The Real Reason You Can’t Let Go | 690

You built the structure, and you're still checking in on things you don't need to check on. That's not a systems problem anymore. Stick with me, because what's actually going on here isn't what you think.

Welcome to the Chris LoCurto Show, where we discuss leadership and life and discover that business is what you do, not who you are.

Welcome to the show, folks. I hope you're having a fabulous day wherever you are.

The Hidden Problem After You've Built the Systems (00:00:38)

Today we are taking a look at the work that you've done so far. You've mapped the decisions. You've written the standards, you've built real development. You've put accountability in place, and you're still reaching for things you've already handed off.

Well, let's talk about why and what actually changes it. And here's the thing. The structure isn't enough.

So picture the last two weeks. You've built the map. You know, again, you wrote the standard down. You put real rhythm in place. You even built accountability that doesn't depend on you noticing it. You know that you have to go solve it.

And yet you're still opening your manager's email before they even ask a question, right? You're still rereading a report you already approved. You're still picturing what could go wrong the one day you're not reachable.

Nothing broke, the structure held, and you still can't put it down.

If you go back to episode 651, Mike figured out how to lead without carrying every piece of the business himself.

Episode 674: We talked about why micromanaging usually isn't about your team at all. This is the same room, just a different door. So here's the natural next thought.

Why the "System Needs More Time" Excuse Doesn't Hold Up (00:02:00)

Maybe the system just needs more time to settle in. Or maybe your team needs a few more reps before you can, you know, really trust it.

I get it. I get it. I get why that feels true. But if you wait on that clock, you're going to wait an incredibly long time, because that clock was never actually even running.

The system doesn't need more time. This part of it isn't a system problem. It's a you problem. Yes, and that's not to knock you. Every owner who's built real structure eventually runs into the same wall because the structure was never the whole job.

You can hand off every decision, document every standard, build every layer of accountability, and still find yourself back at the center of everything.

Because what keeps you there usually isn't missing paperwork. It's fear. It's identity. Or maybe it's Even control. And none of those show up on an org chart. So let's kind of walk through those three main pieces.

Reason #1 - Fear: What It Means If Someone Else's Call Goes Wrong (00:03:12)

Fear tends to be one of the top issues.

Not fear of failing, exactly. Fear of what it would mean if someone else's call went wrong. Some part of you would hear that as proof that you were never as necessary as you thought.

So you keep guarding the decision just in case. Do you get what I'm saying here? Like so many times, owners believe that if they hand everything off, then what happens is it creates this fear not of failing exactly, but fear of what if.

You know what if you hand something off and somebody else's call goes wrong, they make a bad call, Then some part of you would hear that as, see, I should have held on to this.

I made a mistake. I shouldn't have handed this off. I was necessary. I was needed.

So you end up guarding that decision just in case. That level of fear can keep you stuck on everything, even though you've convinced yourself that you've handed off the important things.

So that is a-- number-- question number one: what things am I too afraid to hand off now?

I will tell you there are certain things I can't hand off, that it's the job that I have to do. And if you ever go through Killing the Leadership Crazy Cycle through our business, then you will find there are certain things that you still have to do because it's your role.

But everything else I can hand off, I have. Why? So I could raise up to the things that are more important for my team.

But if I was ever stuck in this place of being afraid that if one of my team members made a bad call or a bad decision, that what it meant was that I should have held onto it. How am I ever going to grow into more important things?

How was that team member ever going to grow and learn how to solve those problems? That fear piece has to go right now. I'm not saying give up everything because again, there are certain things you just need to do because it's your role.

But if there's anything you're holding onto because you're afraid somebody's going to mess it up, that's where we got to dig into first.

Second thing, and I will say that this is, if this hits home, trust me when I say there is a lot of people listening to this that it's going to hit home with.

You are not even remotely close to alone on this. All right?

Reason #2 - Identity: When Being the Answer Person Becomes Your Value (00:05:56)

The second thing that can really mess things up is identity. So for years, being the answer person is or was your value?

I know in my early, I love solving problems for people. I love helping people out. I love being the one who can give an answer.

I will tell you, I have found so much more worth in not being the one who gives the answer, but the person who helps people get to the answer.

So, you know, if you're the one who, you know, saw the answer first, the one everybody needed, then step back and ask yourself a real question.

Who are you if the business stops needing you every day? Most owners never, not even once have sat down and asked that question.

What if the business doesn't need you every single day? What happens to your identity? And that can absolutely be a very scary place.

That can be a very, you know, one of those things where you can come up with all kinds of stuff in your head as to what's going to happen and how bad it's going to be and how you're not needed and your identity is going to tank and you don't have any value and you don't have any worth.

Folks, I'm here to tell you you are needed at a much higher level than you're currently at.

You just don't see it yet. And the reason why you don't see it is because you're so busy, overwhelmed, bogged down. The sooner you get away from doing everything, the sooner you can discover how needed you truly are.

Your identity, your value is not in being the one who provides all the answers. Your identity and your value is not being in the one who can solve everything. Think about this for a second.

