There comes a point for every business owner and leader when they have to admit, no matter how hard it is, that they can't do everything, and they can’t know everything. They know they'll have to delegate some responsibilities if they want their organisation to grow, scale and move ahead with increasing pace.

The ultimate goal for every business owner and leader is to only do what only you can do, which means you must stop trying to do everything and stop doing all the things you shouldn’t be doing. I’ve written more about only doing what only you can do here.

Delegation isn’t an exciting word.

The topic of delegation makes most people groan, it’s something we all know we need to do and get better at, yet most people don’t really know what it means beyond giving tasks to others. 

Delegation, when done right, is a leadership development strategy.

Leadership development is not about sitting is a classroom every Tuesday morning, attending a workshop or going on a course. It’s about demonstrating leadership skills to others to empower them to become better leaders than you or I. When delegation is done right, it really is a leadership strategy because you find out quickly who are the responsible leaders and who you can trust with increasing responsibility.

As leaders, and by leaders, I mean everyone with a leadership role which includes you even if you are just leading yourself, we often get stuck because we know how we want things done and we know when we want things done. And because we are responsible by nature, the idea of handing over responsibility is not intuitive. Refusing or denying your duty to hand over responsibility puts a lid on your own leadership journey which ultimately puts a lid on the ability of your business or organisation to grow and scale.

Sometimes we're hesitant to hand over responsibility because we want it done when we want it done, and it takes longer to explain to someone how we want it done than it does doing it ourselves. And then we’re in real danger of building an organisation that, as Jim Collins calls it, has a culture of “…a genius with 1000 helpers”. Everything starts to hinge on a singular source of brilliance or talent. Truly great organisational leaders, even talented ones, avoid that by handing over responsibility through delegation.

Most of what I have learned has been through trial and error, mostly error, especially in the beginning. When I first started out delegating to others as my team grew, it was by simply giving tasks to others to complete and being involved in all the decisions, because I believed it was necessary for me to be involved in everything up front. What I didn’t recognise was that this was just delegating tasks and not delegating responsibility.

One of the things that I experienced that many of you may be experiencing now is that, in the beginning, it’s your responsibility to establish culture, which means you have to be a part of everything, but you can't be in everything for very long without destroying the culture at the same time, because the goal is to create a culture of leadership.

I learned that pushing responsibility as far down the organisation as possible began to create that culture of leadership which meant my business could grow and it wasn’t being held back by the ‘genius at the top’.

How to build a leadership development strategy through four levels of delegation.

Delegation is critical to personal health, organisational growth, and is the balance point between micromanaging on one end and the complete abdication of leadership on the other end. Random acts of delegation won’t cut it if you are to become a leader of leaders. By that I mean delegating without clarity, where expectations are not clear, not because the individual doesn’t have the ability or desire to do well, but because they are not clear on how to succeed. Remember, this is not about what success in completing a task looks like, that’s just management, this is about success in responsibility.

Here are the four levels of delegation as I’ve discovered them.

1.     Investigation

2.     Informed progress

3.     Informed results

4.     Ownership

Let’s explore these levels one at a time. First a note for all my readers – I’ll do my best to explain these concepts as clearly as I can based on the space we have here, but if you really want to explore the comprehensive application of these principles in your organisation, book a call with me here.

Before I unlocked the concept of delegation as a leadership development strategy, I was doing what most do and expanding my business through employment and management. I was beginning to feel overwhelmed because I was involved in everything, and stagnation was beginning to creep in because I couldn’t grow beyond what was around me in the moment. I read everything I could read on leadership which included the topic of delegation and sat in a few classrooms. I came across lots of different pieces of information from different places and pulled it together to create these four levels of delegation. 

Level 1: Investigation. 

This level is almost a pre-delegation level. In some ways investigation is when you ask a prospective leader not necessarily to make a decision, but just to get information so that you both can collectively make a decision that supports a project or leads to a task or action at some point. This level is about delegating research - the opportunity for someone to gather information so the larger team can make a better decision.

This is a good way to measure a person's capability without risking too much. Remember, this is not about getting a task done, this is about owning responsibility.

Why this is helpful.

It’s perfect for giving aspiring leaders an opportunity to contribute to the overall goal and to the bigger team. At the same time, we're not burdening them with a massive task they're not quite ready for. Allowing them to investigate and come back with recommendations and information really is helpful for them. 

