The Art of Clear Delegation: More Than Just Handing Off Tasks

Delegation is one of those managerial skills that sounds straightforward but often goes a little sideways in practice. The problem is often lack of clarity on what's being delegated - the work, the responsibility for the outcome, or both.

Junior managers, especially, might find themselves in a bind here, often because they haven't been taught how to delegate. They hand off a project but stay deeply involved, hovering over decisions and unintentionally micromanaging. This not only frustrates the person taking on the work who might feel they have no real room to lead but it also does not free the manager from still having the project on their minds. The whole point of delegating is to lighten the managerial load and empower others, which doesn't happen in the situation I just described, leaving everyone frustrated.

Sometimes it's the individual contributor that doesn't know how to properly accept the delegation. The two most common cases I've seen are either a person who is happy to do the work and leaves decision making to the manager, or someone who believes that involving their manager is considered failure and doesn't communicate properly, forcing the manager to step in.

The solution is open and explicit communication. When you delegate, say, “I trust you not only to do this work but also to make the decisions that come with it.” And if you’re the one receiving the task without enough clarification, ask, “Am I responsible for the final outcomes here, or should I run all decisions by you?”

Going beyond the simplistic direction above, it's usually advised to have a handoff process, which can take the form of a document, or a meeting. I would advise to go through the following points:

• Review of context - why are we doing this, what are the goals, how does this project fit in the bigger picture, who is interested and should be informed or consulted, similar past projects and their learnings, etc.
• Discussing some likely scenarios that might arise, how to think about them, what decisions would each one take, etc.
• Setting a deadline, as well as checkpoint milestones.
• General expectations on progress reports, escalation scenarios, etc. Clear delegation means everyone knows what they’re owning, it gives room for growth for the individual contributor and frees up capacity and mindshare for the manager.