The 10-80-10 principle postulates that leaders should only involve themselves in the first 10% and the last 10% of any project. Specifically, they have the most to contribute when casting the vision and providing feedback on the execution of that vision.

The 10-80-10 Principle

What are the projects you spend too much time on? Maybe you used to enjoy them, but your passion is waning. Or your business has grown, and it doesn’t make sense to devote as much time and energy to a project as you used to. The projects coming to mind are prime candidates for reengineering.The list of possibilities is likely longer than you realize. This principle can be applied to closing sales, writing books, and designing project-management systems. It all starts with identifying the possibility of delegation by noticing where you might be doing too much.

Step 1: Identify a Long Process Eating Up a Significant Amount of Your Time

You’re not equally passionate and proficient at every task. And while some tasks or skills might just require more practice, others are holding you back. Drudgery tasks affect our quality of life. They hurt our job satisfaction. And they waste valuable time and energy.Most leaders add the most value at the very beginning, casting vision, and at the very end, providing feedback. But there may be additional steps along the way. The points where your contribution is absolutely necessary should be pretty obvious. Ask yourself, Could anyone else do it better?

Step 3: Assess Where You Add the Most Value

It’s easy to overlook how many steps are within a single process. Just like “releasing a podcast” entails half a dozen steps, routine tasks take up more bandwidth than you realize.Start at the beginning. What do you do first? And then what? List these steps as though providing instructions to someone who has never completed the task.Itemizing processes into their component parts brings clarity for the next step.

Step 2: Dissect the Process into Its Component Parts

These people become the team responsible for the process you once completed on your own. If anyone is going to touch on the project, they should be in the meeting.Start the meeting by explaining the why. Knowing your rationale for both the process and delegation will empower others to make decisions on your behalf. Then walk through the process step by step. Assign action items to team members. And provide time for questions and suggestions. You might find your team has a few ideas to improve right from the beginning.

Step 4: Call a Meeting with Those You Want to Involve in the Process

You’re not committing to the changes you’re implementing for the rest of your life. You can always go back to the way you were doing it before. Validate your new strategy through experimentation.Viewing the changes as an experiment also helps you keep your expectations realistic. We don’t expect experiments to go perfectly on the first try. We expect to iterate based on data. When you hand off a process with an experimental mindset, you won’t be surprised if you see room for improvement. You’ll adapt based on feedback and keep moving forward.

Step 5: Begin the New Process as an Experiment

You can get 100% of the results while only completing 20% of the work

Leaders should only be in the first and last 10% of any project. Here's how to take back the middle 80%, so you can focus on high-leverage work.