Why Delegation Is Not Enough

For years, I thought delegation was an important part of developing leaders.

I still do. But I no longer think it’s enough.

I can delegate something to you and still keep myself firmly at the centre.

I give you the task. However, I keep the decisions.

I keep the authority. Yet, I expect you to check with me.

And if things start going wrong, I step back in.

I've technically delegated.

But have I developed a leader?

There's a distinction I've increasingly tried to make:

Delegation asks: “What can someone else do?”

Leadership development asks: “What could someone else own?”

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Ownership feels different.

It means I trust you to think.

To make decisions.

To solve problems.

And sometimes to do things completely differently from how I would do them.

This last one can be difficult, can't it?

Giving away ownership doesn't only reveal something about the person I'm developing.

It reveals something about me.

Why do I need to check?

Why does everything need my approval?

Why does someone doing something differently make me uncomfortable?

Why do I need to be needed?

This is where developing others begins with leading myself well.

Jesus didn't simply allow his disciples to watch him minister. In Luke 9, he gave them power and authority and sent them out. They had to do it.

Eventually, Jesus would entrust the continuing mission to them.

There's a risk with this kind of leadership.

People make mistakes. They won't always choose what I would choose. Occasionally they'll do something better than I could have done it myself.

Don't worry. This is not a threat to my leadership.

Surely it is a key part of its success.

I've increasingly become convinced that one measure of leadership isn't how much responsibility I can carry. It's how much responsibility I can successfully give away.

So perhaps there's a better question than: What can I delegate this week?

Try:

What am I currently responsible for that someone else could learn to own?

And then perhaps an even harder question:

What would I need to let go of in myself to allow them to own it?