How to stop doing everyone’s job (and start doing yours).
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
You know you’re doing work that belongs below your level. The question is how to actually stop.
Here are four tools I use with leaders who are stuck at the wrong altitude. They’re simple on purpose — because in my experience, we tend to be able to do simple things.
The Altitude Dial. Imagine a dial with three settings. Below — work someone on your team should be doing. At — work that genuinely requires your level. Above — work that stretches you toward the next level. For one week, at the end of each day, mark everything you spent time on: Below, At, or Above. Don’t judge it. Just observe. Most leaders find forty to sixty percent of their time is on “below” work. Now you have data instead of a feeling.
The W-Questions Test. When you assign work, set the who, what, where, when, and why. The how is up to them. If you’re getting involved in the how, you’re probably operating below your altitude. And when someone comes to you and asks “How should I handle this?” — try responding with “What have you considered so far?” That one question shifts the interaction from you solving their problem to you coaching them through their own thinking.
Need to Know vs. Want to Know. For everything that crosses your desk: Do I need to know this, or do I want to know this? Need to know means it requires your decision or authority. Want to know means you’re curious but nothing stops if you’re not involved. Be honest about which is which.
The Ten Percent Shift. Don’t try to fix everything at once. Ask yourself: what would have to change for me to shift just ten percent from “below” to “at” or “above”? Not a revolution. An experiment. Small shifts, consistent practice. That’s how altitude changes.
Pick one task that’s squarely in your “below” column this week. Hand it off. Give them the what. Let them own the how. If they do it at seventy percent, that’s a win. They’ll get better. And you just got time back for the work that actually belongs at your altitude.
What would you shift first?
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