Fundamentals of Leadership - #3. Delegation
Give responsibility not just tasks...
The art of letting go, developing others and building a team that takes ownership.
Delegation is one of the most important skills a leader can develop — yet it is often one of the hardest to get right.
Done well, delegation reduces your workload, develops your team members and creates a more collaborative culture where responsibility is shared.
Done badly, it can feel like you've simply dumped a job on someone else.
The difference? Delegation isn't just about what you hand over. It's about how you hand it over.
What can you delegate?
Before you start delegating, take a step back and look at how you spend your time.
Try this simple exercise.
- Write down eight jobs you currently do.
- Mark the ones you are good at.
- Use a different symbol to identify the ones you enjoy.
- Identify which tasks are routine or repetitive.
- Cross out anything that genuinely only you can do.
Now look at what's left.
Are there tasks that someone else could take on with the right guidance? Are there opportunities for a team member to learn something new? Are you holding on to work because it's quicker to do it yourself?
That last question is worth considering.
Doing everything yourself might feel efficient in the short term, but it can limit the development of your team and leave you with little room to focus on your own priorities.
Your challenge: identify one task you could delegate this week.
Give responsibility, not just tasks
Once you've identified a task, the next step is to think about the person who could take it on.
Effective delegation needs more than a quick instruction and a deadline. It needs a structured plan that allows someone to grow into ownership.
Here's a simple approach:
1. Begin with the end in mind
Stephen Covey's principle from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a useful starting point.
Explain what success looks like and the bigger picture you're working towards. What are you trying to achieve? Why does it matter? You're not giving someone every step to follow. You're giving them the clarity to understand the destination.
2. Explain why you've chosen them
Tell them why you think they're the right person for the task. Perhaps it's an opportunity to build a skill, use an existing strength or gain experience. People are more likely to feel invested when they understand that you've thought about their development, not simply your own workload.
3. Provide the right support
Be clear about expectations, resources, authority and deadlines. Agree when you'll check in and what support they can access. The amount of guidance will depend on the individual, the task and their experience. Delegation doesn't mean leaving someone to work it all out alone.
4. Trust them to do it
Resist the temptation to dictate every step or take back control at the first sign of difficulty. Agree the outcome, provide support and give them room to find their own way of achieving it.
5. Review and develop
Discuss what went well, what could be improved and what they've learnt. Recognise their contribution and agree the next steps.
6. Transfer ownership
The ultimate goal is for the person to take responsibility for the task, rather than continually relying on you to make every decision. That is where delegation becomes a development tool, not simply a way of distributing work.
The driver or the passenger?
Delegation also requires a leader to understand their own relationship with responsibility.
In Monday Morning Leadership by David Cottrell, the character Jeff arrives late for a mentoring session and blames the weather and traffic.
His mentor, Tony, challenges him to think differently. There will always be rain, traffic and unexpected obstacles. What matters is how you respond — whether that's leaving earlier, finding another route or making a different plan.
It's a useful reminder that we can't always control what happens, but we can take responsibility for how we respond.
As a leader, it's easy to blame a lack of budget, competing priorities, changing circumstances or the actions of others.
Of course, these things can be genuine constraints. Taking responsibility doesn't mean pretending otherwise. It means recognising what you can influence and deciding what to do next.
I know this from running my own business. I can't control every market condition, but I can take responsibility for reviewing my products, adapting my services and finding ways to make them relevant to my clients.
The same applies when leading a team.
When something goes wrong, blame tends to keep the conversation focused on the past. Responsibility helps move it towards learning and future action.
And when you delegate, you need to be clear about where responsibility sits. Team members need the authority to make decisions within agreed boundaries, while leaders remain accountable for the environment, expectations and support they provide.
Delegation is not about abandoning responsibility. It's about sharing it in a way that helps people grow.
Don't forget the egg!
This is one of my favourite illustrations of how we can motivate people and encourage ownership.
In the 1950s, General Mills launched cake mixes under the Betty Crocker brand. The idea was simple: the powdered mix contained almost everything needed. You just added water, mixed it and put it in the oven.
It was convenient and straightforward, yet the product initially struggled to gain the expected popularity.
A commonly told account of the story is that consumer research identified a sense of guilt among some home bakers. The process felt almost too easy, and people wanted to feel they had contributed something themselves.
The solution was to change the recipe so that the baker had to add a fresh egg.
That small change gave people a role in the process. They weren't simply following instructions; they were contributing to the result.
The lesson for leaders is powerful.
When we give people a complete recipe, we may get compliance. When we give them the destination and invite their contribution, we create the opportunity for ownership.
Think about how you delegate a project.
Do you provide every detail, prescribe every step and expect the person to follow your instructions?
Or do you explain the outcome, set the boundaries and invite them to contribute their own ideas?
The egg is the space you leave for someone else to add their thinking.
You can use this principle in lots of ways:
- When delegating: Ask what ideas they would bring to the task.
- When leading a team: Invite people to shape the plan rather than simply receive it.
- When running meetings: Ask for suggestions before presenting your own solution.
- When developing people: Give them the opportunity to solve problems and make decisions.
- When reviewing a project: Explore what they would do differently next time.
Of course, some tasks require precise instructions, particularly where safety, compliance or established processes are involved. The egg isn't about giving people freedom where it isn't appropriate. It's about creating room for ownership wherever possible.
Your leadership challenge
This week, try three things.
- Identify one task you could delegate.
- Explain the outcome you want, why it matters and the support available.
- Ask the person taking it on: "What would you bring to this? How would you approach it?"
Then give them the space to contribute.
You might be surprised by what happens when you stop providing the whole cake mix and leave room for the egg.
Fundamentals of Leadership — practical nuggets to help you think differently about how you lead.
