I always ascribed to the somewhat historical management notion that upwards of 20% of your employees are deadweight and would not be missed by your organization.

Having said that, during the military part of my career I put down a marker for all of my key subordinates in off-site locations. Whenever I or my senior NCO or staff member, or a visitor (usually my superiors), visited that location, the most junior person with 6 months on site was required to give the functional overview. That's a lot of pressure to put on your subordinates, but none of them ever failed me once. You're never better than your weakest link(s). Plus, this gave me - and in turn my superiors - the basis for evaluating our leadership and management effectiveness. No hiding the deadweight allowed; either bring them up to speed or get rid of them. Your employees know and resent the deadweight better/more than you do, and they will respect you for making the tough decisions you are being paid to make. Reality is the best teacher because denial becomes a lifelong affliction.