As a leader, you're almost certainly all too familiar with having a never-ending to-do list and the need to constantly spin plates. Nearly every leader I know or have worked with is familiar with the feeling of being up to your eyeballs in work, knowing they should be focusing on strategic initiatives, yet you find themself bogged down in operational and business as usual tasks.
Delegation often feels either hard (you don’t have time to brief someone else) or unfair (you don’t want to shovel stuff to other people that you’re not prepared to do yourself). But it’s a crucial leadership skill, and all the more so when you’re up to your eyeballs. It's not just about offloading tasks; it's about stretching and growing your team, developing their skills, and freeing up your time to focus on high-level responsibilities. And despite its importance, many leaders receive little or no formal training on how to do it well.
Prefer to listen? Our podcast episode on Effective Delegation is here and the conversation transcript is at the end of this blog:
Understanding Effective Delegation
Effective delegation is about making sure things get done rather than actually doing them yourself. It needs you to assign specific tasks or responsibilities to others while retaining overall accountability for the outcome. As the delegator, you still need to oversee progress and provide guidance when needed. It's about enabling your team to take ownership of tasks, not washing your hands of them entirely.
What delegation is not is abdication. Abdication is when you hand over a task and then step away completely, hoping it'll magically get done without any further input from you. That's a recipe for disaster and usually ends up creating more work for you in the long run.
Effective delegation is a balancing act. You're giving your team members the space to tackle tasks in their own way, while still being available to offer support and ensuring the end result meets the required standard. It's about finding (an often hard to find) sweet spot between micromanagement and complete hands-off leadership. It's a win-win situation – when it's done right.
Barriers to Effective Delegation
Despite knowing the importance of delegation, many leaders find themselves struggling to implement it effectively. Let's unpick some of the most common barriers that might be holding you back:
The Time Trap
"I haven't got time to delegate" is a phrase I hear all too often. When you're already drowning in work, the idea of taking time out to explain a task to someone else can feel counterproductive. It's the classic "it's quicker to do it myself" syndrome. But this short-term thinking is precisely what keeps you stuck in the weeds, unable to focus on more strategic work. The less time you have, the more important it is to hone your delegation skills.
The Perfectionist's Dilemma
After time, the next most common thing I hear is ‘no one else can do it as well as I can’. If you're worried things won’t be up to standard and yet you’re still accountable for that standard, it’s going to be hard to let go. Spoiler alert. The reason you can do it well is that you have experience, knowledge, skills and understanding of how to approach things based on having done them or similar things before.
Perfectionism can lead to micromanagement or reluctance to delegate at all. It also (often) assumes your way is the only ‘right’ way but different doesn't necessarily mean worse and people need to be able to learn and making mistakes is part of that
The Insecurity Trap
Sometimes, leaders fear (often subconsciously) that delegating tasks might make them seem less valuable or competent. There can be an underlying worry of "If I'm not doing all this work, what am I here for?" This insecurity can be particularly acute if you've been promoted from within the team and you’re used to being valued for doing tasks. Delegation can feel lazy and like you’re losing your identity as an achiever.
The Skills Gap
Many leaders WANT to delegate, but simply haven't been taught how to delegate effectively. So when they try it things go badly, tasks get missed and the ‘it’s quicker to do it myself’ cycle comes back into play. It’s uncomfortable to have to figure it out through trial and error, and it can be easier to just keep shouldering the workload burden
The Martyr Complex
Some leaders fall into the trap of thinking they're protecting their team by taking on all the work themselves. (This was the trap I most often fell into). It’s well-intentioned, but this approach can stifle your team's growth, create bottlenecks and leave you overwhelmed and exhausted. It can also create frustration and resentment that your team isn't supporting you or understanding of the pressures you’re under, yet you’ve shielded them from that understanding.
Recognising these barriers is the first step towards overcoming them. Considering honestly which of these might be in play for you means you can start to adjust and work on overcoming them.
