The best thing you can delegate (hint: it’s not tasks)
This week, I want to talk about a delegation mistake I see all the time & to be honest, a mistake I have made myself in the past.
As leaders, one of the toughest skills to master is true delegation.
For a variety of reasons, it’s easier to keep things close to the vest...
Maybe you built the process yourself, and handing it off feels like giving away your firstborn...
Maybe you like being needed, and worry that if you delegate “the thing,” your value will diminish...
Maybe your team “isn’t up to speed yet” and it’s quicker to just do it yourself...
And while those are all normal instincts, they're the wrong mindset for leadership.
Delegation isn’t just about keeping your workload manageable (though it does help you avoid burnout, overwhelm, and a dip in quality). It’s also about developing the people around you.
And here’s where most leaders stop short: They delegate tasks like the report updates, the scheduling, the follow-up emails, etc. but NOT decisions.
Delegating Decisions
Delegating decisions is the ultimate leadership move.
Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report found that 70% of a team’s engagement is directly attributable to their manager.
And do you want to know one of the most powerful ways to lift that engagement? Trust people with meaningful decisions.
When employees feel they have the autonomy to make calls, their ownership, capability, and confidence grow EXPONENTIALLY.
When you hand someone a decision, you’re not just lightening your load, you’re saying, “I trust you. I believe in your judgment.”
And I believe that’s how you develop future leaders, not just helpers.
This is the exact kind of shift we work on inside my leadership programs to help move leaders from “doing it all” to building teams that can think, decide, and lead alongside them.
P.S both my leadership programs have Fall Cohorts that are open for enrollment right now & kick off in September/October. You can learn more about both, here: https://whatyoudomattersmentality.com/leadership-programs
A real-life example:
In my relationship, I’m the planner. Vacations, weekend getaways, even where we eat dinner, I’m the one who loves making the list, the map, and the full itinerary.
But last weekend, my husband and I decided to take a spontaneous road trip to Saugatuck, Michigan. And I did something different...
...I handed him the reins!
“What do you want to do while we’re here? I’m leaving it up to you.”
And you know what? We had the best time & it was REAL nice to take a step back and watch Rod plan so many fun things for us.
The magic of delegating a decision isn’t in losing control, it’s in making space for someone else to lead.
And this isn’t just true in our personal life or in the boardroom, it shows up anywhere great work happens.
Take the new Netflix show Hitmakers ⤵️
Leadership Lessons from Hitmakers
It follows three songwriting “camps” where Grammy-winning songwriters, producers, and vocalists come together to create a complete, pitch-ready track in just six hours.
(literally blew me away how fast they could crank out these songs!)
While every single person in the camps is a proven talent (they have written & produced most of the hits you know + love), they can’t all lead every moment of their writing sessions because it would turn into absolute chaos.
To pull it off, they have to quickly decide:
Whose creative idea they’re going to run with
Who’s setting the tempo
Who’s producing the track
Who’s “cutting” the vocals so it best matches the artist they’re pitching to
What I'm saying, is that each of these things aren’t just task assignments, they’re creative decisions that make or break the final song.
If they clung to their own ideas or refused to share decision-making, the clock would run out, and the song wouldn’t happen (& we did see this happen in a few of the writing sessions!)
But by delegating key decisions to the right people at the right time, they turn their individual talent into collective genius.
It’s a high-speed, high-stakes reminder that leadership isn’t about doing (or deciding) everything yourself. It really comes down to creating the conditions where the BEST decisions get made, no matter whose hands they’re in.
The leadership takeaway?
If you’re only delegating the “busywork,” you’re not actually freeing yourself and you’re not developing your team.
The next time something crosses your desk, ask:
Can I delegate the decision, not just the doing?
What level of authority does this person need to make the call?
How will I support them without taking it back?
Delegating decisions isn’t about abdicating your own responsibility. It’s actually about building the kind of team that doesn’t need you in every room, which is exactly what frees you to lead at the level you should be.