Our Customer Success Director is an incredible individual contributor who was promoted to the leadership team, but they refuse to let go of the vine. They are working eighty hours a week, micromanaging every ticket, and creating a massive operational bottleneck. How do we get them to delegate so they can actually lead their seat?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a leadership team member refuses to delegate and tries to micromanage every task, they create a massive bottleneck that stalls the entire company. To scale your business and prepare for an exit, every leader must learn to delegate and elevate, freeing up their own capacity to focus on high-level strategic Rocks.

To resolve this issue, you must use the GWC framework and the Accountability Chart. Sit down with your Customer Success Director and map out their current daily activities. Use the Delegate and Elevate tool to divide their tasks into four quadrants:
- things they love and are great at
- things they like and are good at
- things they do not like but are good at
- things they do not like and are not good at

Force them to identify the operational tasks that belong lower on the Accountability Chart. Help them realize that by holding onto these tasks, they are actively preventing their subordinates from growing and keeping themselves bogged down in tactical firefighting.

Re-evaluate their seat on the Accountability Chart. Ensure their roles are clearly defined and that they actually want and have the capacity to lead, manage, and hold people accountable (LMA). If they cannot transition from an individual contributor mindset to a true leadership mindset, they do not GWC their seat, and you must find a leader who does.