Delegation – How to Overcome the Fear of Losing Power and Control

If you bring work home, if you stay in the office after working hours, if you work on weekends to catch up, if your goals exceed individual capabilities and possibilities – it is time to delegate. Simply put, it is the transfer of work to others with defined authorities necessary to complete the task, that is, the decision of which tasks to assign to whom, and which to keep for yourself.

However, delegation is more than just transferring a task – it simultaneously requires a team member to take on the execution of the task and empowers them to act on your behalf, but you remain responsible. The paradox, however, is that almost everyone complains about having too much work, yet most managers must excel in the skill of delegation because all work processes can be improved and simplified if tasks are well distributed.
Research on the working hours of people in leadership positions shows that 50 working hours or more per week is common, therefore quality time management and the question of which tasks can be performed by others are unavoidable points. Those who know how to delegate have satisfied collaborators, clients, and partners, and successfully fulfilled goals.

The Path of Least Resistance The belief that one can do everything best alone leads to increasing inefficiency and dissatisfaction among other employees. Such a mindset begins to be an obstacle in achieving set goals. Therefore, delegating tasks reflects mutual trust between managers and employees, as well as a good assessment of how to best utilize the qualities of individual team members.
Delegation is also an area of personal and professional development. The problem arises from our belief that we need to control results and the deeply rooted opinion that we know how to do something best. It is difficult for us to relinquish control.
As managers, we fear the consequences when an employee does not complete a task with the desired outcome or within the set deadline. Failure can negatively affect us, so we often take the path of least resistance. Instead of improving our delegation skills, sometimes it is easier for us to handle many jobs and tasks because being overwhelmed somehow seems less risky than delegating tasks to others. Thoughts arise: ‘What if they do not do it correctly and according to my standards? What if (sigh) they do it better than I do? What if I have become less important to the job?’
Since we naturally like to have control, we perceive its loss as a loss of authority and power. Essentially, many excuses for not delegating stem from the desire to maintain control.
 
The Skill of Choice In delegation, it is important to choose the right people for the appropriate tasks so that we can transfer jobs or responsibilities to them. When selecting a subordinate to whom you will delegate tasks, you must have knowledge of their abilities and tendencies towards collaboration, as well as trust in them, their personal qualities, and their attitude towards responsibility. By effectively delegating, you contribute to achieving the organization’s goals, develop and build your subordinate who, by executing the assigned task, successfully enhances their skills, and you will also gain more time for management and performing more creative tasks.
It is important to emphasize that it is not enough to just know the nature of delegation. It is necessary to want and know how to delegate. The art of delegation is a set of desires, knowledge, and behaviors. It is one of the most sought-after skills and one of the most desirable, I would say fundamental, traits of a modern manager.
Despite this, according to some research (which analyzes the relationship between the degree of delegated tasks and the results achieved by managers), most of their failures and shortcomings stem precisely from insufficient or inappropriate delegation. Clearly, it is not a matter of ignorance of the role of delegation and its advantages, but primarily the manager’s attitude towards delegation. It is about the personal viewpoints of the manager and their personal relationship with delegation. The fundamental personal viewpoints on delegation, which most often decisively influence both the success of delegation and successful management as a whole, are the willingness to accept others’ ideas, entrusting tasks to others, taking risks and possible mistakes, and the readiness to create trust in subordinates.

Consequences of Non-Delegation Very often, contrary to the aforementioned generally accepted viewpoints, managers do not trust their subordinates and believe that they can do every job better than them. And, in fact, everything can be completely delegated – except for responsibility. The key word for the modern understanding of the concept of delegation is – trust. Not every delegation is effective, so it is important to be aware of some of the dangers of ineffective delegation.
One of the most common dangers of non-delegation is wasting time supervising others: deadlines are not met; some employees work more than others, which inevitably creates a bad atmosphere and dissatisfaction; competent employees are either frustrated or bored; the team and individuals are demotivated because they do not receive the desired and acceptable responsibility and do not develop new skills.
The manager is too busy and does not have time to talk to employees. Employees are unsure of their authority and responsibilities. It is very bad if employee suggestions are ignored and dismissed in advance, and even worse if information about changes in plans and goals does not reach employees. The organization slows down and is held back by slow decision-making.

Buffett’s Lesson Warren Buffett, the American investor, industrialist, and one of the world’s greatest philanthropists, according to Forbes magazine’s list, the third richest man in the world, is certainly not a manager who is overwhelmed and lacks time due to not transferring tasks to his associates.
According to his biography, he gladly delegates regardless of the risks of that approach. Buffett manages an army of 257,000 workers from his small central office in Omaha with the help of only 21 employees. His business partner described his workday as follows: ‘He spends half the day just sitting and reading. And the rest of the time he talks on the phone or in person with very talented people he trusts.’