Leadership usually doesn’t feel as heavy in January.


By February, though, something shifts.

 
Work slows down.
Decisions linger.

People wait — and you dutifully step back in.

 

Not because you want control.
Because momentum seems to require you.

 

That’s not a people issue.
It’s a delegation issue.

Leadership Reframe

Delegation rarely breaks at the handoff.

It breaks when responsibility never fully leaves the leader.

Tasks move.

Ownership doesn’t.

When leaders stay emotionally or operationally responsible for outcomes they’ve “delegated,” teams hesitate. Work circles back up. Leaders become the bottleneck by default — even with capable people in place.

Delegation done well isn’t about tone, trust, or effort.

It’s about designing the transfer of responsibility so work moves without you carrying it all.

Notice This Week

• Where does work pause until you weigh in?
• Which decisions come back to you out of habit?
• Where are you still the safety net?

Those moments aren’t failures.
They’re signals showing exactly where delegation needs to be redesigned.

We’ll unpack this all month in Lead With Less — why delegation keeps breaking, what actually fixes it, and how leaders reduce load without lowering standards or losing control.

Here for the long game of letting go,
Emily Morgan