When you’re a leader, it’s good to be laser-focused. Right?

Not necessarily. In today’s information-overloaded world, the scale can often tip too far toward being overfocused. And this can get in the way of problem solving and innovation.

When you’re overfocused, your attention is zoomed in too closely on matters that are either not critical in the long run or not the root cause of the issue, such as a minor error in a report or a comment in a meeting. This uses up valuable energy and attention that can — and should — be used for more important issues.

Rachel, a program manager in a real estate development company I worked with, started nine years ago, long before many of her colleagues. Because of that, she was quite knowledgeable about the industry, the company, workflow and past projects. She was quick to notice errors in the details of her colleague’s work. She particularly recoiled if employees were unedited in what they said to clients. To rectify these issues, Rachel stepped in personally and took on much of the work herself. Often, she worked at the office late into the evening.

Rachel was overfocused on these details. In trying to fix the situation herself, she was headed toward burnout. Being overfocused can be overwhelming, which can be paralyzing.

I asked Rachel: “What if you brought your ‘spotlight’ to growing the company in ways that would last and be sustainable?” By sustainability, I meant contributing to developing other staff members’ skills and preparing them for additional responsibilities. She thought about that new way of looking at the issue. She zoomed out and took in a wider context. She could see that judging others, correcting their mistakes and taking on work outside of her scope was not achieving the real goal she had: to produce a great result.

Instead, if she considered the future of the company, staff needed to learn more and develop their skills. When she zoomed into the details, it was holding her back from solving more important, bigger-picture problems, such as strategy, innovation and process redesign to improve outcomes.