In curling, each player throws a set number of stones.*
Even if one athlete is exceptionally skilled, they don’t take every shot.
Why?
Because:
- It would be exhausting.
- It would be unsustainable.
- And it would ultimately weaken long-term performance.
The structure requires shared responsibility.
Leadership does too.
The High-Performer Trap
Many leaders were promoted because they were excellent doers.
- You respond fastest.
- You catch mistakes.
- You know the process.
- You execute cleanly.
So you keep doing.
And doing.
And doing.
Until:
- You’re overloaded.
- Your team is underdeveloped.
- And you’ve accidentally become the bottleneck.
Being the most capable person in the room is not a sustainable leadership strategy.
Delegation Is Not Offloading
True delegation is not dumping tasks you don’t want.
It’s distributing opportunity.
When every team member throws stones, they:
- Build skill under pressure
- Learn judgment
- Strengthen confidence
- Develop endurance
If you protect them from meaningful reps, you also prevent their growth.
Why It’s Hard
Delegation feels risky because:
- It may not be done exactly how you would do it.
- It may take longer at first.
- There may be visible imperfections.
But remember an earlier lesson in this series: define the preferred miss.
Growth includes imperfection.
If you insist on perfection before participation, no one else develops.
The Leadership Shift
As you move into higher levels of leadership, your value shifts:
Less:
- Personal output
- Personal speed
- Personal control
More:
- Capacity building
- Skill elevation
- Talent development
- Strategic oversight
If you throw every stone, your team never learns to handle pressure without you.
And you never free yourself to focus on bigger strategic decisions.
What This Looks Like at Work
Delegation might mean:
- Assigning a recurring report to someone ready for stretch responsibility
- Letting a team member lead a meeting you normally facilitate
- Allowing someone to present to senior leadership
- Resisting the urge to “fix” something that is sufficient
Leadership is measured not by how much you accomplish personally, but by how capable your team becomes.
As the Games continue…
This is the fourteenth in a 20-day Olympic curling series exploring leadership lessons embedded in the sport.
Tomorrow’s lesson looks at what we can learn about level of effort from the design of the rings of the house.
Until then, don’t throw every stone.
Build a team that can win without you carrying the full weight. 🥌
* The rules ensure that there is a distribution of work. Per Rule 3(a), a team is composed of four players. Each player delivers two stones, in consecutive order in each end, while alternating with an opponent. And per rule 3(e), a team may not play with fewer than three players, all players delivering all their allocated stones in each end.
** There are even specific instructions for redistributing the work if a player is unable to deliver one or both of their stones during an end. An unusual example of applying this rule, was in a game in 2015, when Brad Gushue fell and had to leave the game mid-end for medical attention. The third, Mark Nichols had already thrown one of his rocks, and could only throw up to three. So the lead who usually throws the first rocks, Geoff Walker, threw the last rock of the end (and made it to score a point!) emphasizing the benefit of having everyone developing their skills. (Don’t worried about Brad – he got stitches, returned to the game (and lost) and won his first Brier title 17 months later.)
