Delegation Mini Series: Part I: Delegation - What is Delegation?

Let’s start with the dictionary definition of delegation: 

entrusting a task or responsibility to another person, typically one who is less senior than oneself.

When startup leaders think about delegation they tend to think either about the micro: the act of giving tasks to someone else to do or the macro: distributing responsibilities to other (and often new) individuals/teams as a way to scale. And there is often a self-orientation element to this as well: “As a leader/manager I delegate so that I don’t have to do it/think about it and that frees me up to focus on higher-impact tasks/responsibilities.” This frame is accurate, to a point, but it is also limited in that it skips over other aspects or nuances of the practice. 

Delegation, as a management practice, contains a lot more nuance than just giving a person or a team tasks to do. And since the way you frame or define delegation will influence how you approach it--here are some other frames you might consider: 

1 - Delegation is giving up short-term control to get something else you value more in the medium- or long-term. The #1 way you will get in your own way when delegating is if you aren’t self-aware about your unique emotional needs for control. When you’re not tracking that psychological barrier, then you may fail to regulate the emotions that arise when you confront situations where you are giving up some level of control over something you care about. Do you have an accurate sense of your orientation towards control? Do you understand how that orientation has served you historically and how/where/when it gets in your way? Learning to “let go” can actually be quite psychologically demanding for humans. There’s nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about. (I coach leaders on these topics every week, and yet I still struggle with giving up control in my own business at times.) But in order to delegate well (or at all) you have to learn how to confront the fear and discomfort of giving up control. I’ve found that’s one of the hardest aspects to delegating and it requires intentional practice to overcome the wiring in your brain that will otherwise cling to control. One thing that can help overcome short-term discomfort is if you keep a longer-term perspective front-and-center. “I am giving up control over X and that feels hard now, but what I will eventually get in return is: freedom, focus, seeing my team/product/company/impact scale, etc.” 

2 - Delegation is an act of risk-taking that is necessary for growth. When you are the leader or manager, delegation is a form of risk-taking because you are ultimately responsible for what happens with your team/company. In order to grow and scale, delegation is a risk that is necessary to take, but it’s still a risk. Do you know what your psychology around risk-taking is in general? How do you tend to respond to your own fear?  Do you tend to be too afraid and cautiously retain control for too long? Or are you not afraid enough and “over-delegate” without clarifying expectations or training/supporting someone to successfully complete the task? Knowing what your psychological tendencies are around risk-taking will help you take a more intentional and less reflexive approach to delegation. 

3 - Delegation is non-binary. Delegation isn’t something you do (“Do this task.”) or don’t do (“I do this myself.”). In practice, delegation spans a spectrum of “delegation levels” -- which you can delve into understanding in more detail here. Using a levels framework injects more clarity into your delegation dynamic with another person or team. Even with the same person, you can be operating at multiple levels across different tasks/responsibilities. And the levels aren’t set once and left fixed. You will mostly likely want them to evolve over time holding only a few limits constant. If you have any psychological tendencies towards bi-modal or black/white thinking, this element of delegation practice may be harder for you to internalize and act on--but it’s critical to blow up any binary models in your head in order to delegate effectively. 

4 - Delegation is an integrated part of your overall management system. As with any system, there is interdependence. Your ability to delegate well will be limited without: effective hiring, clear expectations, iterative feedback, and intentional training. And your ability to do those other management practices and get the most output from your investment in those areas will hinge on your ability to delegate effectively. (i.e., you can hire someone great and train them well, but if you don’t delegate well, they won’t deliver as much value as they could.) So, if you want to improve at delegating, it may help to take a systems-level view and examine if the place to start for you is actually in your hiring or performance management practices. 

5 - Delegation has the potential to create freedom. My sense is that this frame is the “dream” for startup leaders. It sounds like this in your head: “If I can delegate X successfully, that frees me up to spend more energy and attention in an area that is more important for the company and more engaging for me.” And delegation, when done well, over time, can create that freedom for you. But what many startup leaders miss is how delegation can also create the “challenge of freedom” for the people to whom tasks or responsibilities are being delegated.  (I am borrowing that term “challenge of freedom” from Tannenbaum & Schmidt, the OD researchers whose work in the 1950s is the underpinning of the “delegation levels” concept.)

When you delegate tasks or responsibilities to others, you are giving them the “challenge of freedom.” That invitation--that challenge--has the potential to increase: motivation, buy-in, personal & professional growth, team morale and productivity. These are all good things you most likely want in your team. But it’s not a guarantee. It depends on whether you are able to delegate well.