Why does everything on my team come through me?
You say your people don't talk to each other. Look again. They talk to you constantly — that's the problem. You made yourself the only wire in the building, and now you wonder why nothing runs unless you plug it in. This is not a flaw in their character. No one gave them a reason to speak directly, so they didn't. You answered every question, settled every dispute, forwarded every message. One convenient moment at a time, you trained them to route through you. Now the habit is set, and you call it their failure. The fix is not a speech about teamwork. It is refusing, starting today, to be the hub. Send people back to each other. Let the awkward silence of a skipped connection be theirs to fix, not yours.
You built a wheel with no rim. Every spoke runs to you, so nothing connects on its own. Stop carrying messages. Pick one decision your team must make together this week — without you — and refuse to be the go-between when they bring it back to you.
What changes unlock by starting
- Fewer messages arrive at your desk that were never yours to carry.
- Two teammates who avoided each other start solving small things without you.
- You catch yourself becoming the hub in real time, before the habit resets.
- The team makes at least one real decision this month with you absent from the room.