Delegation is Leadership in Action
I’ve been watching The Pitt lately (a medical drama set in a busy Pittsburgh ER) – it’s riveting and can be quite gory, but highly entertaining. The Pitt also happens to be a teaching hospital, with attending physicians, residents, students, charge nurses, nursing staff, specialists, and more. In this environment, there’s a dynamic that keeps catching my attention: those moments when a senior doctor decides whether to step in or step back during a consultation or a procedure. A resident is working through a difficult case. The attending physician is right there, watching. You can almost feel the tension – the instinct to take over, to fix it faster, to just do it themselves.
That choice to hold back, when every instinct says intervene, is one of the hardest things a leader can do. It’s the difference between being the doctor who does the work and being the one who grows the next generation of doctors who do it. A teacher as much as a practitioner.
I see leaders struggle with this all the time. Not because they don’t care about developing their people, but because stepping back feels counterintuitive when the stakes are high and the easier path is just to do it yourself.
When Leaders Hold On
It’s rarely ego. In my experience, the leaders who struggle to let go are often the very conscientious ones. They care deeply about quality. They don’t want their team to fail. They’ve built their credibility by doing the work well, and it feels risky or even irresponsible to step back.
Sometimes though, the very act of holding on too tightly is what keeps the people around them from growing. And it can keep leaders themselves stuck, too. They’re unable to take on more complex or strategic work because they’re still doing the tasks they’ve always done.
The resident doesn’t build skills just by watching the attending physician. They take on the cases themselves.
Stepping Back
This isn’t about stepping away entirely. When an attending physician lets the resident treat a patient, they don’t go sit in the break room with a coffee. They stay present, visible, available, and ready (at least that’s what I see in The Pitt). They create the conditions for the resident to succeed, while holding enough space for real learning to happen.
For leaders in general, that might look like:
- Delegating a team member to lead a project end-to-end, and not just execute tasks within it
- Resisting the urge to jump in when someone’s approach is different from their own
- Showing curiosity before offering their own perspective
- Letting imperfect outcomes be part of the learning, while showing support and reinforcing accountability
None of this is passive. It requires skill, intention, and some patience. Developing others is a practice that requires consistency and action.
Letting go can feel disorienting. If your confidence has always come from your expertise, or your ability to deliver, then stepping back can feel like a loss of purpose. However, as leaders part of our responsibility is building capacity for the future. When you develop strong leaders, the organization runs smoothly. People step in. And it can give you capacity to think more strategically and lead even more effectively.
You can learn more about our leadership development offerings at kwelaleadership.com
Laura Villacrusis, Partner
laurav@kwelaleadership.com
