Delegation Training

When You Stop Doing Everything Yourself, Magic Happens

The hardest thing about delegation? It is not what people think.

Most managers think delegation means finding someone to dump tasks on. Wrong. That is just passing problems to someone else, like throwing hot potatoes around the office until someone gets burnt.

Real delegation is different. It is about trust, yes. But it is also about recognising that your way is not the only way things get done. Sometimes it is not even the best way, which is a hard pill to swallow for most control freaks.

l have watched plenty of managers crash and burn because they could not let go. They micromanage every email, check every spreadsheet twice, hover over people like nervous parents at a school sports day. The irony? They create exactly what they fear most : things going wrong because people become afraid to think for themselves.

Why Most People Get Delegation Wrong

There is this myth that good leaders do everything themselves. Rubbish.

Good leaders know when to step back. They know the difference between being responsible and being a control freak. The problem is, nobody teaches you this stuff in business school or those endless management courses. You just get thrown into management and expected to figure it out.

Here is what actually happens when you delegate properly:

• Your team grows stronger (not weaker)
• You get time to think about bigger things instead of drowning in daily tasks
• People surprise you with solutions you never thought of
• Work gets done faster because you are not the bottleneck anymore

But here is the catch. You have to mean it when you delegate, like really mean it. Half hearted delegation where you take tasks back the moment something looks different from how you would do it? That just trains people not to bother trying. Then you wonder why nobody takes initiative.

The Real Delegation Process

Forget those eight step frameworks and fancy ways of doing things. Here is what works:

Start with something small that matters but would not break everything if it went sideways. Give it to someone who has shown they can handle responsibility, even if they have never done this exact thing before.

Tell them what success looks like, not how to get there. Big difference. "l need this report by Friday with clear recommendations" versus "First open Excel, then click on cell A1, then type the date..." One grows people up, the other treats them like children.

Check in without checking up. Ask how it is going, what they need, if they are stuck. Do not ask to see drafts every five minutes. Trust me, that drives people mental.

When they finish, look at the result. If it works, even if it is different from how you would have done it , say thank you and mean it. If it does not work, figure out why together. Was the brief unclear? Did they need more support? Did you set them up to fail? Usually it is one of those three.

Where Things Go Sideways

People mess up delegation in predictable ways. I see it all the time.

They delegate tasks but not authority. "Handle the client meeting but check with me before you say anything important." What is the point? The person becomes a puppet, and the client knows it. Embarrassing for everyone.

They pick the wrong person for the wrong reasons. Just because someone is available does not mean they should get the task. Just because someone is busy does not mean they should not, sometimes busy people are busy because they are good at stuff.

They forget to communicate with the rest of the team. Suddenly nobody knows who is doing what, and people start stepping on each other or doing the same work twice. Chaos.

The biggest mistake though? They delegate and disappear. Like completely vanish. Delegation is not abandonment, people. People need support, especially the first few times. But not hand holding, there is a difference.

What Good Delegation Actually Looks Like

l worked with a manager once who was drowning in monthly reports. Proper drowning, working weekends, stressed, snappy with everyone. She thought she had to do them all herself because they went to the board.

So we picked one report, the least critical one, and gave it to someone from her team who had good analytical skills but had never done anything like this before. Bit of a risk, but calculated.

Instead of explaining how to build the report, she explained what the board needed to know and why. She showed him three previous reports and said "this is what good looks like." Then she let him figure out how to get there. Scary at first.

First attempt? Not great. But not terrible either. Second month? Much better. Third month? He found a way to automate half the data collection she had been doing manually for years. Genius move.

Now she delegates most of the reports. The team member who took on that first one? He is training others. She gets her weekends back and the reports are better than they were before , which nobody saw coming.

Teaching Others to Delegate

This is where delegation training gets interesting, and where most programmes fall flat.

You can not just tell people "delegate more." They need to practice, and they need to see what good delegation looks like. Not role playing exercises with fake scenarios, that stuff is useless.

The best training l have seen involves real work that needs doing and practice delegating it properly. Start small, build confidence , learn from mistakes when the stakes are low. Makes sense when you think about it.

People need to understand the difference between delegating tasks and developing people. Sometimes you delegate because you are too busy. Fair enough. But sometimes you delegate because someone needs to learn something new, even if you could do it faster yourself.

Both are valid. Just be honest about which one you are doing, because people can tell the difference anyway.

The Questions That Matter

Before you delegate anything, ask yourself these :

• What exactly needs to happen here?
• Who has the skills to do this, or could learn them?
• What authority do they need to make this work?
• How will l know if it is working?
• What support might they need along the way?

After you delegate, ask different questions:

• Is this person getting what they need from me?
• Am l interfering or helping? (There is a fine line)
• What are they learning from this?
• What am l learning about delegation?

Sounds simple but most people skip this bit entirely, then wonder why things go wrong.

When Delegation Training Actually Works

The companies that get delegation right do not just train managers to delegate. They train everyone to receive delegation well too. Smart move.

People need to know how to ask good questions when they get delegated to. They need permission to come back when they hit problems. They need to understand what "ownership" means in practice, because that word gets thrown around a lot without explanation.

This is the bit most training misses. Delegation is a two way skill. Like dancing, takes two people who know the steps.

You also need systems that support delegation. If every decision still needs three approvals and two signatures, delegation becomes meaningless. If people can not access the information they need, delegation becomes frustrating for everyone involved. Basic stuff, but often overlooked.

Making It Stick

Here is the truth about delegation training. It only works if people practice it immediately and keep practicing it. Revolutionary, l know.

One workshop will not change anything. People need ongoing support, regular practice, and honest feedback about how they are doing. Otherwise they just go back to doing everything themselves because it feels safer.

The best approach? Start with willing volunteers who want to get better at delegation. Get some success stories. Then expand from there. Do not force it on people who are not ready , that just creates resistance.

And remember, delegation is not just about getting work done. It is about building stronger teams, developing people, and creating space for yourself to focus on what really matters. Or at least that is the theory.

That is when the magic happens. When you stop being the person who does everything and become the person who makes sure everything gets done well. Different skill entirely.

Available Training Options

This training is available across Australia in person, online, or tailored specifically for your organisation. We can customise it to fit your team's specific needs and challenges.

Contact us to discuss how delegation training can work for your team. Available in all major cities including Canberra, Gold Coast, Sydney, Brisbane, Parramatta, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin, and Perth.