46 How to Delegate in 4 Simple Steps

If you’ve ever wondered how to delegate without losing control, sacrificing quality, or creating more work for yourself, this episode of the Joyfully Unstoppable podcast gives you a clear, practical approach you can use right away.

In it, executive coach Becky Hamm walks you through a simple, effective framework for how to delegate with confidence. You’ll learn how to identify the right work to delegate, choose the right person, and set expectations that actually lead to strong results.

This conversation is especially relevant for experienced women leaders who carry a full workload, manage competing priorities, and want to lead at a higher level without getting pulled back into every detail.

You’ll also hear how delegation strengthens your team, improves decision quality, and creates space for the work that only you can do.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
➾ How to delegate work that matters without lowering your standards
➾ How to choose the right person using zone of genius, growth, and capacity
➾ How to set clear expectations so tasks get done well the first time
➾ How to supervise delegated work without micromanaging
➾ Why delegation creates long-term capacity and stronger teams

Delegation is one of the most important leadership skills you can build. When you know how to delegate effectively, you lead with more clarity, confidence, and control over your time.

#howtodelegate #leadershipskills #womenwholead #podcastforwomen #executiveleadership #womeninleadership #leadershipdevelopment #productivitytips #delegationskills #leadershippodcast #executivecoaching 

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Transcript

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Welcome to Joyfully Unstoppable, the podcast for women who are ready to succeed without the stress. Whether you're leading a team, a classroom, a boardroom, or your own big, beautiful life, I am so glad you found us. I am your host, Becky Hamm, leadership coach, speaker and founder of Women Lead. Well, hello. I hope you are doing well. Spring has sprung we, it's raining today outside my window, but we're gonna have temperatures in the seventies. I am so excited. My grandpa was a farmer. He was a long haul trucker. When he retired, he became a farmer, and he and my grandma lived on 10 acres outside of Trinity, Texas where he grew everything. All of the things and it was our favorite thing to do as kids, to go spend a week on the farm over spring break or in the summer and just help grandpa in the garden and pick dewberries, which are like blackberries, um, that were growing wild along the fence line and strawberries and snap peas and help grandma shell the peas and just do all of the things. I unfortunately did not inherit my grandpa's green thumb, but I did inherit his enthusiasm for working the land. So I sowed my seeds, many of them, uh, like a month or more ago. They are growing. Except for my watermelon seeds. They're not coming up. I just sowed those about a week ago. So those were a little bit later. You start them later. Um, but I want them to get going. And then my husband wanted Okinawa and sweet potatoes. So got those. And they are not, they. You don't stick them in the ground like potatoes. You stick 'em halfway in the ground and they grow slips. Like they grow these green kind of vines coming off and then you plant those vines. Well, I'm not getting any slips yet. It's only been a week. It's okay. I'm not, I'm worried, but I am not. Um. Heartbroken yet we're gonna get there. But I hope wherever you are that you are seeing the signs of spring and things are turning green and your allergies stay in check and we can just enjoy the season before the crazy heat of summer shows up. Here's what we're gonna talk about today. There. I don't, I was hoping for a segue would appear magically it didn't. So we're just gonna jump into it. Today. We are gonna talk about, uh, a fundamentally important leadership task, and that is. How to delegate. I deal with so many amazing women, high capacity women who are crushing it professionally. I deal with more senior women inside the Women's Executive Leadership Lab, my membership program that launched last month, but I work with women across the spectrum for more junior, just starting out their careers up to more senior VP C-suite level women. And this desire to maintain control over the work that you're currently doing is shared. That is common. And this, um, and your willingness to delegate tasks is. Weak, non-existent in a lot of cases. And so let's talk about it back. If you go to episode 44, so just a couple of episodes ago I talked about how to prioritize and I gave you my four D model of ditch delegate delay and do, and what I said was that first triage point, that first question you ask yourself is, is this important or not? If it's not important, you ditch it. You don't delegate unimportant work to anybody, right? So, okay, so let's say it is important work. Is it work that only you can do? Because if it's work that only you can do, then you've gotta do it. Then maybe you do it today. If it's urgent, that's you're due. Or if it's not urgent, maybe you delay it until um, you've got a little bandwidth or a little white space on the calendar to do it. You control the when, if it's not urgent, but if it's important work, but someone else could do it. That's the work you delegate, and I hear you. I hear the women who I have worked with in the past saying, well, okay Becky, I can identify what to delegate, but, but I don't have any confidence that if I delegate it, that it would be done well. It is not done to my standard. It's not done on my timeline. Maybe I'm a control freak and I just wanna do it all myself, but I don't have any faith or confidence that if I delegate it, it's gonna get done right. And so let's dig into that. So step one, what do you delegate that work that is important, but that not only you can do, there is someone else who can today step into that role, or with a little bit of training, can step into that role and complete that task. So easy. You can identify the what to delegate fairly simply. And if you're struggling with that, well then just shoot me a