The Five Levels of Delegation

Michael-
This is very practical and helpful. It’s easy to assume those to whom we delegate got it wrong because they didn’t listen. This puts responsibility back on the only person whose actions we can truly control. Good stuff.

Terrific resource! Your delegation is only as clean as you are clear – with yourself and with others. Thanks.

Fantastic list… thanks for sharing! It matches well with situational leadership theory developed by Paul Hersey. The basic idea is to rank your team members as high/medium/low on both competence and commitment (or as I learned it, results and leadership values). Each individual's ranking will put them in one of the following categories: telling, selling, participating, delegating (or again as I learned it directing, coaching, supportive, delegating). Your levels 1 & 2 feel like variations on direction, level 3 is coaching, level 4 is supportive, and level 5 is delegating. Once the appropriate leadership style has been determined for each member (and of course it could change depending on the task as well), it's important to understand the following three things during each interaction with that person: 1) what are they working on to improve their results, 2) what are they working on to improve their leadership values, and 3) what am I working on when I am working with them. That last step is often overlooked and critically important. As a manager it is easy to focus solely on what your team needs to improve upon and forget that you need to continually focus on being a better manager, and more specifically, how to manage each individual so that they achieve their fullest potential.

Love this post! Making clear expectations is always an issue – saying it and following up with an email helps. Also, when someone continuously delegates to me me at Level 2 when I'm striving to be level 5 at some point I just get frustrated, especially if I have not failed at anything they've given me. Knowing when to move people up the trust ladder is important.

I've not had much experience being the leader, but as a delegate I like to know exactly what my leader expects of me. If they aren't clear, I too, would assume to think at Level 4, showing my motivation as a self-starter and seeking to make my leader's life easier. Efficiency, baby!

Being new to managing an office, this post made me realize that I actually haven't been very clear in the level of authority given upon giving a task. (hangs head in shame) Just this weekend, I complained to husband about our communication in delegating and wondered if we were doing something wrong… and if so, what.

Thank you for this post – it makes delegation seem possible, even simple, and not the crazy it was quickly becoming.

I love this list. I hadn't heard it before, but it really makes things a lot clearer, both from a leadership standpoint, and as someone who follows leaders.

Since most people talk about it from the standpoint of a leader, I figured I'd share what jumped out to me from the standpoint of someone who also follows pastors and those who lead me.

This list somewhat reminds me of Jesus' advice not to take the best seats at the banquet, but to rather take the lowest and have others ask you to move up.

To me, being a level 5 follower who can be counted on to do it right without the leader's input seems like the best place at the table. It's where every leader wants everyone under them to be. If you can be that person, you'll be in demand, but it's best to assume you are asked to act at a lower level than you are capable of. That way, if you bring back the ideas with a recommendation and your boss is like "I trust you. I don't need to hear back" then you're honored and somewhat publicly asked to a place of honor.

But, there's nothing worse than acting at level 4 or 5 and your boss having to say, "Yea, I really was hoping you'd have just stayed at level 3…. sorry." Then that's like assuming you are the most important person at the banquet and then you're asked to move. Granted, you may be capable of a level 5 decision, but if the boss isn't comfortable with you yet just because you're new or maybe they're normally fine with a 5 but in this case there are things you don't know about that necessitate closer supervision, then you have to be careful, same as how you may be important, but it's better to assume there are more important people at the party and be asked to move up rather than down.

I'll always remember a lesson in communication I learned at a conference several years ago. I approached the doorkeeper at the end of our session and said, "Thanks very much for all you did here today. Have a good night." I was surprised to return 30 minutes later to find him still at his post. "Nobody told me I could leave," he said. And he was right. When I said "good night," I thought I was communicating that the session was over, and he was free to leave. But my language was very unclear. Now I'm a lot more conscious of how well I communicate instructions!

As a leader, I think I rarely make it past level one.
And then I think, I wouldn't be where I am today if someone hadn't trusted me and delegated to me on another level.

I think we view delegating as either: I do it or they do it, so this is a very challenging reminder that we can master this arena.

Whewn I used to manage a large and ever changing group of people working on a television project, I found it interesting and challenging that at times people wanted different levels of responsibility than I was choosing to delelgate. My goal was to get everyone to level 4 or 5, but not everyone wanted to get there at all, and I had good chances to learn when it was best to respect that choice and best to work with a person to take on more responsibility.

Michael,

As a leader in the modern era, I have found myself looking back at this post almost on a daily basis. It has help me create boundaries for not only myself but for my employees. This in turn has made me a much better leader as they know exactly what I expect as well as they know what to expect out of me.

Once again, thank you for sharing such an insightful and informative post.

Just wanted to say “Thanks” for this, and many other articles regarding leadership and managing life. I’m on the other side of the world, trying to figure a lot of things out in leading a small office in community development…one step at a time. I’m in the process of translating this one into Chinese, to see if it helps clarify our work with each other.

I’m working through the process of taking delegation to a new level as part of my transition into increased responsibility. I’m going to post the 5 levels of delegation on a wall in my office as a crisp reminder to clearly convey expectations along with assignments. Thanks, as always, for this great insight.