Why Leaders Avoid Delegating

The whole point of leadership is to have time to think strategically, provide support to the team, resolve issues, and to make decisions. When leaders are stuck actually doing their group or team’s work every day, they will find it much more difficult to perform their leadership role.

As earlier discussed, delegationOpens in new window benefits leaders, direct reports, and organizations. Yet for many a leader (and organization) it remains one of the most underutilized and underdeveloped leadership capabilities as too often, experienced leaders don’t delegate to others.

They falsely believe that they can do a task much more quickly themselves, rather than taking the time to explain to their direct reports what they want to be done. Here are some of the more common reasons why leaders won’t or don’t delegate.

1.     Delegation Takes Too Much Time

Delegation saves time for the leader in the long run, but it costs the leader time in the short run. It takes time to train a direct report to perform any new task, so it often really does take less time for a leader to do the task themselves than to put in the effort to train someone else to do it.

When a task is a recurring or repetitive one, however, the long-term savings will make the additional effort in initial L&D worth it—both for the leader and for the direct report.

2.   Delegation Is Risky Because Leaders Are Too Scared to Fail (Believe the Job Will Not Be Done as Well)

It can feel threatening for a leader to delegate a significant responsibility to a direct report because doing so reduces their direct personal control over the work they will be judged by. Fear of failure can cause leaders to hold on to work and refuse to delegate. In this case, delegation is risky because leaders feel that they need to take charge and deliver the work personally to make sure it is done to the right standard.

Delegation may be perceived as a career risk by staking one’s reputation on the motivation, skill, and performance of others. It is the essence of leadership, though, that the leader will be evaluated in part by the success of the entire work group or team.

Furthermore, delegation needs not and should not involve a complete loss of control by the leader over work delegated to others. The leader has a responsibility to set performances expectations, ensure that the task is understood and accepted, provide L&D opportunities, and regularly monitor the status of all delegated tasks and responsibilities while avoiding rationalizing that direct reports, for example, won’t be able to do a job as well as they would or could.

Some leaders like to say, “If you want something done properly, do it yourself.” But leaders should then ask and answer the question, “How am I doing my leadership role properly, when I am doing all the other work myself?” This is a productivity trap. Leaders who do this end up “hoarding” their work, refusing to give anything up to their direct reports.

3.   Leaders Won’t Delegate Tasks When They Love the Task or Detail

A leader may resist delegating tasks that are a source of power or prestige. The leader may be willing to delegate relatively unimportant responsibilities but may balk at the prospect of delegating a significant one having high visibility.

The greater the importance and visibility of the delegated task, though, the greater will be the potential developmental gains for the direct report. Furthermore, actions always speak louder than words, and nothing conveys trust more genuinely than a leader’s willingness to delegate major responsibilities to direct reports.

There are some leaders who just love working in the detail. Some leaders just love worrying about the detail, far more than thinking about the strategic part of their jobs. The problem with being involved in the detail all the time is that it is very difficult to let go. Once a leader starts to obsess over the minor details that somebody else should really be worrying about, they will find it much harder to delegate anything.

4.     Others Are Already Too Busy

A leader may feel guilty about increasing a direct report’s already full workload. It is the leader’s responsibility, though, to continually review the relative priority of all the tasks performed across the organization (remember the urgent vs. important matrixOpens in new window mentioned earlier). Such a review might identify existing activities that could be eliminated, modified, or reassigned.

A discussion with the direct report about their workload and career goals would be a better basis for a decision than an arbitrary and unilateral determination by the leader that the direct report cannot handle more work. The new responsibility could be something the direct report wants and needs, and they might also have some helpful ideas about alternative ways to manage their present duties.

Understanding the importance of delegation and why leaders won’t or don’t delegate is important to developing skillful delegation in organizations. Increasing the likelihood of skillful delegation in an organization and its leaders is also dependent upon an understanding of how to delegate more effectivelyOpens in new window.