Free deLEGATION guide — for new managers
You know you should delegate more.
Here's how to actually do it.
Most guides tell you what to delegate. This one focuses on the conversation itself — the part that determines whether your delegation works or comes back to you.
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You got promoted because you were good at the work. And the instinct to stay close to it does not switch off overnight. When something needs doing well, the fastest path still feels like doing it yourself. That is a completely reasonable instinct — for the first few weeks of a new role.
At some point, though, doing the work yourself stops being efficient and starts being a problem. You become the bottleneck in your own team. The things that need your attention — strategy, development, the conversations only you can have — wait while you handle tasks someone else could own.
Most advice on this focuses on deciding what to delegate. The priority matrix. The pay-grade audit. That is useful.
But it misses the more common problem: even when you know what to delegate, the conversation itself goes wrong.
It is vague, or rushed, or it accidentally signals that you do not quite trust the person. And then the work comes back.
This guide focuses on that conversation — what it needs to contain, how to structure it, and what to say when the other person pushes back.
What's in the guide
The framework, the script, and what to say when it gets complicated
Six specific things — each one something you can use in your next delegation conversation.
The four-part conversation framework
The four things every delegation conversation must cover — Context, Expectations, Authority, and Support — and why missing any one of them creates more work, not less.
A full conversation script you can adapt immediately
Example phrases for each component of the conversation — not lines to recite, but a starting point in your own voice.
The opening sentence that changes everything
The single shift in how you start a delegation conversation that moves someone from receiving an assignment to genuinely owning the work.
Why vague expectations are the most common cause of failure
How to define what success looks like clearly enough that you do not have to re-explain it — or take the work back.
What to do when someone says “I don't have time” or “what if I get it wrong”
The three most common ways people push back on delegated work — and what each one usually means underneath.
How to give real authority without losing oversight
The difference between responsibility and authority — and how to be explicit about both so your team members can actually make decisions independently.
One conversation done well is worth more than a hundred done badly.
The guide is free. It takes about twenty minutes to read. Your next delegation conversation can be better.
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About the author
Written by a manager, for managers who are figuring it out
I'm Martin Cole. I write Self Determined Leaders — a weekly newsletter for people navigating their first years in management.
I've spent over twenty years leading teams and coaching managers in complex organisations. I know what the transition from individual contributor to manager actually feels like — the loss of the certainties you used to rely on, the instinct to keep doing the work yourself, and the slow realisation that leadership requires a different set of skills entirely.
Everything in this guide is grounded in research. The conversation framework draws on studies of effective delegation behaviour, evidence on what actually creates ownership and engagement in teams, and what the research says about why so many otherwise capable managers struggle to let go.
MSc Coaching Psychology, University of Sydney
Twenty years' experience leading and coaching in complex organisations
Weekly newsletter for new managers at selfdeterminedleaders.com
Free. Practical. Evidence-based.
Free. Practical. Evidence-based.
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