If you’ve worked your way up from individual contributor into leadership, it’s tempting to drive too far down the hierarchy. You likely have exactly the skills as a VP to define and execute the tactics of your organization - after all, your ability to excel at just that got you promoted to your current position. But, this will quickly work against you and your organization and is a false economy.

First, your time is finite - if you’re focusing your energy farther down the chain than your role then that leaves a gap. If you’re executing tactics as a director then who is making sure those tactics continue to serve the strategies your organization has defined? It may seem trivial for each individual occurrence: Particularly in a smaller organization you can jump in quickly and unblock a team. But the times quickly add up and can lead to a team that’s executing efficiently with the wrong tactics.

Second, when you jump down to do a role lower in the hierarchy you’re displacing a team member that normally provides that role. This can quickly create a lasting weakness in your organization - they don’t get the chance to exercise and build their skill and you lose an excellent mentorship opportunity. It also can easily demoralize the whole team, not just the affected individual. They knew they came up short and the organization didn’t have the confidence in them to trust them to rise to the occasion. If this pattern repeats enough the organization comes to rely on it.

If you’re doing a job below your level, you’re not doing your own—and your team is missing a chance to rise.

Finally, the shift in perspective as you move through the hierarchy takes time to settle. This is particularly true when shifting back to a strategy or principle perspective once you’ve shifted into the tactical domain. As you move your thinking down you shift back into old patterns and habits - ones that have worked for you before. Pulling yourself back up and out takes a conscious effort and time.

In the end, you need to make a decision: Recognizing the cost to your organization, yourself, and your team does the situation justify intervening directly? If not step back and take a different approach.

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If you want to level up the structure of your team, I highly recommend Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais which connects leadership choices to team effectiveness.