How strong leaders accidentally slow their teams down

Most leaders don’t set out to become the bottleneck.

In fact, it usually happens with the best intentions. You want things done well. You want to protect the team from unnecessary friction. You want to keep momentum moving. So when something is unclear or slowing down, you step in.

You answer the question.
You make the call.
You smooth things over.

At first, it feels like good leadership.

And for a while, it works.

But over time, something subtle begins to happen. More decisions come your way. More questions land in your inbox. More things stall until you weigh in. Not because your team is incapable, but because they’ve learned that progress flows through you.

That’s when leadership starts to feel heavier than it should.

The Trap Many Strong Leaders Fall Into

Here’s the part that’s hard to see while you’re in it.

The more capable you are, the more likely this dynamic becomes.

When you give good answers, people seek them out.
When you make clean decisions, people wait for them.
When you step in quickly, the system quietly adapts around you.

No one is doing anything wrong.
But the structure of the team starts to shift.

Instead of decisions being made close to the work, they move upward.
Instead of ownership being distributed, it concentrates.
Instead of momentum being shared, it slows at the top.

At some point, you realize you’re involved in nearly everything.

That’s usually when leaders start to feel stretched — even if the team itself hasn’t grown much.

Why This Happens (and Why It’s Not a People Problem)

Most leaders assume this is a delegation issue.

It usually isn’t.

What’s missing isn’t effort or capability.
It’s a clear system for how decisions get made and who owns them.

When that system isn’t explicit, teams default to the safest option: they ask the leader.

Not because they can’t decide, but because they don’t want to get it wrong.

And when leaders consistently step in to resolve that uncertainty, they unintentionally teach the team that decision-making lives above them.

That’s how capable teams slowly become dependent ones.

The Shift That Changes Everything

At some point, leaders have to make a shift.

From being the person who makes the right call
to being the person who creates the conditions for good calls to be made.

That doesn’t mean disappearing.
It means being more deliberate about:

• which decisions truly need your input
  

• which decisions should live with the team
  

• what “good judgment” actually looks like in practice
  

When those things are clear, people move faster.
Not because they’re being pushed, but because they’re confident.

And that’s where real leverage shows up.

A Better Question to Ask

Instead of asking whether everything would fall apart without you, try this:

Where am I still the default decision-maker — even though I shouldn’t be?

The answer usually reveals exactly where ownership hasn’t fully shifted yet.

And that’s not a failure.
It’s a signal.

Because teams don’t scale by adding more oversight.
They scale when leaders stop being the system — and start building it.

Cheers,

Jeff