I've been guilty of this more times than I'd like to admit.
You hand something off to a team member you trust. Someone who's done good work before. Someone you believe in.
And then... it doesn't get done right. Or it's done, but not to the standard you needed. Or it's just... off? 😖
So you take it back. Because you don't have time to figure out what went wrong and you definitely don't have time to redo it.
Easier to just do it yourself, right?
I get it. I've done it. And every time I've done it, I've told myself it was a time thing. A capacity thing. A "we'll figure this out later" thing.
But what I've learned is that usually when something like that happens, the problem isn't the team member.
Most of the time, team problems are management problems.
I know that's hard to hear. It was hard for me to accept too. But when I started asking myself the hard questions…
Did I walk them through the outcome I needed?
Did I give them the tools and resources to actually do this well?
Did I approach it with patience and realistic timelines?
The answer was almost always no.
I thought handing it off was enough. Turns out, handing it off and setting someone up for success are two very different things.
So before you take that task back or you lose trust in someone who's shown up for you before... pause. Ask yourself if you've actually given them what they need to win.
What's one task you've taken back recently—and what would it look like to try again with clearer support?
— Valentina, Mynt Collective Founder
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If you've ever invested in a sophisticated tool that your team never touched you'll feel this one. The best system isn't the most comprehensive one. It's the one that actually gets used.
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