How much more valuable would you be if you helped other people become better? And that's not even, that's. That's just one aspect of a couple of major things you should be focusing on as a business owner, right, or as a, you know, top level leader.

What if you made other people better? Do you think, because we can get there, do you think that role is ever going to stop?

Do you think all of your team are ever going to get to a place where it's like, hey, I'm the best I could possibly be at this? No, absolutely not.

Do you think that when your team gets better, the business doesn't change? Of course it does. It becomes stronger. Opportunities show up a heck of a lot easier. Champions start being developed and champions start showing up at your doorstep.

You are needed. Your identity is not in being at the level you're at, you're currently at. You can be more valuable if you will train people up to do what you do.

And you rise above that. I promise you, you are needed for more.

Reason #3 - Control Disguised as Leadership (00:09:21)

The third thing, and I don't know if I have enough time to talk about this, control. Control can absolutely be a reason why you not letting go of aspects.

Somewhere along the line, somewhere along the way, control quietly became the thing that made you feel safe, right? Not the thing that made the business better, but made you feel safe.

Checking in, re redoing the work, needing to see it before it ships. That's not necessarily leadership anymore, right? That's control. It's wearing leadership's clothes. But I'm not saying that you don't do this in the beginning. I'm not saying you don't.

You know, there, that there aren't important things that you have to put your eyes on.

What I'm saying is, is when you have created a very strong team who knows how to make decisions for themselves, who knows how to correct things, who has accountability, who has the systems in place that I talked about at the, the beginning of the show, then guess what?

You can probably allow them to make a lot of these decisions.

What you should be doing is sitting down and asking yourself what decisions do you feel like you cannot allow them to make, right?

Breaking the Pattern: Catching Yourself in the Moment (00:10:39)

So here's what it actually looks like.

When an owner catches themselves mid pattern, instead of just, you know, pushing through it, an owner notices that they want to double check a report before, before it goes out.

Same as always. This time, instead of quietly redoing it, he or she says it out loud to the person who wrote it.

Hey, I noticed. I wanted to check this before it goes out. That's mine to deal with. That's not a mark against your work. So just go ahead and send it.

Now, if you continue to see problems, then what we've not done is we've not trained them well enough to see the problem. So we do have to fix those.

We do have to get those right, right? But if you didn't really need to recheck it, why are you, why are you not trusting?

Have them send it, right. If you've seen their work and over and over and over again, they've done a great job, then just send it. Let go. Unless it's. You can put the caveat, if it's this level and anything below this level, send it.

If it's something of this importance, I may want to take a look at it. And when you get that trust at that level, tell them to just send it.

Another owner catches themselves mentally telling how many problems they personally solved that week, right? The old measure of a good week is, man, I, I really solved a ton.

Then they stop and they ask different questions instead. If this person doesn't need me anymore to catch things and solve problems, what does that make me?

Is that actually a loss or is that the plan working? If I'm not needed, is the plan working or is there a problem?

Well, what you'll get to if you actually ask that question is the plan has to be working. The plan has to be working because I'm not correcting.

I don't have to correct, I don't have to solve, I don't have to fix. I've put things in place, people are getting it done. I don't have to solve and fix, therefore it's working. Same pattern every time. The fix was never a new piece of structure.

It was catching the sentence in your own head before it turned into an action and saying the true thing out loud instead of acting on the quiet one.

These are things that you may be stuck in right now.

If you've put the systems in place and you've got the accountability in and you've got the decision making processes and you have the standards and all of the things that we've talked about and it's still coming back to you, maybe it's not coming back to you anymore.

Maybe you're still inserting yourself in places that you need to stop. Once again, caveats in there. If those things aren't working yet, then you probably are needed in those spots.

But what you're not hearing me say is you're not needed at all. You don't have value, you don't have worth. Please listen to me. Please trust me. Please get with us. Get with us. Follow our programs, follow. Jump into The Leaders Table.

Jump into any of the stuff that we're teaching so we can help you grow dramatically, immensely. Right? Because the truth is, if you trust me and you take the leap, you are needed at a higher level than you can see.

And we can help you get there. There's no doubt about that. That's what we do. We help people get to higher levels. And when you do, you will find that it is so much more enjoyable at that higher level.

Because instead of being the one who solves everything, you will gain so much more worth out of helping other people to solve. So next time you catch yourself stepping into something you already handed off, stop.

Before you act, ask, is this fear? Is it identity or is it control that is talking right now? Say it out loud to the person, if you can, to yourself, if you can't.

You don't have to fix this this week. You just have to stop calling it a systems problem. So sit with this. The business doesn't need you as much as you need it to need you.

Think about that. What the business does need is you to step up and be more valuable at a higher level. Well, folks, that's all the time that we have for today. I hope this has truly helped you out.

I hope this has got you thinking and pondering, and I hope this helps you to make right decisions once again. Let us help you to get to that higher level.

It's-- it's a lot easier than you think it is. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. I can promise you that we'll put more work on your plate to get a heck of a lot of it off of your plate, but I can promise you that you will enjoy it a heck of a lot more.

Well, folks, as always, take this information. Change your leadership, change your business, change your life. And join us on the next episode.