To Delegate or Not to Delegate

As a leader, you cannot simply offload tasks, nor can you hold onto too much work if you want your team to work efficiently and effectively.?

It’s a fine balance between releasing the reins, whilst maintaining enough oversight to ensure alignment with the overall goals. As market forces become ever more competitive, modern delegation practices have to keep up. So, how can you delegate in a way that really makes a difference, not just to your time but to your team’s growth?

In the words of Theodore Roosevelt,

`The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.’

To think he uttered those words well over 100 years ago highlights how the fundamentals of leadership are still as relevant today as they were then. However, as technology has developed, so too have the unique challenges for leaders, like remote or hybrid working - a cultural shift unlikely to change any time soon. The old ways of delegating by passing on tasks with no structure, has become less impactful. Instead leaders are embracing the right software to ensure their teams are aligned, engaged and motivated.

In Agile, we talk a lot about empowering teams, but I’ve found that many leaders are caught in the weeds, struggling to let go. So, are you really trusting your team, or just micromanaging from a distance? And is your involvement pushing them forward, or pulling them back?Clarity and feedback are vital for stay on track, exploring new opportunities, and ultimately achieving ggoals. This blog explores how to master delegation to accelerate your project success.?

Tools & Technologies - How to use with caution

One of the great things about technology is the ability to track tasks so you're not constantly chasing colleagues in person or via the phone. Tools like Asana, Slack, Trello, and Microsoft Teams are well-established and great for connecting teams online. Task management can run more smoothly, and team members can be kept accountable for their workload.?

The problems can arise when too many tasks or chats roll simultaneously, so keeping things organised and ensuring you're using the tools most effectively and efficiently is critical. Repetitive tasks can be automated, and dashboards can give you an overview of progress, so you feel less of a need to micromanage. When it comes to remote working you do need to be extra precise, because there is no room for ambiguity. Focus on clarity of communication instead of spoonfeeding colleague. There’s no right way to run remote teams, however we’ve found structuring quick chats/updates/check-ins helps both sides by providing an opportunity for the `corridor chats’ that are missed.??

Agile way of working can easily translate to an online environment by encouraging transaprency, flexibility and adaptability, so teams feel empowered to complete and adjust tasks as needed. The right set of tools and processes genuinely helps teams deliver faster and more efficiently, but intention matters. Don’t make the mistake of using tools to cold monitor work output. That would make anyone feel controlled and push work into box ticking approach, which may not lead to the best results. Embrace technology as a way to keep your remote colleagues online and visible and aligned, but understand that as in the office, there’s always curve balls that are outside of your control.?

These tools also provide real-time data to help you delegate based on performance rather than assumptions, while allowing your team to self-manage their workloads independently. Striking this balance is a must with remote working being a norm in some companies - it all relies on transparency. You can also use tracking tools to mentor and develop your team through the opportunity to identify common obstacles or roadblocks to sign-off’s. Spotting patterns and providing support around those problems is even more important when you can’t be there in person to offer direct support.

A Framework - When and What to Delegate

I’ve seen leaders who cling to tasks as if they’re life rafts - the result, being dragged down while the stress is rising.

Evaluate:

1. What needs to be achieved within the next few months?
2. What can the team do?
3. What can I do?

Much of what you need to deal with could be done by a senior member of the team, which not only helps you but also helps them develop into future leaders. So here, it’s about taking a moment to reflect, think about the strengths within your team and giving the right people the right responsibilities, which should ideally be based on their skill set and not their seniority. Why? Because sometimes your number two may have less insight than the person on the ground researching your target audience.

Be honest and realistic about what your team can achieve. To delegate involves aligning responsibilities, goals and resources with realistic expectations. If the team is overworked with everything being flagged as urgent with tight deadlines, you’ll often receive the opposite - failed delivery. Instead, focus on the truly urgent tasks then gradually filter through the other work. If you want to get it all out there, use your online software and mark tasks with deadlines and priority. Remember, your team are the experts and know the details so they might be better equipped to filter information and update tracking tools.

