If you prefer to watch a video version of this post, click here.

A lot of agency owners who are still involved in the day to day work of their team wouldn’t necessarily call themselves "perfectionists." They would say their standards are high. They would say they uniquely know what it takes to get the work done to the level that attracts and keeps their clients. They would say that they “just know” what good looks like.

But a lot of the time, whether they call themselves perfectionists or not, things usually end up the same way: the owner redoing work at 11pm that someone else at the agency already completed.

Still, a single agency owner overseeing quality does not a scaled business make. In fact, this kind of behavior often inhibits the one thing most small agency owners say they want: to get out of the weeds and be able to work on their business.

It can be difficult to know how to actually let go, because of course it’s often the owner’s good work that has put them in the position to be able to delegate, but there is a pretty simple rule for understanding if you have the right people in place to allow you to get out of the day-to-day and more into the strategic.

The 70% Rule of Delegation

The 70% rule is a way to decide when to hand off work, even when it feels uncomfortable to do so. The idea is simple: if someone on your team can complete a task at roughly 70% of the level you would, they should own it.

This does not mean the work is perfect. It means the outcome is acceptable, usable, and aligned with what the client or project requires at that moment. The goal is not an immediate equivalence with the founder’s experience or judgment. It is progress toward distributed ownership. Over time, that 70% tends to improve. As team members gain context, repeat the work, and understand expectations more clearly, performance moves closer to full ownership.

What Delegation Looks Like in Practice

Applying the 70% rule requires more than assigning tasks. It changes how ownership is structured.

First, define the needed outcome(s) clearly.

For example:

• Delivery timelines are met consistently
• Client communication remains proactive and clear
• Key performance indicators (such as retention or satisfaction) stay within expected ranges

This can be tactical (e.g. the delivery timelines example) but really should anchor in specific KPIs. This is how agency founders can turn this process into the creation of a function at the agency.

Second, provide context and guidance.

This might include examples of what has worked in the past, known constraints or risks, or potentially areas where flexibility is acceptable

Third, step back from execution. Seriously, step away from the deliverable.

This is often the most difficult part, at least psychologically. It means allowing the person responsible to make decisions, approach problems differently, and arrive at solutions that maybe the founder knows won’t work quite as well as the solutions they would have put forward themselves. That’s OK. Giving the team space to learn means eventually they will know what the founder knows. But remember, they only learn by getting to those solutions themselves.

Instead of reviewing every detail, the founder shifts to monitoring outcomes and intervening only when those outcomes are at risk.

The Role of Iteration

At the 70%-of-founder-capability, variation is expected.

A delivery lead may structure meetings differently. A project manager, given the ability to do so, may organize workflows in a way that does not match how the founder would do it.

These differences are part of the process.

As long as outcomes remain stable, the variation creates room for improvement. In many cases, team members identify efficiencies or approaches that the founder would not have implemented.

Over time, this leads to stronger internal capability where team members are able to take full ownership of functions, processes become less dependent on a single perspective, and the agency builds capacity without increasing founder involvement.

Reframing “Standards”

One of the underlying challenges with delegation is how standards are defined.

For many founders, “high standards” are tied to personal execution. The work feels correct when it reflects how they would have done it.

The 70% rule separates personal preference from operational requirements.

A deliverable can meet client expectations, support retention, and maintain quality without matching the founder’s exact approach. This distinction allows standards to be measured by outcomes rather than individual style.

Practical Application

To apply this approach, start with a single function or recurring task.

1. Identify work that is currently being reviewed or redone by the founder
2. Assign clear ownership of that work to a team member
3. Define what a successful outcome looks like
4. Allow the first version to go out without additional refinement, unless there is a clear risk to the client relationship. This will be hard. Do it anyway.
5. Review performance based on results, not process.

From there, expand to additional areas of the business. Over time, fewer decisions and deliverables require direct founder involvement. The team develops confidence and capability, and the founder’s role shifts toward direction rather than execution.

The result is not a reduction in standards. It is a redistribution of responsibility that allows the agency to operate at a larger scale.

Are you an agency founder who needs help but doesn't know how to start? Let's talk.