How do you delegate effectively?

Question

Accepted Answer

Effective delegation is **handing over ownership of outcomes, with the right level of support, not just offloading tasks**. The goal is to grow people and free your own time — not to dump work.

## Match support to readiness

```text
DELEGATION SPECTRUM (by the person's readiness for THIS task)
TELL       → "Do X this way" (new, high-risk)
GUIDE      → "Here's the goal; check the approach with me"
DELEGATE   → "You own this; flag if you need me"
EMPOWER    → "This is yours end to end"
```

## Do it well

- **Delegate the outcome, not the method.** Say what "done" looks like, then let them choose the how.
- **Be available, not hovering.** Set check-ins instead of monitoring constantly.
- **Let them do it differently** — and tolerate it not being how you would have done it.

## Pitfalls

- **Micromanaging** after delegating, which destroys ownership and trust.
- **Delegating only boring work** and keeping the interesting stuff for yourself.
- **Abdicating** — handing off something high-risk with no support and being shocked when it fails.

## Why it matters

Delegation is how you scale beyond yourself and how your people grow.

A manager who cannot delegate becomes the bottleneck and a ceiling on the team.

It also signals trust.

Giving someone real ownership of something that matters is one of the strongest growth and retention moves you have.