Delegate to Grow Capacity

In my training sessions, I often ask leaders to define delegation.  Many say that it’s giving work away to someone else, or it’s freeing up your own time, or it’s distributing workload across the team.  Only a few of them talk about delegation as an opportunity to grow their team.

And while delegation certainly does create time, the psychology behind delegation suggests something much more important: great delegation develops people.

When you hold onto work because it's faster, easier, or safer to do it yourself, you often unintentionally limit the growth of your team. Every task you hang onto is a learning opportunity someone else doesn't get to have.  It’s also an unspoken message to your team that you don’t trust them to do the work.

I see too many managers who are overwhelmed, not because they have too much work, but because they keep taking work back, or continue doing work that someone else could learn to do.

My experience is that most delegation challenges are psychological rather than operational. Leaders often think:

• "It will take me longer to explain than to do it myself."

• "They won’t do it as well as I do."

• "If they make a mistake, I'll be responsible."

• "My team is already busy."

• "I don't want to burden anyone."

• “This is the part of the job I like doing.”

• “I’m supposed to do it; if I don’t, people will think I’m slacking.”

These concerns are understandable, but they are often rooted in short-term thinking.  Doing the task yourself may save thirty minutes today, but teaching someone else to do it may save hundreds of hours over the next several years.

Delegation is an investment strategy, not a time management strategy.

Organizational psychologists have long studied a concept called psychological ownership, the feeling that a project, process, or outcome is "mine."  (Just think about that stapler on your desk.  It feels like it’s yours, but really it belongs to your company.)  Employees develop stronger commitment, accountability, and engagement when they have meaningful ownership over their work and can see their own contribution reflected in the outcome.

(I once remember coaching a leader who hoped his employee would "act more like an owner" while he was simultaneously making all the decisions for them.  It didn’t work so well.)

To generate a feeling of ownership, you need to delegate effectively, which means not only delegating the execution but also the decision-making authority, and communicating the employee’s ownership of the task.  (This also means that when someone comes to you for an update on the task, you don’t provide it.  You redirect them to the new owner to reinforce their ownership.)

Imagine the difference:  Your boss comes to you and says, “Please update this spreadsheet by Friday."  You’ll likely update the spreadsheet using the same process you’ve always used, even though it’s clunky and inefficient.  Instead, imagine your boss said, “Our goal is to improve our reporting process. I'd like you to determine the best approach and bring me your recommendation by Friday."

One creates activity.  The other creates investment.

Another valuable concept is also at play here.  Self-Determination Theory, one of the most widely researched theories of motivation, suggests that people are most engaged when three psychological needs are met:

• Autonomy: having choice and influence over work

• Mastery: feeling capable, effective, and ever-improving

• Purpose: feeling connected to a larger purpose and team

How can you employ these when delegating?  You create autonomy by allowing people discretion in how they accomplish work, mastery through challenge and skill development, and purpose by communicating trust: I believe you can do this, and your contribution matters here. Research consistently links these factors with stronger motivation, engagement, and well-being at work.

When I delegate, I try to remember to tell the employee why they’re being given the task.  In the task handoff, I include a line that says, “I chose this project for you because…”  If it’s a task that will grow them toward their next role, I say so.  And if it’s a task that calls on their unique expertise, I state that.  (If they’re the only one on my team and I have no choice, I do not mention that.)

This kind of whole-task delegation only works if you fully trust your employee to take on the task and own it.  If you don’t have that faith in your employee, check out this video for options other than full delegation.