🚩 Tactical Memo 042: The Cost of Being the Most Reliable Person in the Room

Author

Justin Bateh
February 19, 2026

Read time: 9 minutes

Welcome to Tactical Memo, my newsletter where I share clear lessons and simple systems for people who run projects, lead teams, and make decisions.

If you want practical guidance you can use at work this week, you are in the right place.

👉 Why Read This Edition: You will see how being the most reliable person in the room can quietly cap your growth, overload your calendar, and keep you stuck below your real potential.

UPCOMING COHORTS

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THE PROBLEM

You are the person who never drops the ball. That is killing your team and capping your career.

Think about it. Every time you catch a mistake before it goes out, you teach your team that mistakes get caught for them. Every time you stay late to fix a report, you teach them the report is not their job. Every time you jump in and save a deadline, you teach them deadlines are your problem, not theirs.

You trained them to be weak. Not on purpose. But you did it.

And while you were busy catching every ball, you missed the bigger picture. Your calendar filled up with other people's work. The strategic stuff got pushed to "next week" over and over. The promotion went to someone who did less but led more. You got a pat on the back. They got the title.

Right now, your team runs on you. Not on systems. Not on habits. On you. If you get sick for two weeks, things fall apart. That is not a team. That is a house of cards with you as the table.

Here is what stings: the more you carry, the less they grow and the less you grow. You are so busy being useful that you never have time to be strategic. You traded your potential for everyone else's comfort.

THE SOLUTION: DROP BALLS ON PURPOSE

This will sound wrong. Do it anyway. Pick three things you do that someone else should own. Then stop doing them. This week.

Not next month. Not after a slow transition. Stop.

Here is exactly how.

Step 1: Pick your three things. Write down every task you do each week that is not in your job description. Circle the three that eat the most time. Those are your targets. Common ones: the weekly status report nobody asked you to own. The client check-in you took over because someone else did it badly. The fire drill that shows up every Friday afternoon.

Step 2: Hand them off in one sentence. Go to the person who should own each task. Say this: "This is yours now. Here is what good looks like. I will not be doing it anymore." That is it. No six-week training plan. No buddy system. One sentence. A clear target. Done.

Step 3: Do not rescue. This is the hard part. The ball will drop. It will be messy. Someone will come to you in a panic. Do not fix it. Let the pain happen. Pain is the best teacher on earth. Your team needs to feel the weight you have been carrying. That is the only way they learn to carry it themselves.

Step 4: Coach after, not during. Once the dust settles, sit down with the person. Ask four questions. What happened? Why? What will you do next time? What do you need from me? Write down their answers. Hold them to it. That is your new job. Not doing. Teaching.

Step 5: Fill the gap with what matters. You just freed up hours. Do not fill them with more busywork. Use them for the stuff that actually moves your career: strategy, relationships with senior leaders, building systems, thinking about where the team needs to be in six months. The work that got you noticed, not the work that kept you stuck.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DO THIS

Week one will be ugly. Expect that. Something will go out late or go out wrong. You will want to jump in. Do not.

By week three, something shifts. The person who owns the task starts to care about it. Not because you told them to. Because it is theirs now. Ownership changes people faster than any training program ever will.

By month two, you have three fewer things on your plate. Your team is stronger. You are less tired. And you finally have time for the work that actually needs a leader: strategy, decisions, and growing people.

Your calendar opens up. Your headspace clears. You start working on things that push you forward instead of things that just keep the lights on.

THE REAL TEST

Ask yourself one question: if I disappear for two weeks with no notice, does my team survive?

If the answer is no, you are not leading. You are doing a lot of work with a leadership title. And your growth is capped at exactly the level of work you are willing to carry on your back.

Fix that. Start this week. Drop a ball on purpose. Watch who picks it up.

That is how you stop being the most reliable person in the room and start being the most effective one.

If this helped you, send it to someone who could use it this week.

Until next time,
Justin

✍️ From the Desk of Justin Bateh, PhD
Simple tactics. Real results. No fluff.