I love people who have a “get it done” mindset. Nothing happens until someone makes it happen and I think the world would be a better place if there were a few more “doers” in it.

But I struggle mightily with doers who can’t turn it off and who expect everyone else to be a doer like them. 

Successful organizations need doers. But they also need talkers. Talkers are people who can communicate a vision with the passion to help others make the vision their own. Organizations also need thinkers. Thinkers are people who help create the vision. Thinkers see things that could be and think “why not.” Organizations need planners too. Although doers may not always realize it, the planners provide them with the path to getting things done. 

An organization with too many of any of those types of people will be unbalanced and that imbalance can cause problems.

Leaders are also made up of those four types of people, often possessing more than one of those qualities. But the “doer” mentality is most prevalent amongst leaders. That is often a good thing. Often, but not always. 

Being a doer can at times put a leader so far out in front of their people that the people “lose sight” of the leader. When that happens people can’t really follow anymore. The other negative is that the leader can expect their people to always keep up. Even if that means working nights and weekends answering emails and messages pretty much around the clock.

That is not realistic. That burns people out. If you’re leading a thinker then you must give them time to think. If you’re leading a talker then you must at times be silent to give them space to talk. If you’re leading a planner then they will need time to focus and build the plan that will help you get more done. 

I’m all for providing people a push now and then to challenge them to be better and accomplish more. It’s just that if the pushing never stops it’ll start to feel more like a shove and the place you’re most likely to shove them is right out the door.

As they say, too much of a good thing isn’t so good. That includes over doing it and trying to force others to be a doer just like you.