One of the leadership challenges I’ve been wrestling with lately is bandwidth—my own, and that of the leaders around me. Growth increases activity, and increased activity places more demands on leaders. When delegation doesn’t keep pace, effectiveness declines. When that pattern continues too long, growth stalls—and so does the leader.
Delegation is more than handing off a task. It means giving someone responsibility for a result, along with the authority and resources to achieve it. Most leaders understand this in theory, but many struggle to live it out in practice. In my experience, that struggle usually shows up in one of three ways.
- First, leaders lack clarity about what a successful outcome really is, so they’re unsure of the responsibility they are actually handing off.
- Second, leaders hesitate to give away the necessary authority—often because they worked hard to earn it and are reluctant to let it go.
- Third, leaders may be clear on the outcome and even willing to grant authority, but deep down believe they can do it better themselves. They say the right things about delegation, yet when it comes down to it, they can’t let go.
This Isn’t a New Problem
In a well-known passage in Exodus, Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, observes Moses trying to do too much and tells him plainly, “What you are doing is not good” (Exodus 18:17). To Moses’ credit, he listened. He humbly accepted counsel and wisely appointed capable and trustworthy people to serve as judges. As a result, Moses focused only on the most difficult cases, and the people were better served (Exodus 18:26).
I’ve discovered that delegation is a struggle for leaders. It is certainly a struggle for me.
Let me be honest. There are parts of my role that I really enjoy. I like visiting our partners in Europe. I like building those relationships. It makes me feel valuable and gives me a sense of purpose.
What I’ve come to realize, though, is that every leader—and every direct report—has work that fits into those same buckets of enjoyment and purpose. And those are often the very things we resist delegating.
That realization leads me to some deeper questions:
What is the true purpose of my leadership?
Given that purpose, what is the highest and best use of my time right now?
If I commit to that highest and best use, how does it benefit both the organization and me?
At its core, leadership is doing things with and through other people. The purpose of leadership is to help others grow toward a worthy goal. Ultimately, it isn’t about the leader’s enjoyment or sense of purpose. In fact, the leaders worth following are those who find their enjoyment and purpose in helping others grow and doing meaningful work that benefits others.
When we embrace that, the highest and best use of our time often turns out to be something hard—and not very glamorous.
For me, that meant delegating the next trip to Europe to our VP of Sales so I could stay at the plant, walk each production shift, and connect with people on our team. I’ll be the first to point out that staying local and walking the floor isn’t nearly as glamorous as flying overseas to meet with important partners. But it is exactly what I should be doing right now.
What’s the benefit?
Our VP of Sales has the authority to lead those partnerships and make the necessary decisions. I get to connect with more people on our team, hear their feedback, and hopefully help them feel seen, valued, and appreciated. And I get to be home in the evenings with kids whose ages range from 14 to 9, knowing the hourglass of their childhood is already more than half empty.
My father-in-law once told me, “Remember one thing: you have many people on your team who can do what you do at work. But in your role as a husband and father, only you can do that.”
Both Grandpa Hoffer and my dad would agree.
Three Questions Worth Sitting With
So I’ll close with three more questions to consider.
What do you need to delegate today? If something comes to mind that you’re avoiding, what is the real reason?
What are the things you simply don’t want to delegate? I’ve found that being brutally honest with yourself here, while uncomfortable, is the only way to achieve clarity. I am still involved with our European partners. I’m just no longer the primary. I am now in a supportive role.
Finally, what does the end look like for your role or your career? This may be the hardest question of all. The reality is that everything eventually gets handed off. The death rate is still hovering around 100%, and so is the end-of-career rate—whether we call it retirement, transition, or something else.
I can’t speak for you. I can only speak for myself.
Giving away authority is never easy, but it is always preparation for what is inevitable. If I cannot do it now, I am setting myself up for a painful ending to my career, and possibly my life. I want to become the kind of leader who eventually grows into the Chief Encouraging Officer—the one who shows up, brings encouragement, and then steps aside.
I have a lot of growing to do before I am that person.
But I am starting down that path by delegating today.
And our VP of Sales is going to crush it.