Are You the Bottleneck on Your Team?
FREE LEADERSHIP SELF-ASSESSMENT: THE BOTTLENECK DIAGNOSTIC
Most leaders never set out to slow their teams down. But somewhere between approvals, check-ins and good intentions, work starts waiting on you. The Bottleneck Diagnostic is a free leadership self-assessment that takes a few minutes. It shows your top two Bottleneck Behavior Types™,
plus a playbook for each one.
10 questions · Free · Results instantly
How it Works
STEP 1
Answer 10 quick questions about how you delegate, give feedback and share ideas. It only takes a few minutes.
STEP 2
Enter your name and email to unlock your results.
STEP 3
See your top two Bottleneck Behavior Types™ instantly, with a playbook of first steps for each from Emily Morgan's book, Let It Go!
Take the Bottleneck Diagnostic
Your results appear instantly. We'll only use your email to send occasional insights from Verve.
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Signs You're the Bottleneck
If two or more sound familiar, take the diagnostic to find out which behaviors are behind it.
Your team waits on your reply before they can move forward.
Small decisions still need your sign-off.
You fix mistakes yourself instead of coaching the person who made them.
New ideas from you derail plans that are already in motion.
Your calendar is full, but your most important work keeps slipping.
FROM LET IT GO!
The Five Bottleneck Behavior Types™ (and the Leadership Blind Spots Behind Them)
Emily Morgan's Five Bottleneck Behavior Types™ as taught in Let It Go! describe the habits that keep work stuck with the leader: the Hero, the Interventionist, the Isolationist, the Time Optimist and the Dreamer. Everyone shows one, some or all of them at different times, sometimes in the same day. Putting a name to yours makes it easier to spot, and easier to change.
01
The Hero
"I have to save the day”
Your team has learned to run everything by you for permission, and part of you secretly may even like being needed. Decisions and approvals wait on you, so the team can only move as fast as you can respond.
You might be a hero if: you're the first call when anything goes wrong, and projects stall when you're out of the office.
02
The Interventionist
"I need to be in loop”
High standards and past handoffs that went wrong taught you to stay involved in everything. You've become the team's quality control, and your team pulls back because their contributions don't seem to matter.
You might be an interventionist if: you rewrite work instead of giving feedback on it, or ask to be copied on everything "just in case." These are the classic signs of a micromanager.
03
The Isolationist
"I’ll just do it myself”
You know you need help, and you've found good people. But you're so overcommitted that your team gets minimal details and almost no time with you to move things forward.
You might be an isolationist if: you hand off work in a two-line message between meetings, then never have time to meet with anyone after.
04
The Time Optimist
“I can fit one more thing in”
You bring energy and big ideas, and you expect more than your team's hours can hold. When everything is urgent, priorities compete and people burn out trying to keep up.
You might be a time optimist if: your team's to-do list grows every time you have a good idea, and deadlines slip because everything was urgent.
05
The Dreamer
“I have a million ideas”
New ideas are your favorite place to be. But you change your mind as ideas evolve and rarely define what success looks like, so your team doesn't know what to act on.
You might be a dreamer if: your team asks "Is this a real project or just an idea?", and plans already in motion change after your latest brainstorm.
Recognize yourself in more than one? Most leaders do. The diagnostic pinpoints your top two and gives you a playbook for each.
About the Diagnostic
Emily Morgan created the Bottleneck Diagnostic as part of the Let It Go System™. It asks 10 questions about how you delegate, give feedback and share ideas with your team, then identifies your top two Bottleneck Behavior Types™. Unlike a leadership style quiz, it doesn't describe your personality. It pinpoints the specific behaviors that slow your team down, explains why they happen and gives you insight into what to change.
Why Good Leaders
Become Bottlenecks
Whether you built the business, helped run one for a founder, or earned a promotion into leadership, you got here because you were good at the work, so the work keeps coming to you. Over time, approving, checking and doing pull you away from your Most Impactful Contribution™, the work only you can do. Naming and spotting the behavior is the first step to letting go.
Built on Let It Go!
The Bottleneck Diagnostic is part of the Let It Go System™. It comes from The Discipline, chapter 4 of Emily Morgan's best-selling book, Let It Go! It's the same framework behind Verve's workshops, coaching and Let It Go Advisor certification.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily Morgan
Emily Morgan is the founder of Verve and the creator of the Let It Go System™, which helps leaders hand off work with confidence and focus on their Most Impactful Contribution™. The author of the Amazon best-seller Let It Go!, Emily has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, Inc., CNBC and Forbes.
More about Emily
Ready to Clear Your Bottleneck?
Workshops and Coaching
Bring the Let It Go System™ to your team through workshops, and work through your top Bottleneck Behavior Types™
one-on-one with coaching
Certification
Become a Let It Go Advisor (LIGA) and bring the framework into your organization. Certification qualifies for SHRM and ATD recertification credits.
Research
See how leaders across industries approach delegation in the State of Delegation Report.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes, it's free. It's 10 questions, takes a few minutes, and shows your top two Bottleneck Behavior Types™ as soon as you finish.
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A bottlenecked leader is one whose approvals, input or availability hold up their team's work. It's rarely intentional. It usually comes from habits that worked when the team was smaller.
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The Hero, the Interventionist, the Isolationist, the Time Optimist and the Dreamer. Emily Morgan defines each one in her book, Let It Go!, and most leaders recognize themselves in more than one.
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A style quiz describes how you lead. The Bottleneck Diagnostic pinpoints the specific behaviors that keep work stuck with you, so your results point to what to change.
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Start by naming the behavior behind it. The fix depends on your type: a Hero needs to step out of approvals, while a Dreamer needs to commit to an idea before handing it off. Take the diagnostic to find your top two and get a playbook for each.
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Your results and playbooks appear on screen as soon as you submit. After that, expect a delegation insights email from Verve every other month, and nothing more. Unsubscribe any time.