Leaders, Stop Delegating!

I recently read a few articles about delegation, which started me reflecting on the term and its activity.

Here’s a Harvard Business Review article on delegation – https://hbr.org/2024/06/learning-to-delegate-as-a-first-time-manager

Here’s a post my friend Josh Anderson shared on the topic –

Delegate Until It Hurts

My wonderment is around—

Is delegation still an effective term or activity for managers and leaders?

Should we be talking about it?

Or is there something else to consider?

My thoughts

The title of Josh’s article is Delegate Until it Hurts, and I understand and agree with the spirit of his intent.

But I’m wondering if it’s still not enough. To me, delegation implies—

• I am the leader;

• I have a backlog of work and domain knowledge;

• I understand your skillset and capabilities (probably better than you do);

• I also understand the risks;

• Given that, I’ll appropriately decide and give (delegate) work to you;

• And, at the end, I’ll determine if you completed the work to my satisfaction, which will influence future delegations.

No matter how well-intentioned the leader is, I think this model is imbalanced towards the leader making the decisions. I’m wondering if there is a more relevant term and flow that better reflects more modern leadership. What about—co-working?

Co-working

• We are in this together as colleagues;

• We have a backlog of work and domain knowledge;

• We understand each other’s skills and capabilities;

• We also understand the risks;

• Given that, we’ll collaboratively decide who is best suited to do the work with a high-value customer outcome and one that increases overall team skill and capability;

• And in the end, we’ll all reflect on the completed work that met our criteria, which will influence future delegations.

Sure, the leader plays a significant role in all of this. However, I consider it more of a guide and mentoring role than a decider role.

Delegation Poker

While writing this article, I recalled Jurgen Appelo’s Delegation Poker tool from his Management 3.0 book. I’m now inspired to suggest another card, call it 7a or 8.

It would read— Explain Your Intent

Then—Agree with Everything (covered by your intent 😉

Channeling L. David Marquet and his Intent-based Leadership work.

Wrapping Up

What do you think about my reframe?

Should we retire the term delegation?

Is co-working the correct replacement? I’m unsure, but I’m at a loss for a better replacement. I’ll delegate to you readers to consider and offer better terminology.

Stay agile, my friends,

Bob.