dm. Let's talk it out. Okay, so then, who do I delegate it to? If I want to have confidence that this task is done well, then you don't just give the task to anybody. Remember it's an important task. If it weren't important, you'd have ditched it. And so when you think about who should you delegate this task to? To give it the highest probability of being done to your standard. I'm gonna give you three things to look at. First is Zone of Genius. You guys know Gay Hendricks? I think I've talked about him before. I've talked about Zone of Genius on this podcast before. I feel like, um, but the, A giant leap. A big leap, a great leap. I forget the name of the book, but he's the individual who has identified zones of genius. We have zones of competence, which are things that we can do. But they kind of drain us. We have zones of incompetence, which are the things we just aren't good at doing, and all of us have zones of incompetence. That's not a, a character flaw that's just. Our brains work in different ways. Our energies flow in different ways are things we're good at and things we ain't good at. So you have zones of incompetence, and then we all have zones of genius, and those are the things that we do really well that light us up. There are energy engines. They give us energy, they, they excite us. Where you lose track of time, you get in the zone and it all melts away and you're just laser focused on this thing that you're doing. All of us have zones of genius. And so when you're thinking about delegating, who do I give this task to? Question number one, does this task align with someone's zone of genius? If it's an admin task, do you have an admin queen on your team? Someone like, I am not the admin queen. I can do it. It's my zone of competence, but I don't enjoy it and it drains my energy. There are people who freaking love that work. Right, and so is this task in somebody's zone of genius. And you can ask your team. You can say, Hey, I'm gonna delegate this task. Anyone excited for it? And, and let them give you input. They might self-identify it's in their zone of genius. That doesn't mean you give them the task. We have a couple other questions to think through, but you, step one is you wanna start with that alignment where you can find it. The next question you wanna ask yourself. Is, does this task align with any of my team members'? Professional growth. All of the people on your team are somewhere in their developmental journey. More junior, more senior, more specialized, more generalist. Everyone's in a certain space. Could this task help a member of your team grow? And now eyes wide open, you recognize that this is a growth opportunity for them. Then you be super clear, I'm wagging my finger for those of you watching on YouTube, or for those of you who aren't seeing me on YouTube, be super clear that, um, if they're growing into it, they're not gonna be great at it to start with. Right. So we're gonna talk here in a second on how to delegate and, and I'm gonna talk about setting clear expectations. You gotta set the expectation for yourself that if this is a professional development opportunity for someone, as opposed to them walking in having done this kind of a task before and able to pick it up and hit the ground running. But if this is a growth opportunity, then you need to think to yourself, how long reasonably will it take for this person to become? M competent to perform this task and how long will it reasonably take for them to excel at completing this task? Whatever the thing is that you're delegating. But it is brilliant for you to delegate tasks as an opportunity to grow your team professionally. You are signaling to them that you're invested in their growth. That how they grow is something that you think about and that you strategize toward. And. And you're setting them up to grow to be stronger on 1, 2, 3, 4 months from now than they are today. You're investing in the future health and strength of your team. So one zone of genius. Does the task align with something that a person is just excited to get to do? And then professional growth? Is this task something that will help one of your current team members grow and develop professionally to move them to that next level? And then question number three is the, brass tacks, and that is who on your team has the capacity to take on this task? Across industries, across sectors. Right now, the workforce is shrinking the number of people we have to do the growing amount of work is shrinking. And so you wanna think about who on your team has the capacity to pick up this new task because. The person, uh, in whose zone of genius the task resides, or for whom it would be a great professional development opportunity if they're already working at 120, 130, 150% of capacity, throwing one more thing on their plate does not set them up for success, and it doesn't set your task up to be accomplished well. And so you do need to be clear-eyed in terms of identifying a person who has the capacity, and you can get creative about this, right? So if the person. Who should take on the task because it's in their zone of genius. It's a developmental opportunity. If they don't have the capacity, maybe you can see whether it's possible to reassign one of their tasks to another member of the team where it might better align with their zone of genius or provide them with a development opportunity so that that and first individual can take on this task that you're trying to delegate. So you might have to get creative about how you are realigning tasks within your team. But those are the three criteria that I would encourage you to play with. Zone of genius development, opportunity and capacity. Okay. So, great. So you have picked the person that you wanna delegate to. How do you do it? Well, I'm gonna tell you a few things. I'm gonna say, one, you gotta set real clear expectations for you in terms of how long is it gonna take this person to get up to speed, and for them in terms of. What right looks like. So if you've got examples of, um, the task that has been completed and done, well share that with the individual. If you've got examples of when the task failed to meet the mark, right? So what failure looks