"Could Your Team Be Run by a Ham Sandwich?"
Warren Buffett once said he invests in businesses so strong that even an idiot could run them because sooner or later, one will. He even described Coca-Cola as a business a ham sandwich could run. That got me thinking: could your team pass the ham sandwich test? If the leader steps away, goes on holiday, or gets pulled into other priorities does the team keep making decisions, moving forward, solving problems? Or does everything quietly grind to a halt? It’s easy to think we’re being good leaders by stepping in. We unblock work, answer questions, and keep things on track. But when we do this too often, we accidentally create a team that expects to be managed rather than one that manages itself. The reality is, teams often become dependent because of their leader. When a manager makes every decision, solves every problem, and clears every roadblock, the team learns to rely on them. The leader believes they are organising the team for success, but in reality, they are making it more fragile. A strong leader isn’t the one holding everything together—they’re the one creating space for the team to operate without them. That means looking for opportunities for team members to take ownership, make decisions, and solve problems independently. It means resisting the urge to step in and instead asking, Who else could take this on? The strongest teams:
So, if you stepped away tomorrow, would your team keep running smoothly? Until next time, |