Overcoming Delegation Barriers: Practical Strategies
Start with Routine and Repeatable Tasks
Begin by identifying any tasks that are routine and repeatable. These are often easier to delegate (routine and repeatable means there’s an existing process for others to follow, even if it’s not yet documented). For example, could you delegate the creation and maintenance of weekly dashboards or reports? Get team members to input their data, and you can provide a final review before it goes out. Are there meetings you regularly attend where others could deputise for you on a regular or semi-regular basis?
Understand Your Team's Strengths & Match Tasks to Team Members
Take some time to explore and understand your team's skills and experiences. This is especially the case if you haven’t worked together for years. Don't make assumptions based on their current role - find out what they’ve done before, what they enjoy and what they’d like to work on more or develop.
What comes easily and naturally to them that feels like harder work for others? What are their aspirations for their future career and what new skills or experience might be helpful for their development? People will naturally be more motivated to complete tasks well when they enjoy them or when they have a driver of future career progression that means they want to be perceived well
Once you understand your team's strengths, match tasks accordingly. Consider skills, experience, workload, and availability when delegating. This increases the likelihood of success and helps people feel more engaged with their work.
Set Clear Objectives and Expectations
When delegating a task, be precise about what you want delivered. Outline the goals, expected outcomes, and any specific requirements. Describe what 'good' looks like in terms of an outcome, but also in terms of the approach if you’re precious about the way it’s done. Clarity helps with understanding exactly what's expected and reduces the need for constant check-ins.
That said, be wary of being too prescriptive - a coaching approach can be really helpful with setting the outcome and asking questions to enable someone to articulate their planned approach. The likelihood of them buying in is much higher if they share their approach rather than have it dictated to them.
Empower Decision-Making
Give your team members the authority to make decisions within the scope of their delegated tasks, confirming that you’re not just happy for them to make decisions but you actively encourage it. Provide them with any necessary resources and information to complete the task independently.
Be willing to be a sounding board, but set the expectation that they come with options or a recommendation for you to sign off rather than to ask what they should do. And if they ask you what they should do, ask them to share their thinking so far and get them to articulate what they believe they should do. You don’t have to bang your fists and demand ‘bring me solutions, not problems’, but this approach helps to prevent the constant "have you got a minute" interruptions and truly frees up your time.
Use Delegation as a Development Tool
Identify tasks within larger projects or responsibilities that will stretch and challenge your team members. Be clear that the focus is on their learning and development, not just the outcome. This approach can help you increase your own capacity for more complex tasks while supporting your team's growth.
Accept that your team members might approach tasks differently than you would. As long as the end result meets the required standard, allow for these differences. This encourages creativity and can often lead to process improvements.
Learn from Mistakes
If a delegated task doesn't go as planned, use it as a learning opportunity for you and for whoever you delegated it to. Acknowledge if the issue was due to a lack of clarity on your part (it often is, especially if you’re building your skill at delegating effectively). People are much more willing to take on delegated tasks if they know you won’t haul them over the coals the minute something goes wrong.
Discuss what went wrong (with the task or with communication and clarity around the task) and how it can be improved next time.
Conclusion:
Becoming a delegation ninja isn't just about clearing your to-do list (although that's a nice bonus). It's about growing your team, nurturing future leaders, and creating the time and space for you to focus on the things that really do have to sit with you.
Learning to delegate might feel a bit awkward at first. Effective delegation is a skill, and like any skill, it takes practice.But stick with it. Before you know it, you'll have a more engaged, capable team, and you'll finally have time to focus on the big picture stuff that really moves the needle.
Looking to take your delegation skills from 'meh' to 'magnificent'? Here's how I can help:
Just starting out on your management journey? My Management 101 online training is a great place to start. It's packed with practical tips on delegation and other essential management skills. And at £99 your boss might well sign it off without complaint.
