To The Rescue Always stepping in to save the day? Stop doing your employees' work before it's too late!

Do you love playing the part of office hero who alwaysintervenes to save the day when employees stumble? Good as it mayfeel, know that if you find yourself often falling into this role,you're heading not only toward personal inefficiency but towardthe possible collapse of your business.

"When you keep saying `I can do it! I'm theleader!' you're rushing into paralysis," says LauraBerman Fortgang, a Montclair, New Jersey, executive coach andauthor of Take Yourself to the Top (Warner Books).

By playing the hero, you fall victim to an epidemic workplacemalady: upward delegation. But how do you know if you're avictim? "Look at the work on your desk. How much of it hadoriginally been given to others but has now come back to you?"says Joyce Gioia, a Greensboro, North Carolina, certifiedmanagement consultant and co-author of Lean & Meaningful: ANew Culture for Corporate America (Oakhill Press). When yourto-do list is on hold because you're working nonstop doing jobsyou initially delegated, you're suffering from full-blownupward delegation.