Leadership expert Eric Partaker identified a paradox that explains why so many businesses struggle to scale: leaders oscillate between complete delegation (overtrusting) and suffocating control (micromanaging).
I learned this the hard way.
As I rose through the ranks of executive leadership, eventually landing in my role as CEO, I made a painful discovery: many behaviors I considered marks of good leadership were trapping me in Partaker’s paradox. Looking at his framework today, I can identify with attributes from both the “overtrusting” and “micromanaging” sides, behaviors I believed made me effective.
The truth is, I was approaching a breaking point. Despite my best intentions, I wasn’t leveraging what should have been my superpower as CEO: external focus on building big relationships and strategic partnerships. Instead, I was caught in the exhausting cycle of either delegating completely (and hoping for the best) or diving too deep into operational details.
What attracted me to EOS wasn’t just another management theory. It was discovering what Partaker frames as “effective delegation,” practices that could be systematically developed through concrete tools. You can’t just decide to become “effective.” These skills require structured activity and deliberate practice.
Today, in my work implementing EOS with now dozens of organizations, I’ve seen how this framework moves leaders out of the paradox and into sustainable, scalable leadership. Here’s how…
How EOS Systematically Built “Effective Delegation” in My Organization
When I introduced EOS to my team, I wasn’t just implementing a new system, I was deliberately building the infrastructure that would move us out of the leadership paradox and into sustainable growth. Here’s how each tool addressed specific gaps that were limiting both my effectiveness and our organizational impact:
Creating “Clear Goals” Through the Vision/Traction Organizer
As CEO, I realized we were guilty of what Partaker calls “unclear goals” and “vague expectations.” I would paint broad strategic pictures, as we chased the next big idea, but my team was left to interpret what that meant for their daily work. The V/TO changed everything.
We spent focused sessions defining our Core Values, Core Focus, and 10-Year Target. But more importantly, we cascaded this into 3-Year Picture, 1-Year Plan, and quarterly Rocks. Team members began to draw a clear line from their daily tasks to our organizational mission. This wasn’t just strategic clarity; it was operational alignment that freed me to focus externally while knowing internal execution was getting on track.
Establishing “Defined Roles” Through the Accountability Chart
Previously, I was either assigning tasks ad hoc (micromanaging) or assuming people knew their roles and boundaries (overtrusting). The Accountability Chart forced us to define not just who does what, but who has decision rights for what decisions.
The revelation came when we mapped out our needed structure and saw the contrast with the current structure. We identified gaps, overlaps, and unclear handoffs that were creating the very problems I was jumping in to solve. By clearly defining seats and the 5 major roles within each seat, I could delegate with confidence because everyone understood their scope of authority.
Building “Trust with Structure” Through People Analyzer and Rocks
This was perhaps the most transformative shift. Instead of trusting blindly or checking constantly, we built systematic ways to track performance and fit.
The People Analyzer helped us evaluate team members across three dimensions: right person (values fit), right seat (skills and passion). Capacity to grow with the role was also evaluated. Meanwhile, quarterly Rocks gave everyone specific, measurable objectives with clear deadlines. This combination meant I could trust the system rather than hoping for the best or hovering over individual tasks.
Implementing “Regular Check-ins” Through Level 10 Meetings
My previous approach to meetings was either “let’s touch base when needed” (no follow-up) or lengthy open discussions dragged everyone down. Level 10 Meetings gave us a systematic pulse on organizational health.
Every week, we spent 90 minutes following the same agenda: Segue, Scorecard review, Rock updates, Customer/Employee Headlines, To-Do list, and IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve). This didn’t just mean better meetings. It was organizational accountability in action. Issues surfaced quickly, decisions happened efficiently, and I could focus on strategic priorities knowing operational challenges were being addressed systematically.
Enabling “Two-way Feedback” Through IDS’ing and Quarterly Conversations
Before EOS, feedback was either non-existent (team left guessing) or reactive (micromanaging mode). The IDS process put feedback into our operational rhythm.
During every Level 10 Meeting, we practiced identifying issues, discussed them openly, and solved them. This meant difficult conversations happened regularly rather than festering into bigger problems. Combined with Quarterly Conversations, feedback became predictable, constructive, and tied to organizational success rather than personal criticism. No more annual feeling of being called to the Principal’s office.
Maintaining “Accountability Stays High” Through Scorecards and Rocks
The breakthrough came when accountability shifted from me chasing people, to people pursuing numbers. Our Scorecard gave us as a leadership team a set of weekly Measurables that reflected actions taken to needed outcomes and mattered to organizational success. Rocksgave everyone quarterly priorities with binary completion status (it’s either done or not done).
Instead of wondering “How’s the marketing going?”, we could see exactly where we stood every week. Team members started self-correcting because the data was transparent. I could focus on strategic relationships knowing that operational accountability was built into our weekly rhythm.
Providing “Support When Needed” Through Delegate and Elevate
This tool helped me understand why I was jumping into operational details. I was doing tasks that energized me but weren’t in my Unique Ability. More importantly, it helped my team members identify what they should be doing more of, and where they needed support.
By mapping everyone’s tasks into “Love and Great At,” “Like and Good At,” “Don’t Like but Good At,” and “Don’t Like and Not Good At,” we could systematically Delegate and Elevate. I could provide targeted support for growth areas while ensuring people spent more time in their “elevated” zones of awesomeness.
The result?
Within eighteen months, our organization had a team that wanted to be there and understood how they contributed to our mission. I was spending more time on external partnerships and strategic relationships, and our team was operating with a level of clarity and autonomy I had never experienced as a leader. And we were responding to really challenging needs in our community.
Most importantly, we were building what Partaker calls “effective delegation,” not through wishful thinking or periodic seminars, but through daily, systematic practices that made high performance predictable and sustainable.
This transformation didn’t happen overnight, but it happened consistently and persistently. And that’s what I help other leaders build today…