Already an established leader earning £50k+? The Catalyst Career Club might be right up your street. It's where the cool kids hang out (and by cool kids, I mean other leaders facing similar challenges). Get peer support, access advanced leadership resources, and join regular workshops that'll help you tackle tricky leadership conundrums, delegation included. £6.99 per month with no ties ins. Cheaper than Netflix and better for your career
Want some one-on-one support? If you're grappling with specific delegation dilemmas or you're keen to turbocharge your leadership skills, let's chat. Book a call to talk through the options for 1:1 coaching support.
Podcast Transcript: Career & Leadership Real Talk
Episode 48 - Effective Delegation
Jacqui: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to this week's episode. We are talking this time about effective delegation, which is something that has come up a number of times for clients of ours. And it's something that when you are a leader delegation, and especially effective delegation, is a huge part of what gives you your capacity to get stuff done.
But it's also another one of those topics that we keep talking about where people don't get that much training about how to do it that well. So we just wanted to share our takeaways and our top tips. Looking at some of the barriers, what gets in the way of being able to delegate well, and also then, okay, if you need to start, if you know that's something that you need to improve on, how can you do that?
So Pam, let's start with the definition. So what do you actually mean when you're talking to clients and they're struggling with delegation? What even is delegation?
Pam: So delegation for me is when the person in charge, the delegator, assigns specific tasks or responsibilities to others, but they retain the ultimate responsibility for those tasks, and they're also still accountable for the outcome.
So the delegator should stay involved in overseeing the progress and as the person that you've delegated to is working through those tasks, it's up to the delegator to provide guidance and support.
Jacqui: Love it. Really succinct. And I think what that really speaks to is a conversation I have with clients sometimes is about the difference between delegation and abdication.
And that's one of the things that I think is so important because that point you were making about ultimately you still have that overall responsibility and accountability. That's one of the key differences. When you abdicate, you're stepping away too far and you don't maintain that monitoring or that oversight and it can be really disconnected and things can go wrong.
And I think that in itself then starts to become an issue when are trying to delegate well. So we've got four key barriers that we've identified that get in the way of effective delegation. So let's run through those. So if we take that definition that you've given, what would you say is the single biggest thing that you see as a reason why people struggle to delegate effectively?
Pam: The biggest thing is always time. Nobody's ever got any time to delegate, but then usually when they're at the point of needing to delegate, that is when they need to do it the most because usually they're overwhelmed with their own workload or there's other things that they need to focus on and they can't because they either don't delegate, or they haven't got the time.
To delegate, the time is always the biggest issue, isn't it? So that's the way it's always been for me and for the clients that I work with.
Jacqui: Yeah I definitely hear that a lot of, “Oh, I just haven't got time”. And I think when you're up to your eyeballs in it and everyday work is already a lot, then delegating feels hard because you've got to create that time to have those conversations and create that clarity.
And I think. It's that element of the typical phrase that we, I'm sure you hear this as well is, “Oh, it'd just be quicker to do it myself”. That's the thing I hear so often when people are struggling to delegate is it's just quicker to do it myself.
Pam: Yeah, that is the classic one. And that’s the thing when I speak to clients and they're completely overwhelmed and they've not got a second to think straight.
And when I broach the subject around delegation, that is always the key thing that comes up; “I've not got the time to even think about it”. “I've not got the time to train people up”. “I've not got the time to even start thinking about delegation, it is quicker to do it myself”.
And that is where lots of leaders get caught out, isn't it?
Jacqui: Yeah. And it's a short term investment for a long term gain. And the way that our brains work as humans, we're not great at that. We like to get a kind of immediate payback. So doing it yourself might be quicker in the short term, but then you end up with a less developed team and potentially a less engaged team because they're not being stretched and developed.
And they're disconnected and they don't have as much time with you because you're so busy doing all the things that really you should be delegating. So it feels like the best thing to do is to just do it yourself and then it's just done.
But actually when your to do list is as long as your arm, the problem is that doesn't solve the problem. All it does is gets that one thing ticked off the list, but longer term, it doesn't help to resolve the fundamental issue. And so I think it's one of those where it feels like a very real problem of not having time.
