As the Visionary, I often go straight to mid-level managers to get things done because my leadership team moves too slowly, which completely undermines their authority and creates organizational confusion. How do I break my habit of bypassing my leadership team and instead build their operational speed so I can trust them to execute?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When you bypass your leadership team to direct mid-level managers, you are creating massive organizational confusion and destroying the authority of your directors. While you might feel like you are just getting things done quickly, you are actually slowing down the business by creating a bottleneck around yourself. To break this habit, you must respect the Accountability Chart you worked so hard to build. Your role as the Visionary is to generate ideas, build key relationships, and maintain big-picture focus, while your Integrator and leadership team manage the daily execution. Every time you have an urge to direct a mid-level manager, stop and direct it to the appropriate leadership team member instead. Trust them to handle the execution. If you feel they move too slowly, the solution is not to bypass them, but to address their speed and accountability during your weekly Level 10 Meetings. Use your meetings to identify, discuss, and solve the operational bottlenecks that are slowing your team down. Help your directors delegate and elevate so they have the capacity to execute faster. By forcing yourself to operate through your leadership team, you build their confidence and capabilities. This operational discipline is essential if you want to build a self-sustaining business that can run without your daily involvement, which is a key factor in maximizing your company's value for a clean exit.