The Lazy Leader’s Trap: Confusing Standards and Strategies
Increase Your Leadership Status with Leveraging Standards
Standards vs. Strategies
Every good leader can coach their team members to do the best work possible. When your team members know you see, value and trust them, they often respond by producing their best work. But trust is established on an individual level first.
One mistake many leaders make that minimizes value and erodes trust is to confuse standards versus strategies. The most effective leaders hold the same standards for everyone but are flexible when it comes to the strategies they use to lead each individual.
A Family and Work Parallel
I think about my family often when I reflect on this. I love my four sisters and three brothers the same. My love is the standard. That does not change. But I don’t interact with them all the same way. My communication is different with each one. That’s the strategy. Love never changes, but the way I connect with each of them does.
The same principle shows up in leadership.
On my team, I have one member who is a technical genius. When I work with them, I give clear instructions, boundaries, and constraints. That helps them fine-tune their expertise and deliver incredible work. I also have a team member who is a creative specialist. With them, I hold back from prescribing the process. I give them the bigger goal and the freedom to take the first approach. That space unleashes their creativity. The standard is the same: excellence, trust, respect. But the strategies are completely different.
Sometimes leaders fall into a pattern of convenience for themselves by leading everyone the same way. We assume fairness means sameness, and sameness feels safe. But this is not really safe. If each individual on your team doesn’t see that you personally like, care and trust them, they will seek opportunities where they can find this. We sometimes need to make things less comfortable for us so we optimize the performance of our team.
A Faith-Driven Perspective
God Himself leads us this way.
Each of us has a unique calling. That calling shapes how we live and work in the marketplace. Your calling may look nothing like mine, but the standard He sets is the same: do excellent work, as if unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23).
Think about that. God’s standard is unchanging. But the strategy he uses for each of us is unique. Some are called to lead teams, others to innovate solutions, others to serve behind the scenes.
Your calling may not look like mine, but God’s standard is the same: do excellent work.
Excellence is the standard. Calling is the strategy.
Different callings demand different strategies, but excellence is always the standard. God designed use uniquely. What unites us isn’t identical roles, but a shared pursuit of doing our work as unto Him. When we honor that design, our strategies reflect our uniqueness, but our standard and results reflect His glory.
The Lazy Leader’s Challenge
The hardest part of this isn’t your team, it’s you. It’s easy to lean on the strategies that work best for you. But as a faith-driven leader, we focus on serving our team members. Serve them by shifting the focus to your people.
When you take the time to see what they need and adjust your approach to fit them, you develop discipline. Lazy leaders force their teams while they stay comfortable themselves.
But leadership isn’t about staying comfortable. Leadership means you accept the challenge first. You stretch and then have the credibility to expect excellence from your team.
When both the leader and the team are challenged, the organization thrives. The work produces more than just an outcome. It now can produce impact.
How Faith-Driven Professionals Apply This
As faith-driven professionals, we can’t afford to confuse sameness with fairness in the marketplace. Here’s how you live this out:
Hold a clear standard. Decide the non-negotiables for your team. But don’t make too many. People can’t even remember let alone implement 15 standards. Three to four are plenty. At the same time, don’t lower the bar just to make things easy. Use real standards like integrity, excellence, respect.
The three standards I use on my team are communication, trust and being action-oriented.Adapt your strategy. Learn your people. Some need clarity. Some need space. Some need encouragement. The more flexible your strategy, the more ways you have to help your team flourish.
Examine yourself first. Ask: Am I placing the challenge only on my team, or am I challenging myself as well?
Lead like God leads. Remember: His standard is excellence. His strategies are personal. Model that same combination in your leadership.
Final Thoughts
The temptation for every leader is to confuse standards and strategy. When you cling to what feels comfortable to you, you are serving yourself and not the team. The way you lead should be tied to high standards of excellence and impact. This doesn’t change. But strategy is not the measure. Strategy shifts. Strategy bends. Strategy is personal.
What never bends are the standards. These are not negotiable.They are the foundation. Don’t lower your standards. As a matter of fact, look for ways to raise the standard. If you keep the standards high, it can improve imperfect strategies. People often rise when they know the bar is clear and they feel trust from their leader.
Hold the line on standards, but release your grip on strategies. Lead with conviction about what will never change. Show humility by being willing to change. That balance is where respect is earned, trust is deepened, and impact is multiplied.