You Don't Need Permission to Delegate. You Need Confidence.

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I was talking with a senior leader at a small neuromonitoring company about getting ready for her maternity leave.

It's over months away, but she was already losing sleep over it.

Not about becoming a first-time mom, but about leaving her team for 12 weeks during their biggest expansion year.

"What if my director can't handle it and/or people quit?"

"What if we get an RFP or new contract that someone needs to redline?"

"What if a surgeon requests me for a case?"

I asked her: "𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗼𝗳?"

She got quiet. Then: "That I'll come back and everything will be a mess. Or worse... 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹."

I told her: I've been there. I did the exact same thing.

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When I was promoted to VP, I kept jumping into every fire... Micromanaging my directors and needing to be the answer to every question.

Because letting go felt like losing control.

And honestly? I was terrified of what people would think if I started delegating the work I used to do myself.

Things like, was I getting lazy? Or, I didn't deserve the promotion if I wasn't grinding the way I used to.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱:

That fear? It's not about the optics. That's just the excuse.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝘀: "𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝗜 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲?"

And look, everyone does this. Every single executive I've worked with has struggled with it. It's not a weakness. It's actually proof you care.

But at some point, you have to make a choice.

You can keep being indispensable... and stay stuck doing the work of the role below you.

Or you can build leaders who can carry weight without you, and actually step into the executive role you were promoted for.

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So we built a plan for the next four months:

Not just task coverage. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.

• Her director would start running meetings with hospitals while she's still there to coach

• Her team would make the calls they'd need to make on leave, with her as support, not the decision-maker

• She'd talk about how she thinks through decisions, not just document what tasks need doing

• She would make sure her toughest surgeons had someone they trusted just as much as her BEFORE she went on leave

𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Abdication is dumping work and walking away.

𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝘁.

Here's what I told her: "You don't need my permission to delegate. You need your own confidence that it's the right thing to do."

She said, "I'm worried about the optics. Will it look bad if I start stepping away from the day-to-day?"

Then came some Patiented Logan Tough Love: "Fuck the optics. That's just code for 'what will people think?' But what really matters is 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸?

Do you think your director is capable of running those board meetings? Then put her in a position to prove it.

Do you think your team can handle the expansion work? Then give them the authority and the support to do it.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵? You've been the bottleneck. Not because your team isn't ready. Because you haven't created space for them to step up.

And that's okay. We all do it.

But now you know... and you have four months to fix it before you're gone."

I could tell the message hit her hard, but also empowered her. "You're right. Now, how do I fix it?"

And the best part... She already knew what she needed to do; she just had been feeling GUILTY about doing it.

In fact, this was my e-mail to everyone in my leadership course this week because it's a theme that came up over and over again.

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The best leaders don't wait until they absolutely have to delegate.

They build leadership capacity in their team long before they need it.

Not because they're planning to leave. Because they're building something that can scale beyond them.

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟭𝟮 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺. 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆.

And that's not a reflection of their capability. It's a reflection of how you've been leading.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝘄.

Logan McKnight

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Logan McKnight is an Executive Advisor and Consultant for med-tech leaders. With 20 years of experience building teams and growing companies in med-tech, she helps executives lead without burning out and build leadership teams that create impact.