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There’s a moment I see over and over with small-business owners.
They finally decide to delegate something.
Maybe it’s a responsibility they’ve carried for years. Maybe it’s something they never particularly enjoyed doing. Maybe they’ve known for months that they shouldn’t be the person doing it anymore.
Whatever it is, they’re thrilled to finally get it off their plate.
So they explain the job to someone on the team, hand it over, and walk away.
Then a few weeks later, they’re frustrated.
The employee isn’t doing it the way they would. Things are getting missed. Questions keep coming back. The owner has to step in and fix something.
And eventually he concludes:
“See? Delegation doesn’t work.”
Maybe.
But there’s another possibility worth considering.
Maybe you didn’t delegate. Maybe you abdicated.
Getting it off your plate isn’t the same as delegating it
There’s a temptation when you’ve carried something for a long time to think the handoff should happen much faster than it actually can.
You’ve been doing this job for years. You know the weird exceptions. You know which customers need a little extra attention. You know which problems matter and which ones can wait. You’ve made the same judgment calls so many times that you don’t even realize you’re making them anymore.
A lot of what you know has become second nature.
Then you give the responsibility to someone else on Tuesday and wonder why they don’t have the same command of it by Wednesday.
That isn’t reasonable.
You may have handed them the responsibility, but you haven’t handed them all the experience that came with it.
That takes time.
Proper delegation is a process, not an event.
Think about a relay race
A relay race gives us a much better picture of delegation.
Imagine one runner coming around the track with the baton. The next runner doesn’t stand completely still and wait for the first runner to throw it at him.
They run together.
For a short period of time, both runners are moving in the same direction. One still has the baton. The other is accelerating to take it. They have to coordinate the handoff.
Only when the next runner has the baton securely does the first runner let go.
That’s delegation.
Abdication looks more like running up to the exchange zone, throwing the baton in the general direction of your teammate, and yelling, “It’s yours now!”
Then you’re surprised when it hits the ground.
For a while, you need to run together
A successful delegation starts with a good handoff.
You need to clearly communicate the result you expect, the authority the person has, the important context they need, and any boundaries they need to understand.
But the conversation where you explain the job isn’t the end of the process.
It’s the beginning.
The person needs to know that you’re still available when questions come up. You should agree on a cadence for checking in. And both of you should understand that those check-ins are a normal part of the transition.
That last part matters.
If every check-in feels like an inspection, your employee may hear, “He doesn’t trust me.”
That isn’t what you’re trying to communicate.
You’re saying, “I want you to succeed at this, and I’m going to stay close enough during the transition to help you get there.”
For a while, you’re still running together.
Don’t let go until they have the baton
So when is something actually delegated?
There isn’t a magic formula.
Generally, I’m looking for the team member to consistently deliver the expected result, or at least demonstrate enough progress and command that I’m confident the outcome is in good hands.
That’s when the owner can begin stepping back.
Maybe the check-ins become less frequent. Maybe the employee starts making more decisions independently. Maybe fewer questions come back because the team member has developed the judgment to handle them.
Eventually, the owner realizes:
They’ve got this.
Now you can let go of the baton.
And with great people, this can happen faster than you expect.
In fact, one of the best parts of delegation is discovering that the person you entrusted with the work may eventually do it better than you did.
They may improve the process. They may notice things you never noticed. They may bring skills and ideas to the responsibility that you simply don’t have.
Sometimes the apprentice exceeds the master.
That isn’t a failure of delegation.
That’s one of its greatest successes.
Moses didn’t just throw Joshua the baton
There’s a helpful leadership picture in the relationship between Moses and Joshua in Deuteronomy 31.
Joshua doesn’t suddenly appear at the end of Moses’ life and get handed responsibility for leading Israel.
He has spent years alongside Moses.
He serves with him. He leads. He learns. He experiences victories and failures. He develops as a leader while Moses is still there.
Then, when the time comes, the transfer becomes explicit. Moses commissions Joshua in front of the people and prepares him for the responsibility he’s about to carry.
I don’t think those passages were written as a business-management manual, and I wouldn’t treat them that way.
But there’s a leadership principle in the picture that’s worth noticing:
There was development before there was transfer.
For a season, Moses and Joshua were both running.
Then the baton changed hands.
Go back to a delegation that failed
Now think about something you tried to delegate that didn’t go well.
Maybe the employee struggled. Maybe you had to take the responsibility back. Maybe the results weren’t good enough, and you decided it would have been easier to just do it yourself.
Go back and look at that handoff again.
Did you clearly communicate what you were asking them to own?
Did they understand their authority?
Did you make yourself available when they needed help?
Did you establish a regular cadence for checking in?
Did you stay engaged long enough to see them develop command of the result?
Or were you simply so excited to get the responsibility off your plate that you threw the baton over the fence and walked away?
The Delegation Handoff Kit can help you reconstruct that process. Take the delegation that failed and walk through it again, this time asking not only whether the assignment was clear, but whether you actually stayed engaged long enough to complete the transfer.
You may discover that your employee really wasn’t ready for the responsibility.
But you may also discover that what you called failed delegation was never really delegation at all.
Delegation, not abdication
Your goal isn’t to run alongside them forever.
At some point, you have to let go.
If you continue hovering over every decision after someone has demonstrated that they can own the result, you haven’t really delegated either.
But don’t confuse letting go with walking away too soon.
Give the responsibility clearly. Stay available. Check in. Help them develop. Watch for evidence that they can carry the result. Then begin stepping back.
Just like a relay race, there should be a period when both of you are running.
That overlap is how the baton gets passed.
Delegation, not abdication. Proper delegation is a process, not an event.
To thriving,
- Zach
