Delegation Fails for One Simple Reason and It has Nothing to do with your team!
“I can do it faster myself.”
I’ve said it. And I hear it from business owners and CEOs constantly.
It sounds efficient. Responsible. Logical. In reality, it’s the most expensive sentence in a growing company.
Why Delegation Feels Hard (and Why That Makes Sense)
Leaders struggle to delegate because:
- Teaching takes time
- Rework feels inefficient
- Standards matter
- The business needs results now
So leaders step in—again.
Short term, it works.
Long term, it creates dependency.
Speed vs. Scale in Leadership
When leaders optimize for speed, they unintentionally teach teams to wait. Over time, delegation breaks down and everything flows upward:
- Decisions
- Questions
- Problems
This isn’t a capability issue. It’s a leadership design issue.
We teach people how to treat us. Delegation shows teams exactly what we trust… and what we don’t.
My story: I was working with a call center training them on handling difficult calls. After showing them how to do it and practicing with them I noticed they kept asking me to finish a call and I foolishly did. As I noticed this happening more, we had a team meeting and I explained this is a learning curve and it takes time. If I keep finishing the calls you won’t learn. Yes they may make mistakes and they will be fewer over time and they will learn from them. Once I stepped away they began to steadily improve and I wasn’t needed to finish calls. Yes, it may have been faster for me to do it, but it’s hard to meet deadlines if you keep being interrupted.
Trust, Fear, and “My Way” vs. “Right”
Delegation usually stalls in one of two places:
- “They won’t do it right.”
Often means: they won’t do it my way. - “What if they do it better?”
This is rarely admitted—but deeply real.
Leaders who tie their value to execution eventually limit growth.
Leaders who redefine their role create capacity—for themselves and others.
What Effective Delegation Actually Requires
Effective delegation focuses on:
- Outcomes over methods
- Progress over perfection
- Coaching instead of correcting
Yes, it’s slower at first.
That’s the investment. The return is a company that scales without exhausting its leaders.
What I See Every Day as a Coach
The leaders who struggle most with delegation are usually the most capable.
They built the business by doing.
Now the business needs them to lead differently.
Delegation isn’t about letting go of quality.
It’s about letting go of control that no longer serves the company.
Delegation is not a task problem—it’s a leadership transition.
This Is Exactly the Leadership Shift I Coach
I help leaders:
- Clarify decision ownership
- Separate standards from preferences
- Build teams that think and act independently
If your company still depends on you for momentum, it’s time for a different approach.
If your business still depends on you to make every decision, solve every problem, or keep things moving, it’s time for a different leadership approach.
I work with owners and CEOs of small to mid-size companies to clarify decision ownership, rebuild trust, and create teams that can operate without constant oversight.
If you’re ready to stop being the bottleneck and start leading at the level your business now requires, let’s talk.
Email me to schedule a leadership reset conversation Harriet@trainingsoluions-hlc.com
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