couldn’t always contribute to the work at hand (no one wants me reconfiguring system settings or restoring email servers, I promise you), being present assured my team that I was in it with them.
In these cases, providing moral support—and food—was the most important thing I could do to add value to my team.
Get In The Trenches
There’s a difference between “in the weeds” as a leader and being “in the trenches” with your team:
You’re “in the weeds” if you’re doing the work of the team on a regular basis, sometimes in place of a team member doing it
You’re “in the trenches” if you’re working alongside your team in solidarity with them, and supporting them in the ways they most need at that time
The nuance to leadership is knowing when to step back and empower your team, and knowing when to roll up your sleeves and dive in.
Here are three scenarios where working alongside your team is not only appropriate, but essential:
Forging a new path. When you’re leading your team into uncharted territory—a new strategy or direction—you’ve got to lead from the front, by example. This requires diving deep to chart the way and create a map for your team to follow.
Meeting a critical deadline. Anything that requires an “all hands on deck” approach requires your presence, too. All means everyone, including (and especially) you. Don’t ask your team to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself.
Tackling an issue or supporting a critical launch. You may not be able to debug code or launch the system, but you can (and should) be there to support your team and ensure they don’t have anything to worry about except the task at hand.
We’ve all had leaders who’ve said “good luck” and gone home to their families for dinner while you’ve worked all night to resolve an issue or meet a deadline.
Don’t be that leader.
Roll up your sleeves and get in the trenches with your team, in any way that you can.
Sometimes that means doing the actual work.
Sometimes it means clearing their calendars, taking meetings for them, or keeping leadership informed and off their backs so they can do the work.
And sometimes it means showing up with pizza. Or donuts. Or beer.
Bonus read: If you tell your team you have their back, make sure you actually do. Because no matter what you say, your actions will speak louder than words.
