Delegation

When someone delegates something, what do they actually delegate? Can you delegate ownership? Can you delegate accountability? What amount of connectiveness does the delegator have with the delegee? Coaching? Can it ever be the case that delegating takes more work than not delegating? How does delegating actually help scale someone? Are people horizontally scalable?

These are all tricky questions, and I don’t think there are single right answers to any of them. The best methods (or pitfalls to avoid) I’ve seem smart people around me used are captured below. They’ve worked so well for some people that I’ve heard the methods described as a type of judo.

Set Expectations

Reduce the problem down to a contract: delegation is a contract between people. E.g., Alice can delegate to Bob to do X. Bob can delegate to Steve to do X. Note, Alice still comes to Bob, not Steve, for X.

+-------+   +-----+             +-------+
| Alice |   | Bob |             | Steve |
+-------+   +-----+             +-------+
    |          |                    |
    | Do X.    |                    |
    |--------->|                    |
    |          | ---------------\   |
    |          |-| Hmm, I don't |   |
    |          | | have time.   |   |
    |          | |--------------|   |
    |          | Do X for me.       |
    |          |------------------->|
    |          |        ----------\ |
    |          |        | Brrpht. |-|
    |          |        |---------| |
    |          |                    |
    | X?!      |                    |
    |--------->|                    |
    |          |                    |

Bob needs to establish contracts with Steve about what he’ll come to him in the future to ask (and when). Without this contract, delegation breaks down, turns toxic, and wastes peoples’ times. The worst thing a delgator can do is not set expectations with the delegee.

Scaling

Find ways to scale yourself through other leaders - people you trust to make the correct decisions. Depicted below, Alice trusts John. She can rely on John to make the right decision, and because of this, gives herself more time to focus on other things (that are as important or more important).

+-------+      +-------+ +-----+
| Alice |      | John  | | Bob |
+-------+      +-------+ +-----+
    |              |        |
    | Do X.        |        |
    |---------------------->|
    |              |        |
    | Check X.     |        |
    |------------->|        |
    |              |        |
    |              | X?     |
    |              |------->|
    |              |        | -------------\
    |              |        |-| I need to  |
    |              |        | | find a way |
    |              |        | | to do X.   |
    |              |     X. | |------------|
    |              |<-------|
    |              |        |
    |           X. |        |
    |<-------------|        |
    |              |        |

I sometimes refer to as leaders I trust as trusted delegates. I’ve also heard people refer these leaders as lieutenants. Growing a network of trusted delegates is key to scaling yourself. It is the act of building your bench. It takes a lot of coaching and relationship building to build this network.

Mentorship

Growing a strong network of trusted delegates takes time and energy. This is one of the primary functions of mentorship.

Mentoring those around you and growing them into the leaders you need them to be is the worthwhile use of your time as a leader because it ultimately allows you to scale (as previously desribed). It bears repeating: time is an investment, and investments should have positive return on investment.

This type of mentorship seems to be the most healhty type of mentorship, too. This type of mentorship provides value in both directions: the mentor gets a leader, the mentee gets perspective and knowledge (maybe).

-

Establishing contracts can be expensive, so be careful when delegating. Trusted leaders take time and energy to develop or identify. Things are never as simple as variable X makes it sound. Delegating is not for the lazy… it takes a lot of work to do it correctly… but all good leaders can do it well.

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