Effective Delegation in Leadership and Management

Delegation is one of the most important and challenging skills for a leader or manager to perfect.

It’s about giving some of your work to someone else, but it goes beyond this. You should delegate work and responsibilities to those you manage regularly as a leader or manager.

This has so many benefits. You free up your time and energy to work on things you can do, while someone else learns new things and takes on a more responsible role. 

Delegating Responsibility vs Tasks

The key to effective delegation is to delegate responsibility, not tasks. 

When I talk to leaders and managers about delegation, they often say that they gave someone a list of what to do—a list of tasks but no opportunity for ownership.

This means there’s no opportunity for engagement or really understanding how the tasks work.

When you assign somebody responsibility for a whole set of things, they have to figure out the specific tasks that are involved. If this responsibility is brand new to their wheelhouse, as a supervisor, you may have to help them figure out what to do.

You need to define the outcome that you want clearly.

Instead of defining the steps to get there, define your desired outcome. You’re defining the outcome but not giving somebody the exact steps to get there.

Then, you have to let go. You’ve given someone the outcome that you expect, you’ve delegated the responsibility, and then you have to let them do it. Avoid micromanaging at all costs. 

You don’t need to know every single detail that goes into the tasks – you just need to know that the outcome you set has been achieved.

Deciding What To Delegate

Now that you know why you should delegate, let’s talk about what types of tasks to delegate.

I really like the concepts Gay Hendricks presents in his book, The Big Leap. Your skill set is broken down into four zones.

🟣 Zone of Genius: These are the things that only you can do at an incredibly high level. In your business or job role, these tasks have to be completed by you. You can do something really special in a genius way.

🟣 Zone of Excellence: These are the things you can do really well, but there’s also somebody else who can do them really well.

🟣 Zone of Competence: Sure, you can do these things, and they’ll get checked off, but you’ll only ever be competent at them. It’s never going to be something that you’re excellent at.

🟣Zone of Incompetence: These are the things that are just truly not in your skillset. You should never be the one doing these tasks.

So when you’re trying to figure out what to delegate, you start at the bottom. But ideally, you would like to work yourself up to a point where you’re delegating three out of four of these zones as much as possible.

Delegating tasks from your zone of incompetence and competence should be quite easy. Delegation gets harder in the zone of excellence. But you need to remember that doing things in your zone of excellence costs you time and prevents you from doing things within your zone of genius.

When you’re trying to figure out what to delegate and what to keep, I encourage you to look at your to-do list and projects and ask yourself what zones they fall into and where your greatest contribution comes from.

Seven Steps to Successful Delegation

You know you need to delegate more, but it can be confusing to start doing it. 

Here is the seven-step process that I use. It works for me, and once you get the hang of it, it makes delegating quick and easy.

1️⃣ Define the Outcome Needed

Define the outcome, not just the tasks, so that you can share with the person that you’re delegating to what you expect the end result to be.

2️⃣ Select the Right Person

You want to ensure that you’re delegating an outcome to somebody with the skills and talent to work on what you’re asking them to do. If you delegate something to somebody who doesn’t have the knowledge or skills, or it’s not in their zone of genius or excellence, you may end up frustrated because you didn’t get the outcome you need.

3️⃣ Explain the Why

Take the time to explain why you’re delegating the task to someone else and make sure they understand the purpose of the task. If someone has the skills and abilities to do the work, understands the outcome, and understands why it’s important to you or the business, it can make a huge difference in their motivation to do well.

4️⃣ Provide Resources Needed

Provide any resources that are needed to complete the work. You might even consider asking the person, after you think you’ve provided the resources, what else they need. They can’t complete the work if they don’t have the resources to do so.

5️⃣ Delegate Responsibility and Authority

Ensure the person you’re delegating to knows the boundaries of their responsibility and authority. If they understand the desired due date, what they need to run by you, and what decisions they can make on their own, you’re free not to worry – you know they’ve got this.

6️⃣ Allow for Mistakes

You have to allow room for mistakes, particularly if this is the first time you’re delegating a particular type of outcome or responsibility to somebody. You have to have some wiggle room for mistakes. Think of mistakes as an opportunity to get better – an amazing opportunity for you to give some feedback and for them to learn more about what your expectations really look like.

7️⃣ Provide Feedback and Appreciation

Providing feedback and appreciation can do many things. Constructive feedback can help the delegate improve next time, and appreciation helps them feel seen, known, and valued. Both will help them feel more engaged in their jobs. Feedback and appreciation also allow you to continue to reinforce your expectations and what matters most to you. Whatever you do, don’t skip this step!

It seems like a lot of steps, but once you get started, it’s a pretty short and easy process that you’ll quickly get into the habit of. Remember to make sure that your door is always open for questions.

When Tasks Aren’t Done

What happens when the person you’ve delegated to doesn’t do what you’ve asked them to do?

This has happened to all leaders and managers at some point or another.

It’s natural to be frustrated when we delegate something important to us or when it doesn’t get done or not in the way we expected it to. Instead of responding in frustration, I encourage you to take a different approach.

First, always assume the best. Start with a few calm statements and ask clarifying questions. Assume to start with that the task didn’t get done because they didn’t have the resources they needed or didn’t understand the expectations. Choose to assume that it wasn’t just because they didn’t do it or didn’t think it was important.

Most of the time, employees don’t do what we expect them to because they don’t really understand or know exactly what to do.

Here are some possible statements you can use if you find yourself in this situation:

“When we discussed the project, my understanding was [this]. Was that your understanding as well?”

“What kept you from getting that done or reaching that outcome?”

These statements and questions allow the employee to tell you what got in their way rather than you making an assumption about what it was. You get to be open-minded and look for what you might have missed.

From here, you get to decide whether to leave the responsibility with them and give them another opportunity or delegate it elsewhere. Most of the time, your best chance is to give it back to them with clarified expectations and additional resources, making sure they have everything they need. 

Mistakes happen, and it’s our job as supervisors and managers to find out why that happened – and to put things in place to create better results in the long run.

Next Steps

Learning the art of delegation will change the way you lead. You will have more time and energy to spend in your zone of genius, your team will have more opportunities to take responsibility and grow, and your company will thrive with highly engaged employees.

If you’d like to bring out the best in your people, let’s talk. I offer training workshops and retreats to set your team up for successful delegation and help you stay in your zone of genius. Book your free consultation now. 

For additional resources on this topic, view our YouTube series on delegation and download our delegation guide.