Who it's for
An owner who remains the business's chief dispatcher, and a manager to whom everything keeps coming back.
Key idea
What gets delegated is the right to make decisions within set limits. A single action isn't enough. Without limits, the task will simply come back later.
Contents
- Five levels of handover
- What has to be handed over along with the task
- Why tasks come back
- Rhythm instead of control
- What to do this week
Take the self-assessment
An owner says, "I delegated, but I still end up deciding everything myself." Behind that phrase there's almost always the same structure: the person was handed the work, but the decision stayed with the owner. In that setup, the task coming back is the logical result.
Principle
If a task needs your approval to be done, you haven't delegated it. You've hired someone to carry out your will and added an approval step for yourself.
Five levels of handover
Delegation isn't binary. It's a scale, and almost all management conflict arises because the manager and the employee are at different points on it without having said so.
- 01
1. Do it as instructed
The decision has been made; the execution is handed over. Appropriate for a new person and for irreversible operations. This isn't delegation. It's instruction.
- 02
2. Gather the information, I'll decide
Data gathering is handed over. Useful when the cost of an error is high and the context is complex. The danger is getting stuck here forever.
- 03
3. Propose options with a recommendation
The first real level: the person thinks, you choose. This is where management maturity starts to grow.
- 04
4. Decide yourself, tell me before you act
The decision belongs to the employee; you keep a veto. The main working mode for a strong team.
- 05
5. Decide and act, report on the result
A full handover within set limits. Only possible where there's a measurable result and an agreed level of risk.
A practical technique: when you assign any significant task, say the level number out loud. It takes five seconds and removes most future conflicts about responsibility.
What has to be handed over along with the task
A task without these four elements will come back to you: it's physically impossible to finish, whatever anyone's willingness.
- A definition of done: what "done" looks like. Not "improve conversion," but "conversion from lead to meeting is measured weekly and exceeds X."
- Decision limits: what the person can decide on their own regarding money, deadlines, people and deviations from the standard. A limit is stated as a number.
- Access to resources: data, budget, people's time. Responsibility without access is a trap.
- The right to make a mistake of a certain size: what kind of mistake counts as a normal price for independence. If the answer is "none," there won't be any independence.
Diagnostic sign
If an employee keeps asking "what's the right way," the problem is almost never their lack of initiative. The problem is that the criterion for "right" exists only in your head.
Why tasks come back
There's a mechanism William Oncken described: the monkey on your back. An employee comes with a problem, the manager says "let me think about it," and at that moment responsibility shifts back. Formally, the task is the employee's. In practice, the next step is the manager's.
The antidote is simple and uncomfortable: never take the next step for yourself. Answer with a question: "Which option do you propose, and what's stopping you from carrying it out?" In the first weeks this slows the work down. After a month, the flow of tasks coming back drops.
A manager whose tasks all move fast is usually the bottleneck of their own company.
Rhythm instead of control
Delegation doesn't work without feedback, but feedback shouldn't mean constant supervision. What you need is a rhythm: fixed points where results and deviations are discussed.
Horizon What gets discussed What doesn't get discussed
Week Deviations from the plan, stalled decisions, whether help is needed Exactly how the person does the work
Month The result on the metric, the quality of decisions and their outcome Individual tasks
Quarter The limits of authority: expand, narrow or keep them Past mistakes without conclusions
It's worth discussing the quality of a decision separately, not just its outcome. A good decision with a bad result is a normal risk. A bad decision with a good result is a future problem.
Related service: Management System
When the entire management system needs to be rebuilt.
Related service: KPIs for Business
If a definition of done can't be formulated because there's no measurable picture.
What to do this week
Questions to ask yourself
Take three tasks that came back to you over the past month
- 01 At which of the five levels did you hand them over, and at which level did the employee understand them?
- 02 Was the definition of done stated as a number or an event?
- 03 Which decision limit could the person cross on their own? Name an amount or a deadline.
- 04 At what point did you take the next step back for yourself?
- 05 What mistake in this task would have been an acceptable price for independence?
Materials that continue the topic
- A sales team that doesn't depend on one person
- Readiness to scale: 24 checks
