Why Everything Falls on Your Shoulders. And How to Build a Team That Doesn’t Need You 24/7

Leigh Ann Mastronardi
Jul 10
2 min read

If you’re like most business owners running a large operation with dozens (or hundreds) of employees, there’s a dirty little secret you probably don’t say out loud:

You feel like you can’t step away.

It’s not that you don’t trust your people. It’s that the machine of your business seems to stop running smoothly unless you’re there to steer every decision, solve every problem, and keep everyone accountable.

The bigger your team, the bigger the stress — and ironically, the more you end up working in the business instead of leading it from above.

The good news? It doesn’t have to stay this way.

I’ve helped countless business owners shift from being the bottleneck to having teams that run like well-oiled machines — even when the owner is nowhere in sight.

Here’s how you can start doing that too.

1. Stop Rewarding Dependency

Most owners accidentally create teams that look to them for every answer. Why? Because you’ve rewarded it. When an employee comes to you with a problem and you jump in to fix it, they learn:✅ Come to the boss = problem solved.

Instead: next time someone brings you a problem, ask:

“What do you think we should do?”

Train them to problem solve first. Empowerment starts with expectation.

2. Build Clear Standards & SOPs

People can’t be self-sufficient if they don’t know what “good” looks like.

Document your processes.
Set clear quality standards.
Make sure your team knows exactly what success looks like without guessing.

Your business should run on systems, not on your brain alone.

3. Raise Up Leaders, Not Just Workers

A huge team of employees is only as good as the people leading them. If your supervisors or managers are weak, untrained, or afraid to make decisions, everything trickles back to you.

Invest time in training your key people to:

Make decisions without you.
Hold their teams accountable.
Solve problems before they reach your desk.

4. Communicate the Bigger “Why”

Most employees show up to clock in and out. Few show up understanding the mission they’re part of. When you share the bigger purpose — why your business matters, why quality counts, why customers rely on you — people become more invested.

An invested team takes ownership. A disconnected team waits for orders.

5. Be Willing to Step Back

It might be uncomfortable, but sometimes you have to physically remove yourself from the day-to-day to force your team to grow.

Take a day off.
Don’t answer the phone immediately.
Let them figure it out.

The best leaders build teams that thrive because of them, not around them.

Final Thoughts

Owning a large business shouldn’t mean being chained to it. When you build a team that’s self-sufficient, you protect not only your own freedom — but the health and long-term growth of the company itself.

If you’re feeling buried by the weight of your own business, I’d love to help. It’s exactly what I work on with my clients — turning stressed-out owners into confident leaders with teams they can trust.