But what you're doing is solving the immediate problem rather than the important problem.
Pam: Yeah. And the thing is as well, if you don't start delegating, you will end up burnt out. You'll end up not being able to progress your own career. You'll end up not being able to focus on the things that you really need to focus on.
Or if you carry on working the way that you are, then that will impact on your family time or your social life outside of work and your work life balance really starts to become affected because if you're just thinking “I'll just do it myself”, then, what is the knock on effect of that eventually?
Jacqui: After time then, what's the next biggest barrier to people delegating effectively?
Pam: So I think insecurity is a huge one, isn't it? Because people worry about loads of different things when it comes to delegating. What will that make me look like? Will I still get the credit? Or I've been doing this job now for... X amount of time. I don't want somebody else taking the credit for doing the stuff that I've been doing.
And it's a hard one, isn't it? Because it's like, where do you draw the line on what you carry on delivering?
Jacqui: Yeah. And it's something that I talked about in the episode that I did on the four tips for managing people who are more experienced than you.
And one of those was just around that mindset of not becoming insecure, celebrate when you've got people on your team that are more expert. And I think sometimes there's this tendency, like you say, you feel like it doesn't count if you haven't done the work, but actually if that work gets done… This was something that for me, when I was employed, I absolutely relished having people who were at that stage where they could deliver it. That was something to celebrate. And I think a lot of this is bound up in people's kind of, like you say, it's the insecurity, it's that ego thing of feeling like you should be able to do it better.
Even if it's going to be hard work, even if it's going to take more time, there's this feeling of, if you're the leader, you should be the best at all of the things that happen. And actually, when you let go of that need to be the best, and you focus on bringing out the best in other people, you get the credit, not just for what's being delivered, because you do still get the credit for that, but you share it with that other person.
But also you get the credit for being a great boss, a great manager, a great leader, because people are engaged. They're enjoying the fact that they are getting to be recognised for their own contribution. And so I think it's, again, it's that kind of short term kind of insecurity versus the security of recognising this is actually as a manager and a leader, this is part of your responsibility.
It's bring the best out in other people, let them contribute, find more ways for them to contribute is how you develop them and how you help them to thrive.
Pam: Yeah. And I suppose as well, one thing that I know always comes up and one thing that came up for me. When I first started delegating is that nobody ever does anything the way that you do it.
Nobody does it to the same level of quality or skill as what you do it. So that can be really off putting. When you think I know I'm probably only going to get an 80 percent job out of this person, it's hard isn't it to go right okay you know I am going to delegate this work and I know it's not going to be a hundred percent. It's weighing it up isn't it? Do I just accept that 80 percent effort? Or do I carry on being overloaded and not putting the focus where I need to put it as a leader?
Jacqui: Absolutely. And I think it's the flip side, isn't it really of that insecurity. There's the insecurity or feeling like you are going to be shown up by somebody doing it better. And then on the flip side is this element of, but if they genuinely can't do it as well or won't do it in the way that I would.
There's that temptation to want to have control over and that's not really delegation. Delegation is not about you having control over every single step. It's about you're responsible for the outcome, you will delegate the tasks that form a part of it, but there's a difference between monitoring and breathing down somebody's neck.
And I think this is where trying to delegate can then, if you're not actually keen on letting go, that's when it feels like micromanagement because in theory, you're saying that you're delegating and what you're actually doing is just breathing down my neck all the time and expecting me to do it exactly the way that you would.
And that's really stifling for people on the receiving end. And I think that for me is one of the things again, that I see from clients almost when they're on the receiving end of it is you don't feel trusted. You don't fit. You feel like your boss is a control freak. You don't feel trusted to have your own ideas or to do it in the way that you want to and it's almost that if you're going to get your red pen out and redo everything or check
everything then you're kidding yourself if you think you're delegating
Pam: Yeah and that's the thing isn't it because it's a real false economy if you're delegating but then you are red penning everything. You get to a point where you have to accept that other people are going to do it in a different way to you.
