Developing Independent Teams: When They Need You Less

The Management Minute with Dr. Donita Brown · Oct 1, 2026 · 3m

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What if one sign of good leadership is that your team needs you less?

In this episode of The Management Minute, Dr. Donita Brown reflects on a lesson she has experienced both as a mother and as a leader: doing your job well sometimes means becoming less necessary.

After recently dropping her daughter off at college, Dr. Brown found herself thinking about the strange tension that comes with watching someone become more independent. As a parent, the goal was never to remain the answer to everything. It was to teach, support, and eventually trust her daughters to handle more on…