Building managers who actually manage.
A friend of mine runs a 20-person shop. For years he was the hero—closing deals at 4 p.m., firefighting at 6, rewriting proposals at 10. One Tuesday he texted me: “Won the contract. Team’s waiting for answers I haven’t had time to think through.”
That was the moment it clicked—his heroics were now the bottleneck. The work still got done, but only by dragging every decision back to his desk.
If that sounds familiar, you’re at the same inflection point: it’s time to stop being the primary manager and start building managers who actually manage. Below is the practical path I use to make that shift without dropping the ball—starting small, handing off the right responsibilities, and installing a rhythm your team can run without you.
Step 1: Name the first three responsibilities to transfer
Don’t start with a re-org; start with work. List the top ten things that currently require your involvement every week—approvals, escalations, client calls, hiring decisions, pricing exceptions, etc. Circle three that (a) recur weekly, (b) can be taught in under a month, and (c) carry contained downside if imperfect. These become your first transfers. Examples: scheduling and running the weekly team meeting; first-round hiring screen; handling pricing within a defined range. Why three? It’s enough to matter, small enough to stick. You can graduate more responsibilities later—after you create the scaffolding that makes management repeatable.
Step 2: Give managers a scorecard, not a job description
Managers need clarity on outcomes, authority, and constraints. A one-page scorecard beats a five-page JD every time. Build it with four blocks:
- Outcomes (quarterly): 3–5 measurable results (e.g., “Gross margin ≥ 42%,” “On-time delivery ≥ 95%,” “Employee eNPS ≥ 40”).
- Authority: decisions they can make without you (budget up to $X, comp offers within band, approve discounts to Y%).
- Constraints: red lines that require your review (legal exposure, discounts beyond band, headcount changes).
- Operating rhythm: the meetings they lead, the reports they own, and when you expect updates.
Step 3: Install an operating rhythm that runs without you
Management is a cadence. Set a simple rhythm your managers own:
- Weekly team meeting (45 minutes): metrics, blockers, commitments. Managers build agenda, run the room, and publish notes with owners and due dates.
- Biweekly 1:1s (30 minutes): each direct report gets time for priorities, coaching, and feedback—using a shared doc.
- Monthly review (60 minutes): manager presents outcomes, what moved the numbers, and next month’s plan; you coach, approve pivots, and resource gaps.
Your job isn’t to attend every meeting; it’s to ensure the rhythm is happening and improving. If a manager can’t run a crisp weekly, they’re not managing—they’re coordinating. Coach the meeting until it’s tight.
Step 4: Keep the founder-level decisions—on purpose
There are decisions you should keep to protect strategic coherence. I call them “rails”:
- Mission and strategy: where we play, how we win, what we won’t do.
- People and culture: values, leadership standards, final say on senior hires/fires.
- Capital and risk: large spend, debt, pricing beyond bands, legal exposure.
Put your rails in writing so managers see the edges clearly. Paradoxically, defined rails create more freedom. Managers move faster inside them because they know when to pull you in.
Step 5: Shadow, hand off, and disappear (on schedule)
For each responsibility you’re transferring, use a three-meeting arc:
- Meeting 1 (You lead): “Watch me.” You explain the why and narrate decisions.
- Meeting 2 (They lead, you shadow): “I’ll watch you.” You coach live, debrief after.
- Meeting 3 (They own it): “Run it; I’m not in the room.” You review outcomes later, not play-by-play.
Put dates on all three. Without a calendar, the handoff never finishes. Bonus: record the “gold standard” meeting once so new managers can learn without you.
Step 6: Replace ad hoc reporting with one dashboard
Managers can’t own what they can’t see. Move your core numbers into a simple, shared dashboard: 6–10 metrics, weekly update, owner per metric, traffic-light status. Each team meeting starts with the dashboard; each monthly review tells the story of those numbers. Ban slide decks for routine updates—clarity lives in the same view, week after week.
Step 7: Coach time, not tasks
Founders often slip back into “send it to me, I’ll fix it.” That rescues today and kills tomorrow. Instead, coach for leverage:
- “Show me your agenda for the weekly; I’ll help you improve it.”
- “Let’s review your 1:1 notes; where’s the coaching moment you missed?”
- “Which decision are you holding that your team could make with a guardrail?”
You’re teaching a system that runs without you. If you are the system, you didn’t build one.
Common friction (and how to handle it)
- The capable doer who resists managing: Give a 90-day trial with a reduced IC load, a clear scorecard, and coaching. If they still avoid conflict and decisions, honour their craft—and hire a manager.
- The anxious founder who can’t let go: Keep a private “parking lot” of items you worry about, then audit outcomes monthly. If results are green, practice staying out.
- The calendar that explodes: Cap recurring meetings to 45 minutes, hold them on two “management days,” and leave maker time intact. Management should create space, not consume it.
The payoff
When managers actually manage, three good things happen fast: decisions move to the edge where the work lives, issues surface earlier (and cheaper), and you recover the strategic attention span you need as an owner. The company feels calmer because responsibility is clear; progress accelerates because cadence is real.
You don’t scale by doing more. You scale by building people who build people, inside a system that makes the right work happen on time. Start with three responsibilities, a one-page scorecard, and a weekly rhythm you don’t have to run.
Soon you won’t be carrying the company on your back.