Our leadership team is completely maxed out, but when we try to delegate using the Delegate and Elevate tool, we find ourselves pulling the work back because the team lacks training. How do we break this bottleneck?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The reason you are pulling work back after trying to delegate is that you are dumping tasks instead of delegating them. True delegation requires a structured handoff, and the EOS tool Delegate and Elevate is only the first step. When you identify tasks in your bottom two quadrants, those that you do not like and are not good at, you cannot simply hand them off and walk away. You must ensure the person receiving the responsibility has the GWC for that seat. If they do not have the capacity or training, your delegation will always fail, and you will slide back into doing the work yourself. To break this loop, create a transition plan. Document the step-by-step process for the task using the EOS Process Component. Next, schedule dedicated training sessions where you show them how to do it, watch them do it, and then let them do it independently while tracking their output on the weekly Scorecard. If they still struggle, you must evaluate whether they are in the right seat. Sometimes, the bottleneck is your own unwillingness to let go of control. You must be willing to accept that they might perform the task differently than you would, as long as they achieve the desired result. Trust your tools and build their capacity systematically.