like, share that with the individual. You're gonna sit down and talk them through all of this, but you just want them to know what is the target that I'm trying to hit? You wanna get real clear. On why the task is important, what makes it an important task and not an unimportant task. This is just a straight up start with why. When people can understand why they're doing something. One, they're more motivated to do a good job, but two, that context helps them put pieces together so that they can, um. Can take the actions that they need in order to succeed to get the task done effectively. Without that context, people are kinda swimming in the dark, and that doesn't always go well. So be very clear. What does right look like? Why are you doing this stinking task to begin with? What are your expectations for updates on the task? Are you a. Send me an email once a week and let me know where we are on this. Are you a, I wanna see a draft before it goes live. Are you a, I wanna be part of the brainstorming before you even do the draft, and then I wanna chop the draft and then, right. Don't micromanage. We'll talk about that in the next step, but, but what are your expectations for how this handoff of the task is going to work? Again, eyes wide open. And then the final thing that I would say here, this is, I think it's about setting clear expectations. If you are the individual who's been doing the task for a long time, you probably have a ton of implicit knowledge about how to get the task done. And so again, this is an expectation for you, but set a clear expectation with yourself that you are gonna take as much of that implicit knowledge. As the new individual needs to succeed in accomplishing the task and make it explicit, maybe it is that you brain dump how you've done the task in the past. Maybe it is that you pull together a file of the past, examples of the task or any if they're guidance documents. Or any parameters, any regulatory requirements the individual needs to know to complete the task that you take all of that information that's in your brain and you put it into a format that the new task owner can use. Second thing you're gonna wanna do is to clarify authority and autonomy. When does this new task owner need to come to you with questions for you to make a decision on how they move forward? And when do they have the authority to move forward on their own? And along with this, because you're passing a task that you used to do to somebody on your team who is junior to you, you might want to, I must say, probably gonna want, depending on the task, but you're probably gonna wanna send an email out to all of the stakeholders to say, so and so is now doing this. If they reach out to you for inputs or for feedback or for whatever, they are acting as me. And the accomplishment of this task, right? You will treat them as you treat me. Maybe don't say it like that, but you know what I'm, you wanna communicate that this individual has the same authority when it comes to this task that you held at your position. Because sometimes when someone more junior shows up asking for things, people might blow them off. If you clearly communicate that you expect them. To do their job and to answer the questions in a timely and professional manner. You're setting your team member up for success. That new task owner is gonna have an easier time collaborating across the organization to accomplish the task. Next thing when it comes to how to delegate is you wanna establish check-in points. And this can either be on the calendar, and so you have a regular check-in with that team member once a week, once every other week. And so you'll get updates on the task at that point. Or if the task is more milestone driven, then maybe you wanna establish checkpoints ahead of each milestone. So if it's a report that you've delegated. Drafting. Then maybe there's a milestone at the brainstorming phase, a milestone at the outlining phase, a first draft phase or a completion of a particular section, a draft of a particular section. Maybe you wanna lay in checkpoints for each of those. So think of this just as typical program management, right? When would it make sense to talk to the individual about the task and provide feedback on the task, but establish those touchpoint? Day one. Again, it's all about clarity of expectation and setting the person up for success so that they feel like, so that they actually have the support that they need to succeed. And then this ties into my last point, which is over communicate. Again, you've got a ton of implicit knowledge and so it might seem obvious to you as you are sharing this information, but it doesn't always feel obvious to the people who are receiving the information. And so over communicate with the new task owner. Check in more often in the beginning with the new task owner, but then also over communicate with the stakeholders. Remind people. A couple of times who the new task owner is and that they are the one working on the task, and that, that any question should go to them and not you, you don't want it to come up that you're unintentionally undermining this, this individual's authority on the task because people just remember to come to you. So they come to you and you're helpful and so you wanna just knock it out. And so you just answer the question or you provide the feedback, or you do. You're continuing to manage it while they're responsible for it. That's not a good scenario for anyone. So over communicate the transition that the delegation has occurred and who they need to reach out to for the task going forward. Last thing that we're gonna talk about real quick before we wrap it up, and I, um, this is a quick overview. I go into much greater detail inside the Women's Executive Leadership Lab. And so if you wanna deeper dive into how to delegate and do it effectively. Surrounded by a community of other women who are doing the same thing. Check out. Well, uh, I think you'll be interested in it, but let's talk about, okay, you've handed the task off. How do you supervise the task once it's delegated? Is it that you hand it off, wipe your hands, and you're done? No, especially not If you have handed this task off to someone. Who is developing into the task. If this is professional, development for them and they're growing into the task, no guardrails, training wheels, you are gonna be involved for a little bit of time. And let me pause here and say this. I can hear the objection of, well, if I need to continue to supervise the task, particularly if I have to be involved because the person is learning the task. Then it's quicker for me just to do the task. And I wanna say, yeah, today it is quicker for you to do the task. Six weeks from now, three months from now, that other person, that new task owner, is gonna have the task in hand. They are gonna be up to speed, and you were gonna get all of that time back. Compounded over. 