Delegation Done Right: How to Stop Being the Bottleneck in Your Own Business

One of the scariest things I think I did on my journey as a business owner in the trades was surrender to "letting" others help me, letting go of controlling everything. It wasn't just the pride I had to swallow by exposing the chaos that was my business, it was the uncertainty if they cared enough to do a good job, it feeling like if I let a little go, everything would fall apart at the seams - exposing all the weaknesses. It was as though our business was a house of cards, one wrong move and the whole thing would fall. To move forward I had to take a few steps back and I wasn't sure the instability of our business could handle it. There was a lot wrapped around letting go.

Last week, I talked about why so many construction businesses feel stuck between $5M and $20M and one of the biggest reasons is that the owner is the bottleneck. (Missed it? Read it here.)

This week, we're talking about how to fix it.

If you want to scale past $5M to $20M and beyond, you can’t do everything yourself.

You already know that.

And let’s be real, every time you "try" to delegate, something goes wrong. Whether it doesn't get done right, it doesn't get done completely or it doesn't get done on a time-sensitive schedule, something sets you up for confirming that "...it's just better to do it all myself..." And before you know it, you’re back to doing everything yourself. Now all you did with the latest hire was increase payroll and your workload - it makes no sense.

Sound familiar?

Here’s the hard truth: Delegation is about more than just hiring people to do the work, it’s about hiring the right people and how you are as a leader for them. 

Why Most Delegation Fails in Construction Businesses

1. No clear expectations – If your team doesn’t know exactly what’s expected, you’ll never trust them to do it right. And, how will they know what to do if you can't clearly communicate what you really want them to do?

2. You haven’t fully let go – If you’re still checking every decision and jumping in to “fix” things, you haven’t really delegated.

3. The wrong people in the wrong seats – Not everyone is built to take responsibility. If you don’t have the right team, delegation will always feel like a challenge.

The 4 Levels of Delegation

To scale, you need to move from doing everything to building a team that runs without you. Here’s how:

1. Do It Yourself – Where most owners start (and get stuck). It’s necessary in the beginning and unsustainable at scale. The things you do yourself should be specific and within your area of genius (the things you're the best at).

2. Delegate and Direct – You hand off tasks, and your team still relies on you for approvals and guidance and the next task. This is considered transactional leadership and should only be seen as a stepping stone on the journey to building and trusting your team. A lot of leaders get stuck here, lacking the trust in their team.

3. Delegate and Empower – Your team owns responsibilities, makes decisions, and only comes to you when necessary.

4. Delegate and Elevate – The business runs without you. You focus on vision, strategy, and high-level leadership. Your people operate with full autonomy.

The goal? Get to Level 4 as fast as possible.

The Delegation Test: What You Should (and Shouldn’t) Be Doing as a CEO

Ask yourself:

• Only I can do this. (Strategic planning, culture-building, high-level relationships) → Keep it.

• Someone else could do this with the right training. (Operations, client management, hiring, estimating) → Delegate it.

• I don’t even need to know about this. (Day-to-day logistics, scheduling, admin tasks) → Delete it from your plate completely.

If you’re still buried in the weeds, you’re the biggest bottleneck in your own business.

Delegation done right is the difference between running a business and being run by one.

What’s Next? Building a Leadership Team That Runs Without You

Next week, we’ll take this further because even the best leaders can’t do it alone. I’ll show you how to build a leadership team that doesn’t need you to micromanage.

In the meantime, if you are looking for help to be a better leader for your team, reach out, I'm here to help.