How Leadership Blind Spots Create Unnecessary Problems
- Brainz Magazine
- Jan 21
- 6 min read
Written by Joe Patneaude, Executive Coach
Joe Patneaude is an Executive Coach and creator of the STAR Scalability℠ Method. He helps business owners and leaders scale financial services firms efficiently. He is the author of Follow the STAR: Unlock Monumental Business Growth and a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner.
You have a recurring issue. A compliance delay. An operational bottleneck. A task that is always behind, or a system no one seems to use correctly. So you try to fix it. Maybe you buy a new tool. You reorganize the team. You hire someone, or fire someone. For a while, it seems to work, until the issue shows up again. Different shape. Same drag. The truth? You are not solving the wrong problem. You are solving a problem that should not exist in the first place.
In this article, we will break down:
The kinds of issues that quietly bleed time and trust from your team.
Why surface level solutions often backfire.
How to stop treating recurring friction as an inevitability, and start treating it like the leadership design flaw it actually is.
What problems shouldn’t exist?
In well run organizations, problems will still happen. But not these problems, not over and over. If you are constantly wrestling with rework, confusion around authority, or technology tools that no one seems to use the same way, you are not seeing signs of normal growing pains. You are seeing signs that your structure is not keeping up with your strategy.
Here are a few of the most common issues that quietly eat up time, erode trust, and hold businesses back, especially in fast growth or heavily regulated environments:
Tools that don’t actually solve anything
A shiny new tech platform gets rolled out, and suddenly the team has two systems to update. The problem was not the absence of technology. It was the absence of a clean process the tool was meant to support.
Delegation that looks good on paper, but not in practice
Leaders often say they have delegated, but quietly override decisions, question judgment, or restart processes. The result? Confusion, hesitation, and team members who stop trying to lead because they know they will get second guessed anyway.
Time expectations that ignore reality
Planners and projections often assume that tasks happen in neat blocks. But they rarely account for compliance reviews, clarifications, corrections, documentation, or real world interruptions like internal emails, system glitches, or just walking to the printer. That disconnect leads to unrealistic expectations and simmering resentment from high performing teams.
Compliance friction that never gets resolved
If your team is constantly rewriting, redrafting, or circling back for compliance review, the issue is not just language. It is a structural failure to build compliance standards into your process from the beginning, and it is one of the most costly forms of silent rework in heavily regulated industries and financial services firms.
None of these issues are isolated. They are not personality conflicts or bad fits. They are symptoms of system misalignment. And they drain energy and trust from your team long before you see it in performance reports.
Why the easy fix keeps failing
Leaders rarely throw money at a problem on purpose. But they do throw solutions at symptoms, especially when they are under pressure. And that is where the easy fix starts to unravel.
You are promised that a new CRM will simplify everything.
That a project manager will “take ownership.”
That a software tool or AI plugin will automate the bottleneck away.
That an outside consultant will “get people in line.”
But what happens?
More often than not, the system gets heavier. Now the team is managing two CRMs. The new hire is not sure what they are actually allowed to own. The tool only works if everything is perfect on the front end, and it never is. And the outside expert offers templated advice that does not fit your business.
The issue is not bad intent. It is bad diagnosis.
Because here is the truth. Tools do not fix problems. They multiply what is already there.
If you automate a broken process, you break things faster.
If you delegate without clarity or authority, you create confusion.
If you keep fixing the same problem with the same mindset, you are not evolving, you are entrenching.
And every time a “fix” fails, your team loses trust in leadership’s ability to listen, adjust, or learn.
When delegation isn’t really delegation
A few years ago, I worked with a firm where the CEO routinely told his team, “You’ve got this. Run with it. You don’t need my sign off.” It sounded like empowerment. But in practice, it was anything but.
Every time the operations manager took initiative, made a judgment call, responded to a client, or implemented a solution, the CEO stepped in to question the decision. Not just privately, but often in front of others. He would insist the situation should have been handled differently. He would restart the process, retrace the steps, and usually land in the exact same place, but only after making sure the final outcome came from him.
To the outside world, he looked like a leader who delegated. But inside the company, his team knew better. The result? The operations manager stopped initiating. The rest of the team learned to wait, defer, or check with the CEO on everything, even when it slowed them down.
And the CEO? He could not understand why he felt overworked, under supported, and frustrated by how “no one stepped up.” It was not a delegation problem. It was a control problem masked as delegation, and it cost the business its momentum, credibility, and eventually its top performers.
The STAR tie in: Strategy, team, and assets
These kinds of recurring issues are not random. They are what happens when a business tries to grow without addressing structural alignment, and that is exactly where the STAR Scalability℠ Method applies.
Strategy
Most leaders do not set out to create confusion or inefficiency. But when goals are disconnected from operational reality, or when priorities shift without clear communication, strategy becomes noise instead of direction.
When STAR clients map their strategy, we look at more than what is next. We ask, can your systems support it? Can your people carry it? Are the goals reinforcing the business you want, or just reacting to the pressure you feel?
Team
Delegation is only real if it comes with authority, clarity, and support. Anything less creates what I call “ghost ownership,” where team members are responsible for outcomes but not empowered to make decisions.
It is one of the fastest ways to burn out top performers and lose credibility as a leader.
STAR always addresses this gap head on. Because a disengaged team does not just underperform, they silently resist. And that resistance shows up as missed goals, unspoken tension, and quiet exits.
Assets
Technology, systems, consultants, none of these are bad in isolation. But they cannot fix culture, clarity, or capacity.
Assets should multiply effectiveness, not mask dysfunction. That is why, under STAR, we evaluate tools last, not first. Because automating chaos just makes it harder to clean up later.
When STAR elements are misaligned, problems keep surfacing. When they are aligned, those same problems stop showing up altogether, because the system no longer creates them.
Before you buy another tool, restructure your team, or roll out a new process, ask yourself:
Am I solving the real issue, or just the one I am most comfortable addressing?
What would this problem look like if my structure, delegation, and systems were fully aligned?
Sometimes the clearest answers come when we stop reacting and start asking better questions.
Conclusion: The real cost of the wrong fix
Most leaders do not ignore problems. In fact, they act fast to fix them. But when those fixes are aimed at symptoms instead of systems, all it really does is buy time. And eventually, the same issue shows up again, just louder, more expensive, and with more wear on your team. The good news?
If the problem keeps coming back, it is probably not the people. It is the structure. And structure can be fixed. But not with another quick patch. It takes stepping back. Asking harder questions. And designing a business that does not just move faster, but moves smarter. If that is the kind of growth you are after, explore how the STAR Scalability℠ Method helps leaders like you scale without chasing symptoms or burning out your team.
Learn more here.
Read more from Joe Patneaude
Joe Patneaude, Executive Coach
Joe Patneaude is a Certified Executive Coach who helps business owners and leaders scale with purpose, clarity, and confidence. After rising through the ranks in financial services, from the mailroom to the C-suite, Joe realized that true success isn’t just about growth, but about alignment with personal values. This insight led him to develop the STAR Scalability℠ Method, a practical framework that guides business owners to scale in a way that supports both profitability and well-being. Today, he coaches leaders ready to move beyond burnout and build thriving, scalable businesses. He is also the author of Follow the STAR: Unlock Monumental Business Growth and a certified NLP Practitioner.
