Last week I shared my 10 practical actions for delegating well. The systems, structures, and groundwork that make delegation feel less risky.
But knowing what to do is only half the story. My friend Kat Hutchings is an executive leadership coach who works with leaders navigating high-stakes decisions in complex organisations. She sees the behavioural patterns that disrupt even the best delegation systems.
This week, Kat’s sharing her perspective on why delegation is so difficult, and how our own behaviour often gets in the way of what we’re trying to achieve.
Over to Kat…
Want to be better at delegation and empowerment?
Leaders’ minds are a busy place. Here are some of the thoughts I hear relating to delegation:
- I have too much work to do, I want my team to take on more
- I want to ensure the work my team produces is high quality and delivered quickly
- I want to give them higher sign off limits, but I worry they’ll make the easy decision rather than the best decision for all stakeholders
- I want my team to challenge me and bring new ideas that improve how we’re working, but I want those challenges to be well thought through with ideas and possible solutions
- I want my team to work hard but also feel well
- I want my team to make certain decisions without escalating to me
- I want it to be clear when the team should involve me
- I want to react to feedback I’ve been given to delegate more
A Coach’s Perspective
This list highlights how difficult it can be to delegate. Look at the conflicting desires, risks and challenges involved.
Leaders need to work out two different parts –
1. The practical rules/boundaries they agree with their team and,
2. Their own behaviour that often disrupts the rules they’ve set
For the practical rules and boundaries, Faye’s written a companion article with 10 practical actions that covers the systems and structures leaders can put in place.
Of those suggestions, the two points I’ll build on here are around structure and practice:
Freedom Within a Framework
This is critical for larger and more complex organisations. I predominantly work in highly regulated sectors like financial services and law where there are material professional and personal consequences for regulatory mistakes. This doesn’t mean it’s impossible to delegate authority, but it does mean you need to provide a framework and boundaries.
For example, instead of saying to front office staff they can choose pricing for a client, they need a financial model or detailed guidance about how to price fairly. Decisions need to be recorded explaining the rationale for the price offered and clearly communicated to clients. Perhaps senior leaders have some authority to make decisions outside the framework, but again within limits that are ratified by ExCo. This is about giving decision making ability as close to the client as possible, but also ensuring it works for all stakeholders – clients, staff, investors, regulators.
Delegation Is the Start of the Work, Not the End
It would be nice to think that when we’ve delegated something we can mark it off our list, job done. But the reality is that most of the time the accountability remains with us, so we need to find ways to ensure we’re providing the necessary support for our team to be successful.
This isn’t about micromanaging and asking for constant updates. But we do need to recognise that we may need to provide further clarity, help access different resources, provide input and advice. And not all team members will proactively bring this to our attention – it’s still worth having reminders in the diary to check in during operational 1-1s. I think of it as following up because we care.
That said, my main focus for this article is your behaviour and how it disrupts delegation by sending mixed signals. I’ll share 3 different aspects here.
Control: The Push-Pull of Letting Go
For example, a leader might say they don’t need to see day to day client enquiries, but then spend most of a 1-1 asking detailed questions about the client enquiries that week.
Or a leader might say that they want their team to do more, but thinks handing over projects is too complicated so keeps it on their stack instead.
In these examples it isn’t the team that’s the problem. And it isn’t the specific topic that’s the problem either. It’s the leader and their conflicting desires to loosen control and yet keep control.
As a Coach I would help clients to work out the right balance for them and keep holding up the mirror to their behaviour until their actions become more aligned with their intentions.
A helpful short cut can be to ask yourself: how would I react if I were feeling bolder?
If your usual appetite for delegation risk is around 6/10, how would it feel to operate at a 7? What decisions and actions would a 7 take? That will lean you towards an edge and your teams should notice a little more freedom and you a little more creative output and ownership as a result.
Your reflection: Where are you sending mixed signals about delegation? What would operating at a 7/10 risk appetite look like for you?
Clarity: What You Think You Said vs What Was Heard
Another challenge to watch out for is clarity. Most of your brief that you give your team will have happened inside your head, not out loud. Perhaps you’ve been discussing it with your peers at ExCo and it’s been well debated before a decision was reached that XYZ could be delegated. For you, it’s a thoroughly discussed initiative with clear context, framework and expectations.
There is often a gap between what we intend to say (and think we said) and what was clearly communicated onwards. Remember to slow down, walk through the why, what and how to give your team the best possible chance of landing this new work well. Expect to repeat yourself if the change is new.
Your reflection: Think about the last thing you delegated. Did you explain it once and assume it was clear, or did you check for understanding?
Capability: Capacity and Resources
When you’re empowering someone in the team, you’ll first make an assessment whether you think they’re capable of owning and delivering what you’re asking for. Some points that can be missed when we make this casual assessment are i) capacity ii) resources.
Burnout continues at alarming levels. I’m working with several clients who are embarking on or have recently completed M&A transactions with staff being signed off sick on a regular basis. And I see so many on the edge (the horrible edge – not the good learning kind of edge). Be careful. Even high performers might say yes when they should be telling you no.
Your role is to help the team re-prioritise. If something more important has surfaced, you want to be adaptable and address it, but good leadership means hitting pause on one of the other initiatives. Humans do not have limitless capacity – the evidence is everywhere.
Also give thought to resources. What do they need in order to take on what you’re delegating? It could be they need you to introduce them to new stakeholders across the business, they may need to know when to escalate to you and access your positional power in the firm, they might need budget or more/different people. It’s their role to critically assess and communicate this to you, but not all of your leaders know what they don’t know. Think about how you can help them access the resources needed, even in a cost controlled and fast paced environment.
Your reflection: Looking at your team right now, who’s at capacity? Who might say yes when they should say no?
A Success Story to Bring This to Life
A Partner in a consulting firm is role modelling how to bring in consultants and juniors on high profile, large scale work. The Partner focuses on business development, client relationships and critical decisions while the team is accountable for almost all of the delivery. This means the Partner has to revenue share the work. It means everyone hits their revenue targets, gets access to interesting work and learns how to grow the business.
Contrast this with a Partner peer who holds tight reigns to the work they win, infrequently involving many other consultants. They get to keep the majority of revenue share but their pace of client acquisition, growth and service is slower. The numbers show they’re less successful. Strong evidence that collaborative delegation and generosity can win.
What’s Your Experience?
What behavioural patterns do you notice in yourself around delegation? Where do you struggle most – control, clarity, or capability?
We’d love to hear your thoughts, particularly if you’re navigating delegation in high-stakes environments where the risks feel significant.
Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash – If only all teamwork felt like this.
About Kat Hutchings
Kat Hutchings is Owner & Executive Coach at High Stakes Leadership, working with leaders in highly regulated sectors like financial services and law.
www.highstakesleadership.co.uk
Faye McDonough 
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