Gina Gardiner Associates
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2025-08-07 - From "Fix it for Me" to "Here's My Proposal"
One of the hardest challenges of leadership is when your team begins to depend on you for everything. Every problem is brought to your desk, so every small challenge becomes your responsibility. Before long, you are exhausted, carrying weight that was never meant to be yours alone.
I lived this cycle for far too long. At first, I thought I was being helpful - always available, always ready to solve. But then I realised something uncomfortable: by rescuing people, I was also preventing them from growing.
The turning point came with a single new rule: staff were encouraged to become solution finders rather than problem dumpers. If staff were presenting a problem I asked them to come with some thoughts of what the solution might be. At first, there was resistance. People were used to the easy option of passing the burden upward. But gradually, something remarkable began to shift.
Staff began thinking differently. They came prepared. They began owning their work in a new way. And instead of saying, "Here's the problem," they started saying, "Here's what I think we should do."
It was no longer about me being the fixer. It was about me being the coach and mentor, guiding, supporting, encouraging, but letting them step into their own leadership.
What I discovered was this: empowerment doesn't happen by chance. It happens when you create a culture where people are expected to think, to solve, and to grow.
As you reflect on your own leadership this week, ask yourself:
Am I solving problems that others could solve with a little guidance?
Am I rescuing, or am I coaching?
What might change if I expected solutions, not just problems?
You may be surprised at just how capable your people really are, once you give them permission, and an expectation that they can rise to the occasion.
I lived this cycle for far too long. At first, I thought I was being helpful - always available, always ready to solve. But then I realised something uncomfortable: by rescuing people, I was also preventing them from growing.
The turning point came with a single new rule: staff were encouraged to become solution finders rather than problem dumpers. If staff were presenting a problem I asked them to come with some thoughts of what the solution might be. At first, there was resistance. People were used to the easy option of passing the burden upward. But gradually, something remarkable began to shift.
Staff began thinking differently. They came prepared. They began owning their work in a new way. And instead of saying, "Here's the problem," they started saying, "Here's what I think we should do."
It was no longer about me being the fixer. It was about me being the coach and mentor, guiding, supporting, encouraging, but letting them step into their own leadership.
What I discovered was this: empowerment doesn't happen by chance. It happens when you create a culture where people are expected to think, to solve, and to grow.
As you reflect on your own leadership this week, ask yourself:
Am I solving problems that others could solve with a little guidance?
Am I rescuing, or am I coaching?
What might change if I expected solutions, not just problems?
You may be surprised at just how capable your people really are, once you give them permission, and an expectation that they can rise to the occasion.
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What My Clients Say
"Gina is truly remarkable - quite simply she saved my life and I do not exaggerate that in any way. I knew Gina, although we had never met personally and as yet still haven't, through my work running a 'virtual' office from home. Without going into detail at the beginning of 2010 a number of changes occurred the effects of which were to rip my life as I'd known it to shreds. I neither chose nor wanted any of these sudden changes.
When Gina rang me one morning it was a morning that saw me pacing my office like a caged animal in utter despair. What precisely prompted me to pick up the phone when it rang I don't know because I was distraught, hardly able to speak let alone answer the phone professionally, however, pick up the phone I did and that was the best phone call I have ever taken.
Gina stayed on the phone with me for I believe two hours. She gave me the tools to deal with the immediate distress I was in and thereafter we embarked on weekly, then fortnightly sessions to move me from the place of despair I'd found myself in to where I am now which is a very different place.
It's not been easy, choosing to learn from what has happened can be uncomfortable, painful and sad, but with Gina's help and support it's possible. We all know that bad things happen to everybody all the time, in my particular case it was the sheer number of things that happened so quickly that brought to my knees, literally. I knew I needed help and that help, in the form of Gina, found me just at the right moment.
I am so strong now and I have learnt so much about myself - some nice, and some not so nice. But the journey has been and still is fascinating.
Gina is so kind, never judgemental; she holds a safe space where you can be open and honest. Gina pushes when pushing is needed, supports when support is needed but she gets you there and you never feel like you're battling along on your own. You will make changes, you will be better, (Gina would pick me up on the word 'better' because that indicates that you were somehow bad before) your life will be different. Be prepared for some soul searching but also be prepared to find greatness because we all have greatness within us - sometimes we just forget.
I could talk about Gina forever but suffice it to say she will remain a very special person in my life. Without her - well I don't want to think about that!"
When Gina rang me one morning it was a morning that saw me pacing my office like a caged animal in utter despair. What precisely prompted me to pick up the phone when it rang I don't know because I was distraught, hardly able to speak let alone answer the phone professionally, however, pick up the phone I did and that was the best phone call I have ever taken.
Gina stayed on the phone with me for I believe two hours. She gave me the tools to deal with the immediate distress I was in and thereafter we embarked on weekly, then fortnightly sessions to move me from the place of despair I'd found myself in to where I am now which is a very different place.
It's not been easy, choosing to learn from what has happened can be uncomfortable, painful and sad, but with Gina's help and support it's possible. We all know that bad things happen to everybody all the time, in my particular case it was the sheer number of things that happened so quickly that brought to my knees, literally. I knew I needed help and that help, in the form of Gina, found me just at the right moment.
I am so strong now and I have learnt so much about myself - some nice, and some not so nice. But the journey has been and still is fascinating.
Gina is so kind, never judgemental; she holds a safe space where you can be open and honest. Gina pushes when pushing is needed, supports when support is needed but she gets you there and you never feel like you're battling along on your own. You will make changes, you will be better, (Gina would pick me up on the word 'better' because that indicates that you were somehow bad before) your life will be different. Be prepared for some soul searching but also be prepared to find greatness because we all have greatness within us - sometimes we just forget.
I could talk about Gina forever but suffice it to say she will remain a very special person in my life. Without her - well I don't want to think about that!"
Nina