As we head into a new year, most management advice focuses on what to start doing. New goals, fresh initiatives, bold resolutions. Leadership books overflow with frameworks to adopt and habits to build. But sometimes the most powerful changes come not from addition, but from subtraction. From what we choose to stop.
The problem with constantly adding is that we rarely make room first. We layer new initiatives onto already overloaded schedules, pile new expectations onto stretched teams, and wonder why nothing seems to gain traction. We become managers who are perpetually busy but not necessarily effective.
So before you create your list of ambitious 2026 goals, consider creating a “stop doing” list first. Here are five management habits worth leaving behind in 2025:
Stop attending meetings you don’t need to be in
Look at your calendar honestly. How many meetings are you attending out of habit rather than necessity? How many include you “just in case” something comes up that might require your input? How many are you in simply because you’ve always been in them?
Every meeting you attend has an opportunity cost. It’s time you’re not spending building the competence of your team, thinking strategically, or doing focused work that actually requires your expertise. When you attend meetings you don’t need to be in, you’re also sending a subtle message that you don’t trust others to handle things without you.
Challenge every recurring meeting on your calendar. For each one, ask yourself: What specific decision requires my input here? What unique value do I bring? If I wasn’t in this meeting, what would actually go wrong? If you can’t articulate clear answers, you probably don’t need to be there. Delegate your seat to someone who would benefit from the exposure, or simply decline.
Stop solving problems your team should own
This is perhaps the hardest habit to break, because solving problems feels productive. Someone brings you an issue, you fix it, they leave satisfied, you feel useful. It’s a seductive cycle.
But every time you solve a problem your team should be solving, you’re creating dependency rather than building capability. You’re training people to bring you problems instead of solutions. You’re becoming a bottleneck instead of an enabler.
When someone brings you a problem, resist the immediate urge to fix it. Pause. Ask questions: “What do you think we should do?” “What options have you considered?” “What would you do if I wasn’t available?” Yes, it takes longer initially. Yes, it feels less efficient in the moment. But you’re investing in long-term capability, not short-term convenience.
The caveat, of course, is genuine emergencies or situations where someone genuinely lacks the authority or information to proceed. But be honest with yourself about how often that’s actually the case versus how often you’re simply more comfortable being the solver.
Stop checking work that doesn’t need checking
If you’ve hired competent people, given them clear expectations, and ensured they understand the required standards, your job isn’t to quality-control every piece of work they produce.
Constant checking sends a clear message: I don’t trust you. It creates bottlenecks where work piles up waiting for your approval. It prevents people from developing their own judgment about what constitutes good work. And perhaps most importantly, it trains them to do the minimum required to get past your check rather than developing genuine pride in their output.
Define the boundaries clearly. Be explicit about standards. Make sure people understand what excellence looks like in your context. Then step back and let them deliver. Save your detailed oversight for genuinely high-stakes situations, complex new challenges, or when someone is still learning.
When you do review work, focus on the outcome rather than the process. Did it achieve what was needed? If yes, does it really matter that they did it differently than you would have?
Stop avoiding difficult conversations
You know the ones. The performance issue you keep hoping will improve on its own. The team conflict you’re “monitoring” rather than addressing. The feedback you’ve softened into meaninglessness because you’re worried about how it will be received. The boundary violation you’ve let slide because it seemed easier than confronting it.
These situations don’t improve with time. They fester. They spread. They send messages to the rest of your team about what’s acceptable. And the conversation you’re avoiding today will be significantly harder and more consequential in three months when the issue has escalated.
Difficult conversations require preparation and courage, certainly. But they also require clarity and kindness, which are entirely within your control. The person deserves to know where they stand. The team deserves a manager who addresses issues rather than tolerating them. And you deserve not to carry the weight of unresolved situations.
Have the conversation. Be direct about what you’ve observed, clear about what needs to change, and supportive about how you’ll help them get there. But have it.
Stop pretending you have all the answers
There’s a myth that leadership requires certainty. That admitting you don’t know something undermines your authority or competence. This myth creates managers who bluster their way through uncertainty, who provide confident answers they’re not sure about, who close down questions rather than opening up exploration.
Your team doesn’t need you to be infallible. They need you to be honest. “I don’t know, let’s figure this out together” is often more valuable than a questionable answer delivered with false confidence. Admitting uncertainty creates space for collective problem-solving. It signals that thinking together is valued. It builds psychological safety because people see that not knowing is acceptable.
This doesn’t mean abdicating responsibility or appearing rudderless. It means being honest about the limits of your knowledge while remaining confident in your ability to navigate uncertainty. It means modelling the curiosity and learning orientation you want to see in your team.
The pattern beneath the list
Look at what these five habits have in common. They’re all about control. Attending every meeting, solving every problem, checking every output, avoiding difficult truths, projecting certainty we don’t feel. These habits feel like good management because they keep us busy and feeling needed.
But they’re actually holding us back. Real leadership often means letting go. Letting go of control, of being indispensable, of looking capable in every moment, of comfort. The paradox is that letting go of these things doesn’t make you less effective. It makes you more so.
So before you build your ambitious plans for 2026, try creating space first. What are you ready to stop doing?