'cause you're never gonna have to do that task again. So it's the same principle of compound interest. You invest a little bit of time now to get them up to speed and then you just reap the benefit of the time back on your calendar in perpetuity. So yes, I absolutely know it takes a little bit of time in the beginning and you might be thinking, I'm not getting time. This is taking time. It's not worth it. I want, I want to be very clear with you. It is worth it in the long run. You just have to stick with it. Whatever that timeframe is that you've decided, however long it's gonna take the new task owner to get up to speed, that's your investment period. And after that period, all you're doing is reaping the rewards. You are gonna have a stronger team member, a stronger team, and white space back on your calendar so you can spend your time on the important tasks that only you can do. It is worth it, I promise you. And again, if you ever run into any snags, just reach out. I will talk to you. We'll jump on a Zoom, complimentary. We will work it through and I will get you where you wanna be. Okay. How to supervise the delegated tasks. You're gonna do a couple of things. One, you're gonna hold those regular check-ins and, and I'm serious about this. Don't put it on the calendar and then cancel it 'cause something urgent pops up. Hold the regular check-ins while you are in those regular check-ins. You wanna give useful advice. What do I mean by useful advice? I mean, one advice that is clear. Clarity is kind. This is not the place to be nice and say, oh yeah, it looks good when actually it doesn't. No, you wanna be clear about one, what is working. So you do wanna praise the successes, right? So what is working in what the individual is doing? And then two. What are the deficiencies that might provoke a a critical failure? What is gonna cause this task to fail? Don't be like fixing the grammar and the punctuation. Don't be nitpicking in the beginning stages of someone taking over the task. Focus on the critical elements of the task, and once those critical elements are smoothed out, then you can move down to the elements that are important, but less of a priority. Does that make sense? So start with the big guns, right? One, praise the successes. And then two, any critical failures, anything that's gonna cause the task to fail to not work. Address those and only those in the beginning. Be clear, be direct. You're, don't be rude. You can be professional and direct at the same time. You are saying, this is the standard I gave you. This is what right looks like. Here's where you are. How do you new task owner? How do you evaluate these two relative to each other? Are they comparable? Are you, is your task above or below right? Get them to be thinking about what does it take to get to right, where am I relative to that? And then you provide the clear guidance of this is what I see needs to happen. For us to hit the mark, you provide any context that you need to provide. Maybe if it's a report they left out higher level guidance or regulatory restraints or a, a data source or some, whatever it is, it'll be unique for each task. You give that context. You give the context of the significance of failing to include that element or failing to meet the mark. What happens if they don't get it right? But through all of this, make it as collaborative as possible. You want the team members' input one, because the more they think through their performance on the project, in light of the standards that you're setting, the better they're gonna meet the standards. And then two, all of us receive feedback better when we feel like it's a conversation as opposed to like a finger pointy, this is what you're messing up. So just to motivate them to do a better job. Having a collaborative exchange is gonna be more productive. So those are your three Cs to give useful feedback, clarity, context, and collaboration. And I look. I recognize that things don't always go smoothly when you delegate a task. And I hope that walking you through these questions of who do you delegate to, how do you hand the task off? And then how do you supervise the task over time sets you up to have a smoother transition inside of the Women's Executive Leadership Lab. I also teach women what do you do when it's not working? And so if you are committed to delegating and being a. Effective at delegation so that you can focus exclusively on the work that only you can do. Then I would really encourage you to take a look at well and see if that membership might be a good fit for you. Just look@womenleadwell.net slash well, WELL. Okay. Next week, I hope you'll join me as we take a look at how chronic busyness impacts our focus and our follow through. I think a lot of us would self-identify as being chronically busy, and so I hope that this episode will be useful for you. Now if today's episode spoke to you, I would love for you to share it with a friend who has too much on her plate. We need more women leading from alignment, not adrenaline. And please don't forget to like and subscribe. And if you could leave a review, I would really, really appreciate it. Also, you can always grab one of our resources. There's the 90 Day Leader Development Plan available on our website along with free resources, like the weekly reset routine, and the mental load reset. Remember, joyful, sustainable, and authentic leadership is possible, and you deserve to enjoy every minute of it. Until next time, I'm Becky Hamm, and this is joyfully unstoppable.