Imaging you are thinking about launching a new project. Before any decision is made to launch or not launch, there are lots of things to discover; costs, resources, how many people need to be involved, supplies, delivery etc. These are activities that you can delegate before making a decision. A great way to engage the people you may have in mind to lead the project and involve them as early as possible because this step creates a sense of responsibility with a team before you hand over the actual responsibility.

I used to think that delegation had to be specifically tied to an individual task or a project, the reality is that we can back delegation up further and bring more people into the process at the same time as growing future leaders by demonstrating best practice, all before you even get to decision making. This explodes one of the typical myths around delegation because when we hear the word delegation, we picture the boss or the leader calling someone into the office and saying, “I have an idea, I have a project, I have a task for you to complete, off you go...” What I’m proposing is that effective delegation (leadership) begins before that by saying I'm asking you to take responsibility for this information gathering activity, not simply to jump in and complete the task. 

Level 2: Informed progress.

This is where we really ask someone to own an activity, but there’s more to it that just delegating responsibility. Remember, we’re demonstrating to future leaders how they can become better leaders themselves through best practice.

Informed progress means that they come back to you with regular updates throughout the activity, task or project, and then to let you know when it’s completed. You are remaining available for the duration, but you’re not releasing them to take care of it completely on their own. You are asking them to own it, but to also keep you informed along the way. 

A good example of this is something I did in the second business I started. Why not my first business? because I hadn’t learned about the relationship between effective leadership and delegation then. My second business was in property development, essentially buying, refurbishing and selling residential properties. As we grew, I was considering moving into building not just refurbishing homes so I set one of my team, Ben, the task of finding out what it would take to launch this arm of the business – this is covers level 1: investigation.

Having shown his competency through the research and information gathering stage, I then gave him ownership of the project by positioning him with a level 2 delegation. This was especially effective as he had been involved from the initial idea and was very motivated to succeed, far more than just giving him the project with no prior involvement. Ben had complete control, and more importantly responsibility for the project, he could ‘borrow’ staff from other projects, appoint suppliers and manage finances, he truly owned the project and I have to say, he was brilliant.  

I was kept informed via our project update meetings every two weeks, keeping me up to speed on progress and giving him increased confidence in his abilities.

Why was this helpful.

Because Ben was involved from day 1 of the idea, when I called him to ask him to own and take responsibility for the project, it wasn’t a surprise. Our conversation didn’t start with 1000 questions about what, how, why, where, etc. It started with Ben saying “I’m so glad you asked, I’ve been itching to get the go-ahead”. Think about that next time you launch a project and have to start with a half-day team briefing and Q&A.

Because I had involved Ben from the start not the launch, I had already got a sense of whether or not he wanted to do it, and whether or not he could do it. He had a sense of whether or not he wanted to do it, and whether or not he could do it. This way you're a long way down the road by the time you finally hand over responsibility. For leaders who are constantly thinking about the future, we're often a little bit tight with information and we sometimes skip that first step which makes the second step so much more complicated than it needs to be.

There’s a catch.

How did I give Ben ownership and responsibility without it feeling like I was micromanaging. Having an update meeting every two weeks could easily have made Ben feel like I was micromanaging and checking up on him. It all comes down to how you hold those meetings.  

Micromanaging for me has always been about telling people how to do a task. Level 2 delegation is not about telling them what to do or how to do it, it's just asking them to keep you informed as they do it. This approach is simply sharing information between equals and not reporting to the boss. Of course, challenges and problems occurred along the way, and Ben knew that I was always available should he want to ask for help, but our regular meetings were not focussed around Ben asking what I thought he should do next. If he did need to ask, we had agreed that he would present the problem, the choices to solve the problem, which choice he had made and why, (and the outcome - level 3 more on that next). It was never about Ben asking for permission to act, it was done already. For entrepreneurial leaders, this is sometimes hard to swallow because we already find it hard to let go, but if you are going to build a successful and productive high-performing team, you must delegate ownership and responsibility. 

I have lost count of all the mistakes I have made so it’s unreasonable of us to expect others to not make mistakes too. Remember, this is as much their learning journey as it is yours.

One final point before we move on to level 3.

How often should you hold these update meetings. Every project, task and circumstance is different of course, what I will say is that saying “if you need anything, just ask…”, effectively leaving your prospective leader on their own won’t work because you don’t know what’s going on and they don’t feel supported and that’s not the best practice you want others to copy. They key is to hold regular scheduled meetings that are planned, structured and focussed.  

Remember, this is about giving your future leaders the clarity and pathway to learn and succeed.

Let’s recap so far.

