Why does everything on my team have to go through me?
You call this a communication problem. It is not. Your people can talk — they talk to you constantly. What they cannot do is talk to each other, because you have made yourself the necessary middle step in every exchange. You did not choose this consciously. It happened because you answered when you could have redirected, decided when you could have deferred, and now the habit is load-bearing. A wheel with no rim needs the hub for everything. Every spoke depends on the center; nothing connects on its own. That is your team right now. It is not that they lack the skill to solve things between themselves — it is that they have never had the occasion. You have been solving it for them. This is fixable, but only by you, and only by subtraction. You must stop doing the thing that feels most helpful: being available for every question. What feels like diligence is actually the obstacle.
Because you built it that way — not on purpose, but you built it. Your team doesn't talk to each other because they've never needed to; you're always there to relay. This is not a flaw in their character. It is a structure you can dismantle, one routed decision at a time.
What changes unlock by starting
- Fewer messages sitting in your inbox waiting on your word.
- Two people resolving something between themselves that once required you.
- Time returned to you for the work only you can do.
- A team that keeps functioning on the days you are not reachable.