Master effective delegation: Tips for business success

For a finance professional who is an expert in their field, it might feel counterintuitive to pass off work to others in their team. However, delegation is a key capability in the workplace, especially for newly promoted managers who are mastering a new management skill set.

“We only have so many hours in a day,” says leadership expert Scott Stein, author of Leadership Hacks. “A manager is responsible for more tasks than they can accomplish on their own, so if they don’t delegate, they have to work more and more hours and risk burning out.”

Staff suffer in this situation, too. A manager who fails to delegate gives their team fewer opportunities to stretch and grow.

As a result, Stein says, staff can grow bored. “There’s a lot of lost productivity and staff engagement when delegation doesn't occur.”

Why don't leaders delegate?

Many leaders believe they don’t have time to delegate.

“That’s a myth,” Stein says. “The belief is ‘By the time I explain how to perform the task, I could have done it myself.’

This is true if it’s a one-off, but if it’s a task that has to be done repeatedly and is going to build somebody else’s skill set, it’s worth the investment of time.”

A refusal to delegate could also signify a leader lacks trust in their team or hasn’t learnt the principles of effective delegation.

“Many leaders don’t know how to do it. It’s not taught in schools or universities, or even in a lot of corporate education,” Stein says.

Leadership expert Emma Campbell says most leaders are aware they need to delegate. “They know it is important, they know they need to get things off their plate, but they still don’t do it — and the question is: why?”

She believes it comes down to mindset.

“Often, [leaders are] held back by limiting beliefs such as ‘I’m too busy to delegate,’ or ‘No one will do it as well as me’.”

The solution lies in switching the narrative. “Choose new, more empowering beliefs, such as ‘The more that I delegate, the more time that I have,’ or ‘The more that I let go, the more my business grows’,” she says.

“When we start to anchor into a new mindset, we can take steps forward.”

The loose-tight approach

Campbell recommends approaching delegation strategically.

“Not all tasks are created equally,” she says, calling on the Pareto principle, which states that 80 per cent of outcomes come from 20 per cent of inputs. “It’s about understanding what tasks I can master that make the biggest impact and learning how to delegate the rest.”

Once a manager has determined what tasks to delegate, Campbell recommends following the “loose–tight approach”.

“What that means is being tight on the outcome that you want achieved and loose on how you get there,” she explains. This method is an effective way to use delegation to build a team’s capabilities.

“We’re able to empower our team to use their unique strengths to achieve the outcome, rather than feeling like we’re standing over the top of them, micromanaging,” she says.

Managers who are still getting to know their team can be more explicit in their requests for help. “A manager can say to the team, ‘For this project, I need someone who has incredible organisational skills, a great eye for detail and who loves an Excel spreadsheet’ and ask people to volunteer based on what their strengths are,” Campbell says.

“There are lots of different ways you can go about it, depending on how well you know your team and how capable and experienced they are.”

The four levels of delegation

In his book Leadership Hacks, Stein divides delegation into four levels. At level one, a manager performs the task without delegating; while at level four, the complete task or project is handed over with little direction or oversight.

“The biggest mistake is delegating at the wrong level,” Stein says. 

“Most people should start at level two, where the manager sits down with their report, and they look at the task together.” At level two, the manager offers a degree of guidance, helping to map out a plan about how the task will be approached and scheduling check-ins along the way.

“The employee can see exactly what you want them to do, and they know the order and the timeframe you want them to do it in,” Stein says.

The level of delegation increases with experience. At levels three and four, the report has more autonomy.

“The goal is to go to level four, where you say, ‘Can you do this?’, and you know they have the project-management skills to identify what they’re going to do, what order they’re going to do it in and how to check in with you around timeframe.”

Show, don't tell

Stein says a common error is to take a high-handed approach to delegation.

“Telling people what to do doesn’t engage people. It’s not about a tell; it should be a show and an ask.” In practice, that means presenting a task, asking for help and sharing ideas about the best way to undertake it.

“It’s about working with people to engage them, rather than dictating. That’s the mistake many people make when they’re new to the role of supervisor or manager — they think, ‘I’m going to tell them what to do, and because I’m in a position of authority, they’ll do it’,’’ Stein says.

“Great leaders and managers are the ones that delegate — but they work with their people.”