The first level of delegation, investigation, means I just want you to go and do some research, not to start any projects yet. Don't accomplish any tasks, just gather information, bring it back to me or bring it back to our team, then we can decide what to do next. Then level 2, informed progress. Informed progress is a little bit bigger, a little bit more in depth than investigation. Informed progress means I have a project for you to own, but as you accomplish it, I just want you to keep me informed through regular meetings so that I can stay updated but also so that I can say available to help you through the process, not to micromanage it, but just to be available to understand what your needs are and to understand how I can help you accomplish it.

Level 3: Informed results.

Informed results is the next level for a leader to not just own and give updates of a project or task, but to do it exactly the way they feel and then to let you know when it's done. You’re not going to meet all the time and talk though progress, you just want to know when it's accomplished. You may ask what was done when it's accomplished, any problems along the way or an overview of the timeline, but you have given your leader ownership, responsibility and permission. This is the lesson you want them to learn so they demonstrate this framework to others and the organisation grows with a culture of leadership.

The reporting process for level 3 is all about evaluating and reviewing results and taking the learnings forward to build increasing performance and productivity.

As an entrepreneurial leader yourself, I know from experience how hard it can be to let go without micromanaging. That’s why these 4 levels are a leadership development strategy for you as much as for your team. 

Let’s pop back into Ben’s story.

Ben and I had been working together at level 2 for about 6 months and the first newly built property was about to be handed over to the estate agent for sale. At one of our regular update meetings I ask Ben how he felt it was going and what he felt the next step would be for his development. I won’t go into how to structure this conversation, contact me if you want me to go through it with you. I’ll just say that my goal was to make sure Ben felt he owned his leadership journey and that what he was learning was percolating through his team too. By giving Ben ownership of the results, we’re moving towards level 4.

Level 4: Ownership.

Ownership means that you have delegated everything about a project or task. You don't need regular updates and you don't need to meet regularly. You'll remain available if you need to ask questions, but you're going to schedule those times because, like level 3, query meetings are scheduled in advance and not based on urgency. I know what you’re thinking….”what if something happens and they need to call me”. What I hope I’ve shown you is that by following these levels, your leader has proved their capability to make decisions both to you and to themselves. Of course, if there is a crisis, there’s always a pathway up the chain, but make sure it’s only used for a genuine crisis.

Now working at level 4, Ben and I, together with other project leaders were discussing results and learnings, reviewing performance, and planning future growth strategies at our monthly board level meetings. Ben was motivated because what he was doing was truly his project, what had become a new arm of the business he had taken responsibility for because he had been involved from the very first idea.

I hope these 4 levels have given you a framework for your own leadership development as well as a way to inspire future leaders in your own business.

One of the biggest mistakes I see business owners making is to jump straight to a level 4 delegation and then try to keep their people motivated to perform. I call this a random act of delegation because you have a task that needs doing and you just give it to the person you think could do it without any real planning – my experience has shown me that it just doesn’t work that way. If you’re serious about building a high-performing team do what I’ve shared with you here and give me a call – it’s already hard doing what you trying to do, help may just make your own journey easier and faster.

Some additional notes.

What happens if at some point you recognise that something isn’t working?

Yes, I have had to jump in on occasion, but in all honestly, I’ve only had to do that because I hadn’t followed these 4 levels. The problem wasn’t the person, it was because I hadn’t positioned their leadership development journey correctly. I wasn't clear, I didn't set up specific expectations, or I didn't define success well enough. There have been times when I've stepped in and a person was shocked because the way they were measuring success was different to the way I was measuring success, that was my fault not theirs. I do think as leaders at some point, we have to look in the mirror before we step in, and take responsibility ourselves before taking a task away from someone.

Level 1 is about assessing competency, deciding if I think they are capable, and if they want to do it. This is the same for the leader, do they think they can and want to do it. When you find the right people, and take them on a leadership development journey, you are developing their skills and knowledge in a far better and more practical way than sitting in a classroom and learning theory. They are significantly less likely to fail when they own and take responsibility for their own success. Yes, mistakes will be made, we all do, it’s how you recover and learn that makes the difference.

Recognition.

As we delegate responsibility for projects, it’s all too easy to let what others are doing slip from our mind. My key learning was to always recognise people for their contribution not just their success. Make a point of catching people in your organisation doing extraordinary things, say thank you to the person, their manager, and their leader. Make your gratitude intentional rather than just accidental.

That’s it, I hope it’s useful.

Remember to book a call with me and get some help with your own leadership development journey – unless you’d rather sit a classroom….