Episode 17

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Published on:

6th Feb 2026

Q&A: Dealing with Overwhelmed Teams & Departments That Don't Deliver

"I can't give my team any more work—they are already drowning."

If you have ever said that, you are likely falling into the Martyr Trap. You try to protect your team by taking on the extra work yourself, but all you are doing is becoming the bottleneck and burning yourself out.

In this Live Q&A Session, we tackle two of the most common stressors in leadership: Influence and Overwhelm.

I answer real questions from the Growth Leaders Collective about how to get other departments (who don't report to you) to actually do their job, and how to dig your team out of a hole when everyone is stretched thin.

In this episode, you will learn:

-Expectations vs. Agreements: Why "pretty much" having an agreement is the same as having no agreement at all, and how to lock in commitments with peers .

-The "Martyr" Trap: Why "saving" your team from work actually hurts their growth and turns you into their personal assistant.

-The "Strategic No": How to ruthlessly audit your calendar and help your overwhelmed team do the same (hint: you can usually delete 20-40% of the tasks) .

💪 The Challenge for This Week:

The Calendar Audit.

-For You: Go through your task list and ruthlessly delete or renegotiate everything that isn't strategic.

-For Your Team: Find one overwhelmed employee. Schedule 45 minutes with them and help them find3 things they can stop doing or hand off immediately .

Resources

-Join the Conversation: Join our Leadership Mindset 2.0 community on LinkedIn or Facebook

-Get Live Coaching: Move from listening to doing inside the Growth Leaders Collective. Start your $1 trial at RMichaelAnderson.com/GLC

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About the Podcast

Leadership Mindset 2.0
Transform From Tactical Doer to Strategic Leader: The Psychology of Scaling for Executives & Entrepreneurs
Leadership Mindset 2.0 is the definitive playbook for executives and entrepreneurs ready to break free from the "Doer Trap" and scale their business using psychology and strategy.

Host R. Michael Anderson has scaled multiple software companies to the Inc. 5000 list and was named Social Entrepreneur of the Year. Now, as a 2x Executive Coach of the Year, he uses that experience to help high-performers transform from Tactical Operators into Strategic Leaders.

In this podcast, Michael blends cutting-edge neuroscience, emotional intelligence (EQ), and battle-tested business strategy to help you overcome burnout, imposter syndrome, and the "Leadership Incompetence Trap" so you can lead with clarity and confidence.

Two New Episodes Every Week which include a mix of:
• Strategy: Neuroscience frameworks & leadership tactics to start your week.
• Mentorship: Live Q&A and specific answers to your leadership challenges.
• Coaching: A fly-on-the-wall look at real, unscripted executive coaching sessions as Michael helps leaders break through their blind spots live.
• Masterclasses: Listen in as Michael and guests teach valuable leadership and management skills to a real-life audience.

Topics include: The Psychology of Scaling, Burnout Prevention, Strategic Planning, Executive Coaching, and Emotional Intelligence.

About your host

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R. Michael Anderson

R. Michael Anderson, MBA, MA has a striking combination that creates truly impactful transformation in leaders – he has the real-life business success of founding, scaling and exiting three software companies, plus the educational background of a Masters Degree in Psychology.



This combination gives him the unique ability to connect to other leaders as a peer, then teaches evidence-based leadership skills that genuinely drive behaviour and performance.