The Leader’s Dilemma: Push or Pull?

I was thinking this weekend about how hard it is to balance pushing and pulling your team. Early on I thought leadership was a binary choice between drill sergeant and therapist.

Being the sports junkie I am, I thought Coach Carter validated this as well. When I dug further, I found out I was wrong.

It's a delicate dance between pushing your team towards goals and pulling them out of their comfort zones.

But knowing when to do what? Oof, I feel like a perfect answer to that does not exist. Alas, here’s how I go about it.

First, the Basics:

• Pushing: Think deadlines, direction, accountability. Hard work is the core of all success.

• Pulling: More about inspiration, motivation, and tapping into intrinsic drive. There is no purpose found in spreadsheets.

The Data:

• Turns out, most of us are pushing pros (76% to be exact). But guess what? Inspiring others (pulling) is actually considered more important for leadership success.

• The magic sauce, though, is the combo platter. Leaders who mastered both pushing and pulling, saw their teams with higher confidence. Which led to better results.

So, when do you switch gears?

• Push when:

  • Deadlines loom, and procrastination whispers sweet nothings.

  • Teams need a clear direction to navigate the fog.

  • A little accountability can light a fire under their… well, you get the idea.

• Pull when:

  • You want to ignite creativity and ownership.

  • The task calls for out-of-the-box thinking, not just following orders.

  • Building confidence and buy-in is key to long-term success.

Do you struggle with this at times? I’d love to hear how you go about it. If you reply with a recent example of pushing/pulling, I’m happy to feature it in the newsletter (anonymously of course).