Why Is It So Tricky? (Part 1)
Delegation.
Even saying the word can make some of you feel icky.
It’s one of those leadership "musts" that everyone agrees is essential. It’s used SO often that when you hear it (for what feels like the 1000’th time) your brain blocks it out.
We KNOW we need to delegate.
We KNOW it will probably make our lives easier (we have been told it a gazillion times.)
We KNOW it’s simply impossible to do everything ourselves - we are not superwoman!
If we KNOW we are not superwoman, why do we try to act like her?
Most of us cling to our to-do lists like a toddler gripping their favourite toy. We tell ourselves all the usual things:
"I can do it quicker myself."
"It’s easier if I just finish this."
"By the time I explain it, I could have done it myself, twice."
Been there, bought the T-shirt and at this stage in my coaching services - I could have written the manual too. In fact, I might add that to my own to-do list
WARNING: What I’m about to say might be very uncomfortable for you...every single one of those lines is an excuse. A very understandable, very human excuse. But still, an excuse.
Delegation is hard because it’s not just about moving tasks from your plate to someone else’s - It’s about loosening your grip on control. For many founders, especially those who’ve built something from scratch, the business is personal. It’s your baby. You know every client quirk, every tiny system shortcut, every bit of duct tape holding it all together. You FEEL it all.
Handing a piece of that over, can feel like handing over part of your identity.
What if they mess it up?
What if they don’t care as much as you do?
What if...you’re no longer as needed as you once were?
Those questions can quietly keep you in the weeds, when you know you should be leading from the top.
Doing everything "just for right now" is a myth. A myth you tell yourself, every single day. The myth of the temporary workaround.
You’ll tell yourself you’re only hanging on to certain tasks until "things calm down" or "after this launch." Except there’s always another launch, another client, another fire to fight. Before you know it, you’ve built an entire business on late nights and the thought process that only you can save the day.
One of my clients - a brilliant creative with a loyal following - admitted to me she was the bottleneck in every single project. She was approving every design, writing every piece of copy, even tweaking the fonts in Canva for her Instagram posts at midnight. She swore it was "just until we hired a proper social media person."
Two years later, she was still the one writing taglines and changing fonts. Her team had stopped suggesting improvements because they knew she’d re-do everything anyway. Then, she came to me and told me everything...and asked for my help.
When I first stepped into consulting, I thought I’d escaped the delegation trap because when I started out, I was the team. As soon as I started bringing in trusted freelancers like tech support, content partners and social experts - I noticed my own reluctance creeping in.
There were parts of things I still wanted full control over, even though I knew I didn’t have the time, energy or focus to input properly.
There were emails I kept answering because "it’s quicker if I just reply."
There were Instagram posts I re-wrote because "they won’t capture my tone."
It took one particularly frazzled week (juggling a client launch, a sick child and a migraine) for me to admit that I was being the bottleneck in those moments.
I finally handed an entire Ad campaign over to my ads manager Kat. Did she run it better than I would have? Absolutely. Did I get sleep that night? Also, yes.
Delegation doesn’t mean you don’t care, and it doesn’t mean things will fall apart without you.
The turning point for me and for my clients, is realising that delegation isn’t dumping work and hoping for the best. It’s leadership. It’s setting clear expectations, sharing the "why," and trusting talented people to deliver.
In Part 2, we’ll look at the how. Spoiler alert: it’s less about never-ending to do lists and more about communication, clarity and the courage to trust.
If this made you think of your own business, tell me what you noticed. I would love to hear it on Instagram.
Say hello on Instagram
Hi, I’m Natalie.
I’m a strategic partner for established women building online businesses across Europe, and I read every launch as a stress test of the whole business. Before this work I led more than 300 people across Switzerland, Germany and Austria, so these essays come from running a business as well as advising one. Keep in mind that nothing here asks you to want less; it asks you to build what you want on purpose.
More about meThe Launch Stress Test
Where is the structure closest to breaking?
Free, and five minutes. Score your business across six areas, and your lowest score will show you exactly where to focus first.
Take the free test
