How to Use the Delegation Filter

Executive Summary

Welcome back to The Kinetic Insight Newsletter—an advanced leadership course delivered straight to your inbox.

Today we’ll cover:

1. Where most people get stuck when delegating

2. A simple framework to help you free up your time & level up your team

What would you most enjoy learning about next? Hit reply and let me know, I read every message.

Re:Minder

The Power of Delegation

The essential move from Founder to CEO isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing less.

You’re navigating a shift from doing it yourself, to building a team. Your company’s success depends on how well you unlock the potential of your people.

That’s where delegation comes in. I’m going to show you a simple 3-tier framework to delegate with confidence and level up your leadership.

The Delegation Dilemma

Most leaders get this wrong by doing everything themselves, or throwing tasks at their team without clear expectations.

Here’s the truth: Delegation isn’t about working less. It’s about leading more. It’s about empowering your team to do great work—without sacrificing standards or your sanity.

But let’s face it: Founders are often their own worst enemies.

You built this thing from nothing—but now, you're the bottleneck.

• You’re exhausted.

• Your team feels underutilized and overwhelmed at the same time.

• And growth has slowed because everything runs through you.

The common advice: “Just delegate more!”

But it falls short because it doesn’t answer a deeper fear:

What if they screw it up?

There are some common limiting beliefs, like

• It’ll take longer to teach someone to do it

• Nobody can do it as well as I can

• They’ll probably mess it up and I’ll have to do it all over again

So you stay over-involved in tasks that aren’t your highest and best use. You micromanage. You burn out.

The Uncomfortable Truth

By not delegating effectively, you are screwing it up.

• Your team isn’t growing because you aren’t giving them the space to stretch.

• Your vision is limited to what you can personally execute.

• And you’re not leading—you’re just doing.

To fix this, you need a system: a clear, repeatable process to decide what to keep and what to delegate.

The Delegation Filter

You need a process to filter your tasks so that you can delegate smarter.

Just like a strainer, you will start with the big rocks that matter most, and filter down to the fine sand that you can offload.

0. Task Audit. If you don’t already have a system for capturing your tasks, this will take some upfront work. The process of writing your tasks out instead of having them floating in your head will help make them concrete and allow you to more objectively analyze them.
   
   You might find that what feels like a million tasks in your head is <50 on paper.
   
   Once you have all the tasks listed out, you’ll pass them through the following 3 filters and organize them by category.
   

1. Zone of Genius. These are the tasks that you are uniquely best at. Your highest and best use. The things that have you feeling energized, and that you are in flow in the process of doing them. These are the tasks you want to keep & own.
   
   Pro Tip: Beware of getting stuck in your Zone of Excellence. Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean it’s the best use of your time.
   
   Set a high standard for yourself—only keep what makes you indispensable.
   
   Examples:

   • Closing major deals.

   • Setting the company vision.

   • Managing critical relationships.
     

2. Stamp of Approval. These are the tasks that are important enough that you need to review them before they are shipped (shared with an investor, sent to the client, made public), but the actual completion of the task can be adequately done by someone else.
   
   You might need an extra push to get some things through the first filter. If someone could get this 80% of the way there, it’s worth it.
   
   It might help to think of these as stretch goals for your team—something they might not currently be able to do, but will give them an opportunity to step up to the task.
   
   Delegation principles
   -Decide whether to delegate the solution (what they actually need to do), or the problem (they need to figure out how).
   -Define “done”: What does success look like?
   -Set review points: Where will you step in to provide feedback?
   
   Examples:

   • Drafting proposals or presentations.

   • Designing marketing campaigns.

   • Preparing investor updates.
     

3. Pass the Baton. These are the tasks that you can let your team own from execution to outcome. You are fully handing off responsibility and letting them run with it.
   
   Delegation principles
   -Share your intention up front. You trust them to execute and want to see what they’re capable of.
   -Be clear about your tolerance for risk & experimentation—you can’t miss a tax deadline, but you can get creative with new product ideas. If they know where the guidelines are, they’ll feel empowered to fully take over.
   -Let go of perfectionism. Mistakes are the cost of tuition.
   
   Examples:

   • Managing customer support.

   • Overseeing routine operations.

   • Experimenting with new ideas.

Taking Action 🚀 

The Delegation Filter will allow you to go from being a bottleneck, to building your company.

• You’ll feel more energized by focusing on the tasks that you’re best at.

• Your team will grow through new learning experiences.

• You get to stay out of the weeds while keeping high standards.

Delegation isn’t about losing control, it’s about creating freedom—for you & your team.

When you use the Delegation Filter, you step into your role as a visionary leader, empower your team to shine, and multiply your impact.

Have other delegation tips that I missed? Feel stuck and want help? Shoot me a message, I read every one.

Coming Up Next Week…

Moving from delegation to accountability.