What do The Bear, a NASA launch checklist, and me turning a $500 delegation mistake into a leadership lesson have in common?
They help us realize that everything falls apart when the instructions only make sense inside one person’s head.
In The Bear, the kitchen may be loud enough to make your Apple Watch ask if you are okay, but people still know their stations, their timing, and who owns what.
NASA does not launch a rocket with “somebody handle the pointy end” as step three. And in my $500 example, the issue was not really the $500, it was not being clear with my team member about what to pay for and what not to spend money on.
I thought that the guardrails and instructions were clear because they were clear to me. Which, as it turns out, is not the same thing as them being clear to others.
This is one of the sneakiest problems in a growing law firm: the owner thinks the team is slow, hesitant, or not taking ownership.
But a lot of the time, the team is not slow, the instructions are too open-ended.
The Lie We Tell Ourselves
“They should know this by now.”
Maybe.
But before we turn this into a dramatic closing argument about how nobody can read your mind, we should ask a better question:
Did you actually define the decision? Because there is a huge difference between:
“Follow up with the client.”
And:
“Call the client by Thursday at 3 p.m., confirm they received the records request, document the call in the case management system, and if they sound upset or mention hiring another lawyer, escalate it to me that day.”
One is a task. The other is a task with a map, or better, an automated workflow!
And if you are like me, you have probably given the first version and expected the second version to happen.
That is not delegation. That is management improv and as funny as Michael Scott improv.
My $500 Reminder. I had a version of this happen with a $500 payment issue, remember when beneficial ownership information was a thing?
Well, after telling my EA to fill it out, after the 2nd or 3rd time it was something we had to do, we got an email from a cough, cough, scam company that would do it for us.
We give them ALL the info that the IRS site asked for, pay them $500 and they are kind enough to fill out the same data on the website it had to go on.
To their credit, the money part got refunded. The bigger issue was not the $500. The bigger issue was realizing I had delegated something without making the constraints clear enough.
I had a picture in my head of what “handle this” meant. The person receiving the task did not have that picture.
That is on me and honestly even if it cost $500 it was a worthy lesson.
It is very easy as the owner to assume the full context transferred because you said the words out loud. But sometimes what you actually gave your team was the business equivalent of GPS saying, “Turn somewhere-ish soon.”
Technically correct. Deeply unhelpful.
So when something goes sideways, the better leadership question is not always, “Why didn’t they do it right?”
Sometimes it is, “What did I fail to make clear?”
That question is less fun, but usually more useful.
Where This Shows Up in Law Firms
This happens constantly in firms.
You tell someone to “keep the client updated,” but you do not define what updated means.
Is it every Friday?
Only when something happens?
Phone call or email?
Do they use a template?
What if there is no news?
What if the client is frustrated?
What if the client asks a legal question?
Without guardrails, your team has two bad options:
Guess and risk being wrong. Ask you and risk annoying you.
So they ask you, then you get frustrated that they keep asking you, then they get more cautious, then you get more involved, then somehow you are reviewing a routine client update at 9:43 p.m. while wondering why the firm still needs you for everything.
Nobody planned that. But unclear delegation creates that loop all the time.
The Real Problem
When instructions are too open-ended, the firm creates friction in five places.
First , the team pauses more because they do not know the boundary.
Second , they interrupt you more because you are the safest source of clarity.
Third , work gets redone because “done” was never defined.
Fourth , your better people get annoyed because they want ownership, not vague permission slips.
Fifth , you start believing the story that nobody can do it right but you.
And that story is dangerous, because it feels true while it is being created by your own management system.
That is the leadership version of writing “stop crime in Gotham” and then being upset when it invovles Bat Tapping everyone’s electronics.
What Better Delegation Looks Like
Better delegation is not a 19-page SOP for every tiny task.
Please do not become the firm owner who needs a written policy for replacing the stapler. That is how you end up with a bureaucracy like in the movie Brazil.
