When Delegating Too Much Becomes a Problem

Many give lip service, but few delegate authority in important matters. And that means all they delegate is dog-work. A real leader does as much dog-work for his people as he can: he can do it, or see a way to do without it, ten times as fast. And he delegates as many important matters as he can because that creates a climate in which people grow.

that means it is probably transferable. Leadership demands that you move it down the organizational tree. If there is a known path of the work, and it is repetitive, it can probably be taught. And if someone else can be taught to do it, it might be time to delegate that work, so that you can get back to doing what only you can do: lead.

Because successful delegation involves an appropriate level of knowledge and trust, one should start with easy, noncritical tasks and work toward delegating more complex, higher-level tasks.

MASTERING DELEGATION You MUST master this difficult skill. To delegate effectively, here’s the seven-step process. 1. Define what is to be done. 2. Be certain the delegatee understands what is to be done. 3. Explain why it is to be done as you are prescribing it to be done.

managers who over-delegate are likely not close enough to the team’s work, and therefore risk critical failures that result from assigning work that the team is not equipped to handle without support.