One of our long-term department heads has excellent core values and works eighty hours a week, but they have become a major bottleneck because they refuse to delegate and elevate, insisting on reviewing every minor operational decision. How do we help this loyal leader realize they are stalling our growth without causing them to quit in frustration?

When a loyal department head works eighty hours a week but remains a bottleneck, they are hitting their personal ceiling. They think their hard work is a badge of honor, but in reality, their inability to delegate and elevate is actively capping your growth and lowering your company valuation. You must address this with love but absolute clarity.

First, sit down with them and complete the Delegate and Elevate exercise. Have them list all their weekly tasks and categorize them into what they love and do well versus what they dislike and do poorly. Show them how their calendar is packed with low-value, tactical activities that should be handled by their direct reports or automated with simple software.

Explain that as you scale the business toward a clean exit, their seat on the Accountability Chart must evolve. Their job is to lead, manage, and hold people accountable, not to do the work for everyone else. If they continue to micromanage, they will burn out and stunt the development of their team.

Help them see that letting go of control is the only way to build a self-sustaining department that can run without them. Set a clear expectation that they must delegate at least three specific tasks to their team by the end of the quarter. If they refuse to let go, you must face the hard truth that they do not GWC the scaling version of their seat, and you must find a leader who can.

Category: Leadership Team