And that doesn't mean it's bad. And if that is coming up for you and you are thinking, that, if the work is not up to standard, that's a different conversation, isn't it? But when it is up to standards, but it's just a different way of presenting it, or a different way of thinking, then that's where you need to go “Okay. Hold on a minute, is this right?”
And whichever way we do it, if it’s the same outcome then that's absolutely fine. And you'll be empowering your team and you'll be allowing people to, to find their feet and, have a go at doing things and be exposed to things that ordinarily they wouldn't be exposed to because you'd be doing all of those things.
Jacqui: And the final thing then that we identified as a barrier was that element of people aren't really sure how to go about it. It's everybody knows that in theory, as a boss, as a leader, you're supposed to delegate, you're supposed to use your team effectively, you're supposed to make sure that you match people with the things that they're strong at, and that you develop them in the areas that they're maybe not so strong at.
But it's okay, from a practical perspective how do I do that? And I've done a lot of development and training over the years and I actually don't remember ever having any development training on how to delegate effectively.
Pam: No, there isn't any, there literally is none that I ever had.
And I think that the way that I always got around what do I delegate? Was what are the easiest things? It was always like, some of the basic admin tasks to start with some of the things that were easy to show somebody how to do and, monitor from a distance. And then maybe some of the more routine tasks as well.
And I know we were talking before we started and you were talking about, the repetitive and routine tasks, are the best things to hand over. And, when I was leading a team, the key things that I handed over were around like, some data analysis tasks.
We used to have a weekly dashboard, getting people to input into that. Getting people to update that, and then, before that dashboard was sent out, I would give it a once over. But everybody would input their part, which would mean an element of data analysis, speaking to different people to make sure we had the most up to date information that, people were happy with the information going into that dashboard, and then, before that went out with 24 hours to go, I'll give it the once over, And check it was right, and then it'd be, yeah, good to go.
So I just give it the final approval. Throughout that process, different people that were inputting into that needed different levels of support. But a few weeks in, when everybody knew exactly what they needed to be doing and what was expected, then that run really smoothly after that point.
Jacqui: And I think the great thing about starting to delegate things that are routine and repeatable is it starts to create more headspace quite quickly if there's things that are routine and are taking up quite a chunk of your time and you can find a way to simplify those to automate them or to delegate them, then very quickly you start to create that headspace.
So then that helps with that aspect that we were talking about of, if you feel like, Oh, I just, it's quicker to do it myself, actually, if you're creating something where it is like you described, where the team can input, then that. delegated to a number of different people rather than one it's not just shifting.
Because I think that's another thing that can be a barrier is when you're a nice person, you don't want to overload someone else. And I think that's something that I've definitely been guilty of when it came to delegation is I didn't want to overload other people in my team. So then I would sacrifice and feel like, oh, I'll be the martyr.
I'll be the one that's taking all this on and doing all the work to protect other people. And I think if you can find things like that, that are routine and simple, that can either be, got rid of or else automated, made simpler or shared, then that can be a really helpful way to create yourself more headspace and then more time and capacity to then be thinking about, okay, how else can I then delegate other things?
How can I find things that other people can get involved with that can stretch or grow or develop them and that can free me up even further? So yeah, I love that as an example. So in terms of some of the tips then. We've said that it's something that people don't tend to get much support with.
So let's try and remedy a bit of that and give people some starters for 10. So if people are finding that they're resonating with some of this stuff of, yeah, maybe I am guilty of saying that. Where would you suggest that people start in terms of tips to actually be a more effective delegator?
Pam: So I think one of the first things that I've always done is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of my team and not make assumptions, because it's really easy to make assumptions that somebody can or can't do a certain task. What I tend to do is put it out to the team, what are your strengths and what would you like to work more on? What would you like to get involved in?
