You hire someone to make life easier — yet months later, you’re still knee-deep in the same work you swore you’d hand off.
I see this all the time.
You bring someone on board, and instead of freeing up your time, you find yourself micromanaging, correcting, redoing … and wondering if you hired the wrong person.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: More often than not, it’s not the person you hired. It’s how you’re leading them.
As CEO of BELAY, I’ve helped thousands of leaders scale smarter by hiring fractional talent that matches their actual business needs. I’ve learned that the leadership habits you carry before you hire will follow you after you hire — and if they’re not working for you now, they’ll work against you later.
Let’s talk about the five big leadership mistakes that can sabotage a perfectly good hire, plus a bonus one I see far too often.
Mistake #1: Managing tasks instead of outcomes
When you tell someone how to do something instead of explaining what success looks like, you’re boxing them in.
A strong onboarding process means going deep once, teaching, giving feedback a couple of times, and then letting go.
Micromanaging doesn’t just slow you down — it kills initiative and signals you don’t trust the person you brought on.
Mistake #2: Setting unclear expectations
Hoping for the best isn’t a strategy.
If you want predictable results, you need specific, measurable outcomes from day one. Be flexible on the method, but be crystal clear on the result. Otherwise, you’ll end up wondering why a project didn’t turn out the way you envisioned, without realizing you never fully shared the vision in the first place.
Mistake #3: Hiring a specialist when you need a generalist
Early-stage businesses often need flexibility, not hyper-specialized skills.
Overhiring for complexity can drain your budget and still leave gaps.
Sometimes, the real win is finding someone who can wear multiple hats — handling a bit of marketing, administration, and project coordination — instead of one person who’s great at a single thing.
Mistake #4: Not providing enough context
Delegation without context is just passing work around.
When your hire understands the why behind the task — the audience, the brand guidelines, the ultimate goal — they can take ownership and deliver better results. Without context, you’re setting them up for guesswork.
Mistake #5: Avoiding difficult conversations
Leaders who shy away from feedback often spend 80% of their time on the bottom 20% of performers, ignoring the A players who are eager to grow.
Hard conversations are uncomfortable, but they’re necessary if you want a high-performing team.
Bonus Mistake: Skipping training
Even the most capable hire can’t succeed if you don’t train them.
Throwing someone into the deep end and hoping they swim isn’t leadership — it’s abdication.
Key takeaways from the video:
If you’re tired of hires who don’t make your life easier, the problem might not be them — it might be how you’re leading them.
Watch the video, take notes, and let’s make your next hire the one that finally lifts the weight off your shoulders.