Better delegation means the person knows:
What outcome matters. What “done” means. What decisions they can make without you. What facts should trigger escalation. Where the work should be documented. When you will review it. That is it. Not hope. Not “use your judgment” when judgment has never been defined.
Actual guardrails.
If you want someone to own intake follow-up, define the rule.
“If a lead calls and meets these criteria, schedule the consult. If they mention price resistance, use this response. If they have a deadline within 14 days, escalate. If they are outside our practice area, send this referral list. Every lead gets two calls and one text before we close the loop.”
Now the person has something to operate inside. That is how ownership starts.
Practical Moves
Here are five ways to make instructions less open-ended this week.
Replace “handle this” with “the outcome is…”
Before assigning the task, say what successful completion looks like.
Bad: “Handle the records request.”
Better: “Get the request sent, confirm receipt, calendar the follow-up date, and let me know only if they refuse, delay past Friday, or ask for something unusual.”
The second version takes 20 more seconds and saves 12 Slack messages, three sighs, and one future meeting where everyone pretends the real issue is “communication.”
Define the decision boundary. Tell the person what they can decide without you.
Examples:
“You can approve anything under $250 if it fits the case budget.” “You can reschedule once without asking me.” “You can offer these three appointment windows.” “You can close the lead if they miss two calls and one text.”
Decision boundaries are where delegation becomes real. Otherwise you did not delegate the decision. You delegated the waiting. Name the escalation triggers.
Your team should not have to guess when to bring something back to you. Give them triggers.
Escalate if:
the client threatens to leave, the deadline is within seven days, the issue affects money, the person is angry and asking for the lawyer the facts do not match the normal process.
This is why “don’t cross the streams” works in Ghostbusters. It is simple, memorable, and very clear about when things are about to become everyone’s problem.
Your law firm probably has fewer proton packs. Same principle.
Define “done”, “file the motion” might not mean the same thing to everyone.
Does done mean drafted? Reviewed? Filed? Saved to the client file? Client notified? Deadline updated? Next task assigned?
If you do not define done, your team will define it for you.
Sometimes they will be right. Sometimes you will open the file and feel like you just discovered the bonus pieces at the end of a board game setup.
Review the instruction, not just the person. When something goes wrong, yes, the person may need feedback. But the instruction also deserves a trial.
Ask:
Was the outcome clear? Was the boundary clear? Was the escalation trigger clear? Was the example clear? Did we document the better version for next time? That last one matters.
If the same issue happens twice and the answer still lives only in your head, the problem is no longer training, it’s storage.
And your head is not where recurring firm knowledge should live. It is already busy remembering client issues, staff needs, marketing ideas, family logistics, and whether you replied to that one email from Tuesday. Or was it Wednesday?
Exactly.
The Real Point
Your team cannot take ownership of work you have not actually handed over.
They can hold the task. They can try. They can ask questions. They can make their best guess.
But ownership requires clarity.
And if nothing else, you will reduce the number of times someone has to come to you with a problem that could have been solved by a clearer rule, a better checklist, or one owner-approved “talk to me if this happens” trigger.
Which is basically the law firm version of “Talk to me, Goose,” except with fewer fighter jets and more calendar reminders.
Next week , we are going super deep on Your Calendar Is Lying to You. Here’s the Fix.
So this week, pick one recurring task where your team keeps coming back to you.
Do not start by blaming them. Rewrite the instruction.
Define the outcome, the boundary, the escalation trigger, and what “done” means.
Then give them room to do it.
You may find out the team was more capable than the system allowed them to be.
Tune into this week’s episode: Think Like an Owner: The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything feat. Seth Kuntz
Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify
When the Problem Is Bigger Than One Handoff
If you keep rewriting instructions but every decision still comes back to you, the issue may be bigger than the task. Read Your Staff Probably Isn’t Quitting for Money for the leadership side of the same loop.
If you want help building systems, decision boundaries, and an operating rhythm that lets the team own the work without turning you into the human help desk, see how my law firm coaching and consulting works.