The Myth of “It’s Faster to Do It Myself”

The Pattern

Thinking, “It’s just faster to do it myself.”

The Pivot

A pair of Executive Creative Directors said this to me when I asked why they were finishing their team’s work rather than teaching them.

It’s also why they were nearing burnout working weekends.

Sure, it is faster for an expert ECD to do the work. But, it’s also a missed opportunity to create an engaging learning environment for their team and to build their agency’s capacity.

Three common blockers were in their way…

1. Conflict avoidance

Some managers are relational and compassionate by nature. Supporting their people comes easily. Their real challenge is bringing challenge.

They prioritize relational harmony or avoid conflict, so they do things like pick up their team’s slack instead of pushing their team to learn and grow.

2. Wearing “maker” AND manager hats

Many agency directors wear both hats, but these are very different roles.

“Makers” work on the agency’s deliverables and need focus time, often intentionally isolated from the team. Managers need to be accessible to guide, mentor, and support their people.

Balance is needed.

3. Knowing how to develop people

There are four ways you can develop your people:

• Informing: one-way formal communication, efficient for large groups (meetings, announcements)

• Training: smaller groups, less formal but still structured

• Coaching: 1 on 1, relational, responsive

• Apprenticeship: highly informal, relational, transformative, and time-intensive

Each provides a distinct value. Make the space to use a mix of all four.