Now, you will find every time I've ever done this exercise, I find that people have got so many more skills than I knew about or gave them credit for, because they weren't asked to use those skills on a daily basis. So I think if you can understand your team in the first instance, that will make your delegating life so much easier because then you'll know, if somebody can't do that thing right now, have they got potential to learn and to be able to do that in the future?
Jacqui: I think particularly if you've got a team that has been quite established and you've been working with them for a little while, you assume that what you're seeing from them day to day. is everything that they've got experience of and that they're capable of.
And when you go in new to a team, it's more common to have more of these conversations of, so what were you doing? What are your strengths? What's your skill set?
But I think almost once things have settled, you forget that there was life before they were part of your team and there was life before they were doing this role. And so I think particularly with established teams, this can really help to bring out some nuggets of things that people have had experience of previously that you might not know, or things that they've got an interest in that they might not have shared all of that kind of stuff.
So yeah, totally agree. Refreshing and understanding their strengths is a massive part of it. So what next then? So if you've done that exercise and you're starting to think about delegating more, where would you go next?
Pam: So I suppose the next thing is going to be choosing the right person.
So matching the task with the individual and, considering each team member's skills, experience, workload, their availability. And once you've found the right person, then. It's about making sure that you set those really clear objectives on what you want them to deliver. So you're outlining the goals and the expected outcomes and any specific requirements that you've got.
And the more precise you can be, the easier it will be for your team member to pick it up and run with it and then obviously just making sure that they know if they hit any barriers or brick walls that they can come to you for support or if they want to send to check anything they can come to you for that support because just because you're delegating it doesn't mean that you're you know you're not going to have any contact with it again.
Jacqui: I think that's so helpful to think about what might that communication look like. Obviously, it depends whether it's a simple, straightforward thing, or whether it's, there's a whole project that you're asking them to take ownership of. And what I would often say with this is, even before you have that conversation, just take some time to create that clarity for yourself.
Because all too often, I think, People try and delegate and they feel like they've delegated something because they've had that initial conversation and said, I want you to take ownership of X, Y, Z, and had a bit of conversation, but they haven't always had that thinking and that clarity for themselves before they've had that conversation.
And when you do that, what that can do is really shape that initial conversation. So if there's areas where you're not sure how experienced they are, or what are their ideas on this? Will they approach it the way that I would broadly want them to approach it? Then that can become a developmental conversation.
It can become a coaching conversation where you're “I'd really like to get you involved with this. This is. the outcome that we need to deliver, this is when we need to deliver it by, what are some of your thoughts?” And you can sense check what would be their thoughts about how they might approach it.
And then, if you need to be a bit more involved, or if you need to shape it, because of things that you know or you're aware of that they might not be, then you can build that in a way that feels supportive.
Rather than, “here you go, I need you to come up with an idea on this”. Step back a bit and then realise, oh dear, something's gone wrong.
So now you've jumped in. There’s nothing more demoralising than when you've started that without the clarity, something doesn't go the way that you want it to, and you've had to jump in. And I have definitely been guilty of that before where I'm “Oh yeah, sorry. My fault. I did not have that clarity when I had that conversation with you”.
Pam: Yeah. And do you know what though? I think sometimes that does happen and it's sometimes it's okay as well for that to happen because part of delegation, I think it's a learning process, isn't it? When you first start delegating stuff, you're not going to be super clear. And I think sometimes even when you've been delegating for years, sometimes you might ask somebody to start doing something and then later realize that you've not given them that real level of clarity that they needed to do the job, properly.
And I think, to a certain degree, that is part of delegating, but I think where you can. If you can give that clarity then you should and like what you said there, just taking that time to think about, what actually do we want to achieve this and even what does good look like, when this person brings it back to me like what does good look like and if you can articulate that, then it's going to make it easier for that person to pick up and run with it and do the best job possible.
Jacqui: Yeah, totally. And I was just reflecting as you were talking there about when have I done it badly, as in, when have I not done a great job? And I think often I've not got it right when I've worked with someone for a long while, because I feel like there's a kind of understanding already, lots of other things I've delegated to them have gone really well.
