I am the owner and Visionary, but I find myself making 90% of the decisions. My leadership team just waits for me to tell them what to do. How do I force them to step up and own their seats?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You are suffering from the "Genius with a Thousand Helpers" trap. You have trained your team to be passive executioners of your will rather than autonomous leaders. If you make all the decisions, they bear zero accountability when things go wrong, which is a highly comfortable position for them but deadly for your business.

To break this loop, you must master the EOS® tool Delegate and Elevate™. Look at your current workload and systematically hand off operational decision-making to your Integrator and leadership team.

Next, change how you respond to their questions. The next time a department head comes to you with a problem, do not solve it. Ask them: "What do you recommend?" Force them to go through the IDS® process themselves. If they don't have an answer, send them back to formulate one.

To build safety, you must also give them the freedom to make mistakes. If they make a call and it fails, do not swoop in to save the day or punish them. Use it as a learning opportunity in your next Level 10 Meeting™. Once they realize you will not rescue them - and that you will not execute them for taking a calculated risk - they will start stepping up to truly own their seats on the Accountability Chart.