Elevating Your Reach: The Sophisticated Skill of Delegation

When you look at successful people like Henry Ford or Steve Jobs, you’ll notice they weren’t doing every single little thing themselves. So, why are you trying to? The secret to getting more done and focusing on the big picture is learning how to delegate effectively.

As you move up in your career, delegation becomes super important. It’s not just a perk of being in charge; it’s a smart way to get the most out of your efforts. Think of it like investing: you put in a small amount (like a down payment on a house) to control something much bigger and get a huge return later. In the same way, when you delegate, you’re using your precious time and energy strategically to achieve far more than you could on your own.

Some people misunderstand delegation, mistaking it for simply dumping work they don’t like on others. While it can be satisfying to offload tedious tasks, the real goal is to leverage yourself. Unfortunately, not everyone gets this. You’ve probably had a manager who micromanaged everything, adding little value while making everyone miserable. That’s the opposite of effective delegation.

So, what stops us from delegating properly? Often, it’s things like:

• Believing you can do the job better than anyone else.
• Not being clear about what a successful outcome looks like, making it hard to explain the task.
• Reluctance to let go of tasks you actually enjoy.
• Poor planning, meaning you don’t think ahead and end up with no one available to help.
• A fear of becoming redundant if others learn your job.
• Worrying about piling too much work on your team.

These feelings can make delegation seem tricky, leading us to believe it’s better to just do everything ourselves. But if you look at any truly successful person, whether in business or sports, they almost never do everything alone. They understand that empowering their team is the best use of their energy.

Take David Beckham, for example. When I saw him play soccer, what truly amazed me wasn’t his goal-scoring, but his incredible ability to pass the ball. He could spot opportunities and find open teammates, making the entire team better. By strategically passing, he amplified his own impact. Delegating is like that: when you do it well, you make everyone around you more effective, and together, you achieve much more.

On the flip side, not delegating limits what you can achieve. You cap your output at only what you can physically do yourself. But it’s worse than just lost productivity. As a manager, refusing to delegate can lead to several problems:

• Burnout: Your responsibilities grow as you advance. Trying to handle everything yourself is a fast track to exhaustion.
• Getting Bogged Down: If you’re constantly stuck in minor details, you can’t step back and see the bigger picture, which is crucial for leadership.
• Ignoring Important Work: If you’re busy with day-to-day tasks, you won’t have the time or energy for critical, high-level challenges that truly need your attention.
• Demotivating Your Team: If your direct reports feel you don’t trust them to do a good job, they become disengaged. How would Beckham’s team feel if he always tried to score every goal himself?

If I’ve convinced you that delegation is a good idea, let’s talk about how to do it well. It’s a skill that takes practice, but these tips can help:

1. Do Only What Only You Can Do: When deciding what to delegate, first figure out what only you can handle. As you move higher up, your focus should shift to fewer, more important tasks like strategic planning, high-value projects, or managing key clients. These are things your team can’t do yet because they lack the specific skills, knowledge, or authority. Everything else? Delegate it. Even if you think you can do a routine task better, it’s not a good reason to keep it. You’re a manager now; your time is best spent on bigger issues.

2. Invest Time Upfront for Future Gains: At first, you might feel that training someone to do a task takes more time than just doing it yourself. But think long-term. If you invest in teaching your employee well now, you’ll reap the rewards down the road. Yes, you might need to guide them closely at the beginning, but they’ll improve, and eventually, you won’t have to worry about that task at all.

3. Provide a Clear Vision of Success: One of the biggest keys to successful delegation is clearly explaining what a good outcome looks like. It’s not enough to just say "do this." Explain the project’s background, its purpose, and what makes a job well done. The more context and "why" you provide, the more motivated and effective your team member will be. This also gives them a chance to suggest even better ways of doing things. Always be specific about deadlines. Vague expectations lead to vague results. For complex projects, it helps to create a simple, one-page brief outlining:

   • Background: Any important context.
   • Objectives: What needs to be achieved, including measurable goals.
   • Execution Ideas: Suggestions on how to approach the task.
   • Resources: Materials, departments, or people they should consult.
   • Deliverables: Exactly what you expect (e.g., spreadsheet, report, video).
   • Deadlines: When it’s due, and any interim milestones or review points.

4. Set Up Check-ins and Controls: Just because you’ve trained someone doesn’t mean you can completely step away. The responsibility is still yours. Set up natural points throughout the project to check in and offer guidance. For quick tasks, you might not need many, but for anything significant, regular input prevents them from going off track and wasting time. These check-ins could be quick chats, email updates, or being kept in the loop on communications. Your goal isn’t to catch mistakes but to help remove barriers and provide resources. If they’re struggling with another department or a difficult client, you can step in to smooth things over.

5. Put On Your Oxygen Mask First: In an ideal world, you’d only do what only you can do. In reality, you might still need to help with lower-level tasks if your team is stretched thin. But as a general rule, your team should be working at full capacity before you take on their tasks. This helps you maintain perspective and lead from a higher level. Like the airplane safety instruction to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others, you need to preserve your judgment and stay clear-headed. Your good decisions can be amplified through delegation, but so can your poor ones if you’re not careful. This doesn’t mean being a slacker; it means relying on your team so you can always be a leader, not just another "doer."

6. Use Delegation as a Mentorship Opportunity: As your team members get more comfortable, gradually give them more freedom and autonomy. Challenge them with higher-level projects to help them build confidence and new skills. As long as you maintain key check-in points, you can assign increasingly difficult tasks. People are usually more motivated when they have ownership over their work. They might be nervous at first, but with your trust and support as a safety net, they’ll often rise to the occasion.

Delegating offers an unexpected bonus: it gives you a fresh perspective on your own work. When you start delegating, you’re forced to break down tasks into manageable steps. This process can make even the tasks you keep for yourself less stressful and more efficient. Suddenly, a daunting project becomes a clear series of steps with a well-defined goal. Whenever I face a complicated project, I ask myself, "How would I delegate this to someone else?" This simple question instantly clarifies the necessary steps and highlights any missing information.

What if you don’t have a team, working for yourself or in a non-corporate setting? You can still delegate. Many online services allow you to outsource tasks or even entire projects, giving you the benefits of an assistant or team without a full-time hire. Think about platforms like Upwork or Fiverr for project-based work, or services like Magic for small, text-based tasks. For personal life tasks that consume your time, services like Handy or TaskRabbit can handle things like cleaning, laundry, or odd jobs, freeing you up for what truly matters.

Delegation might feel awkward at first, especially if you’re a new manager. But don’t let that stop you. Keep practicing these tips, and it will become second nature. You’ll be grateful you learned how to truly leverage yourself. You are no longer limited by what you can do alone; now, the only boundaries to your success are how high you dare to aim.