The inability of leaders to delegate is one of the most significant blockers in workforce productivity & in making change happen. So I appreciated this new article by
@RoFernn that offers a refreshing perspective & practical actions.
Teams often donβt see the pressure that their leaders carry. Leaders fear that if something goes wrong, it will ultimately fall back on them. Thatβs why delegation feels risky: when we delegate, we can no longer control every action or thought. We can only have influence. The shift from control to influence triggers more fear.
Most leaders donβt struggle with delegation because they donβt know they should delegate. They struggle with the daily symptoms of not delegating. The core problem is often a lack of clarity, trust & good processes. But because leaders are constantly firefighting, they rarely get the chance to step back & see it.
Effective delegation focuses leaders on controlling what they can control: providing examples of what good looks like; leading by example - creating shadowing & learning opportunities; continuously improving clarity; designing systems with built-in visibility so fewer status meetings are needed & setting clear principles & fair rules.
What actions can we take to enable both oversight (direction/control) & autonomy (delegation)?
1) Define the outcome & success criteria: donβt tell people how to do something - make the βwhatβ crystal clear
2) Create visibility without micromanagement: build check-ins, dashboards & visual cues
3) Systematise autonomy: Build templates, process checks & decision prompts so teams can act effectively without leader presence
4) Multiply effort with repeatable systems: delegation through systems (templates, shared steps, clear rules) supports sustainable delegation
5) Use the βFive levels of delegationβ to build autonomy: The author suggest using the
@MichaelHyatt model to work out where current levels of delegation are & how people can move up stages as capability & systems improve
Article:
medium.com/@rociofernn/the-bβ¦
The Michael Hyatt "levels of delegation" model:
fullfocus.co/the-five-levelsβ¦
Graphic via
@hosseini_samira