Consider mixing up tasks when delegating. You might have someone great at process-driven tasks, but I'm sure they don't always want to be swamped in admin-heavy work. Maybe they have another skill you could draw upon that would keep them motivated and inspired. You want to delegate tasks that help you succeed as a team, so the company flourishes and each individual within it has the opportunity to grow professionally.

Reverse Delegation: When to Push Back and Reclaim Control

Self-Belief

Reverse delegation can be challenging when people push tasks back to you because they lack confidence to do it themselves. Sometimes, this is the side effect of a high-pressured and judgmental culture. To target the source, create an environment that encourages idea sharing, connection, and transparency. As part of this, your role as a leader is to build self-belief in your team and guide them in making measured decisions and calculated risks.?

Here’s some tips to get started in building teams self-belief:

• Demonstrate vulnerability - share your own decision-making process and normalise risk taking.
• Make measured decisions - guide your team in taking calculated risks through clear frameworks, e.g. risk assessments or scenario planning.
• Stretch capabilities - delegate tasks that push indidivuals while supporting through coaching, mentorship and guidance.?
• Encourage independence - reduce reverse delegation by empowering your team to work more proactively becoming more self-sufficient.

Communication

Remote work can have the side effect of increasing reverse delegation because of the need for clarity, so it's essential to pinpoint each project's roles and responsibilities. This may take a little longer than firing out a quick email, but if you break it down into manageable sprints, be precise and make it clear who is accountable, then it will reduce the risk of reverse delegation.

Expectations

Sometimes, even with the best approach, some colleagues won't put themselves out there to commit to the finished product, so you need to find a way to push things back without being too harsh. Support them in figuring it out themselves, but make the boundaries clear so they don’t burden you with the details. Leaders often get pulled into the company's nuts and bolts, but that isn't the best use of their time. Reverse delegation feeds into a sign-off nightmare, back and forth, and basically slows down progress.?

Effect

By coaching a team that isn't fearful of challenges, you are helping to build resilience and a feeling that they can learn and solve the day-to-day problems between themselves or by themself without pulling you into the decision-making.?

Ultimately, if you're hit by reverse delegation every week, not only will it prevent your team from developing and being genuinely accountable for their actions, but it could also lead to your own burnout, so think carefully about how you can manage these situations wisely by setting frameworks where ownership is clear. If certain colleagues struggle, this may be an opportunity to identify areas where they need to upskill.???

The Emotional Intelligence Behind Effective Delegation

It's also worth considering that delegation isn't just about the tasks but also about how your team feels about their work. Leaders with high emotional intelligence can sense when a colleague feels overwhelmed or disengaged. This signals that they need to adjust the tasks to ensure they get the best out of that person. That doesn’t mean removing ownership to make things easier for them, it simply means working in a more agile way so that their workload is broken down into manageable tasks. Knowing when it's time to step in and support colleagues is an integral part of leadership and delegation.?

As we’ve spoken about, you'll be able to see through the project management software dashboard how long it’s taking colleagues to complete specific tasks. If you feel they are wasting time on a particular action, maybe they need more guidance from you or another person from the team. Delegate the task, then adjust based on the findings on how productive a person is in completing that action. If you ignore the emotional cues and stats in front of you, this can fall into reverse delegation. In this sense, empathy will not only help engage your team but also help them be more productive.

Guiding without overstepping

In Agile, we talk about the beauty of self-organising teams, but that doesn’t mean stepping away entirely. Like flying a kite, sometimes you need to pull the string, sometimes you let it go. Are you sensing when your team needs that extra bit of guidance? Are you paying attention to the emotional cues that could tell you when someone’s struggling?

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Effective delegation is a vital part of modern leadership because how you delegate shapes your team's performance and if done correctly, reduces the reverse delegation. Leaders who delegate well create stronger and more resilient teams that can take on the challenges of today and be resilient for the future.?