And then I might delegate something new to them and just be “Oh, we're on the same page. Course we are”. And I think the important thing is not. that you get it right every time, but that you acknowledge that, that was me. I've delegated something to you without having the clarity for myself or without having communicated that properly to you.
And so it's that recognition that this is my responsibility. It's not that you've got it wrong with what you've done. It's the fact that I didn't express it fully. And I think you've just got to be kind to yourself when you do that. When you ask somebody to do something and then it doesn't go well, not only do you not beat them up, but don't beat yourself up for getting it wrong.
Just acknowledge, okay, hasn't gone perfectly first time, but that's fine. We are where we are next steps. And recognising it's your responsibility is really important, because again, I'm sure people resonate with that aspect of somebody delegating something to them, then going, oh no, you've done it wrong.
And you’re thinking “you didn't give me enough information to know that wasn't how you wanted it done”. So acknowledge that it's your responsibility, but then it's a case of, but it's not the end of the world. How do we move on? So don't beat yourself up about it. If you've done it and then you've realised, ah, I didn't quite do it perfectly.
Pam: Yeah. And it's okay to not get it right every single time. And I think so many people go into that mode of beating themselves up that it really restricts them and other people from learning from that as well.
Because as a leader, if you can demonstrate that you will own up when you've got it wrong, I think that's great for your team because you're impacting their future leadership traits. And I think it's a good thing to experience and for them to see you say, Oh, I didn't quite have the clarity, either let's work on it together. Or now we've got the clarity. Maybe it was a slightly different direction and I think that's okay, isn't it?
Jacqui: And sometimes the goalposts move and sometimes, other circumstances or situations get in the way. There's all kinds of reasons why. And like you say, it's just really important that it's okay, and now how do we move on?
Pam: Yeah, definitely. And if you do need to empower decision making as well within that delegation process, you know if you're handing something over to somebody, you do need to make sure that they've got the right resources in order to deliver and that they are empowered to make decisions. The last thing you want when you delegate stuff is for somebody to keep saying oh have you just got a minute have you just got a minute and they're literally checking every single detail with you because then there's no point delegating it if you're literally, working through every single stage.
It's okay if somebody is brand new to whatever it is you've delegated to them, but even then, you want to empower them to think for themselves, to make their own decisions, and, to just take hold of whatever you've delegated to them, and, try and deliver it, the best they possibly can.
Jacqui: And one of the things I talk to clients about with that is, If you've got something where the outcome is really important, then you maybe don't delegate that whole thing. You might still be able to delegate aspects or particular tasks within that overall thing.
But delegation can be a great developmental tool when you are focused on that person's learning more so than the outcome. And what's really important is to identify that you've got to be true to yourself. And if the outcome is really high risk, and if you are going to be stressing and panicking constantly, then it's a case of saying, okay, can I chunk it down?
If this is so important, then is it fair to somebody who is in that developmental space to ask them to do it because that could really knock their confidence if I'm asking them to do something that's beyond their capability, but by the same token people learn by being challenged.
Sometimes you've got to do things that are beyond your capability in order to get the learning so that the next time it's within your capability. And gauging and judging that is a real part of the art of delegation.
Pam: Yeah, definitely. And that covers the whole lead by example thing as well, doesn't it?
When you're showing that you're willing to delegate and go through that process and learn from that process and show other people how to do it, then that is going to set a really positive example. And I think it demonstrates trust in your team as well, doesn't it?
And, hopefully it creates better future leaders that can also delegate because as we said at the start like there's no specific training on delegation. I mean there's none that I ever did I just pretty much had to figure it out myself as I went through, and you know sometimes you do get it wrong and you think oh what did it why did I do that or why didn't I make sure I had the clarity? Sometimes it goes really well. The important thing is making sure that that learning is at the forefront and you will end up with a stronger team for it as well.