Let’s be honest — how many times have you handed something off to a team member and called it “delegation”? If you’re running a business anywhere between $2 million and $50 million, there’s a good chance you’ve done it more than you’d like to admit. I know because I see it constantly with the leaders I work with. And here’s the thing: it’s not that they’re bad leaders. It’s that they’ve been working with a flawed definition of what delegation actually means.
So let’s fix that.
The Myth: Delegation = Giving Someone Else the Task
The most common misconception I come across is this idea that delegation simply means offloading tasks. You’re busy, there’s a list of things you don’t want to do (or genuinely don’t have time for), and you hand them off. Job done, right?
Not quite.
What most leaders are actually doing in this situation isn’t delegation — it’s dumping. And there’s a meaningful difference between the two that becomes very apparent as you start to scale and grow.
When you dump tasks without context, without purpose, and without giving the other person real ownership, you’re not building a stronger team. You’re just redistributing your own workload and calling it leadership.
Direction vs. Delegation: What’s the Difference?
Here’s a useful way to think about it. Most people, when they think they’re delegating, are actually directing.
Direction sounds like this: “Here’s the task. Here’s the process. Follow it, get it done, and let me know when you’re finished.” Maybe there are a few check-ins along the way. And honestly? Direction isn’t the worst thing in the world — it has its place, especially with new team members or someone touching a process for the very first time.
But direction has a ceiling. It doesn’t build capability, it doesn’t foster a growth mindset, and it certainly doesn’t scale.
Real delegation sounds different. It says: “Here’s the task — and now it’s yours. That means your job isn’t just to complete it. Your job is to improve it, to negotiate any changes with the rest of the team, and to document the new way of doing it so we can keep getting better.”
That’s a fundamentally different ask. And it’s one that builds the kind of team that doesn’t need you to be involved in everything.
The Three Things That Go Wrong When You’re Actually Just Dumping
When leaders skip the delegation and go straight to dumping, a few predictable things tend to happen.
The first is a lack of context. Tasks get handed over without any explanation of why they matter or how they fit into the bigger picture. The person receiving the task has no idea what success actually looks like, and that creates problems down the line.
The second is quick abdication of responsibility. You hand something over, it gets done (or it doesn’t), and you’ve already mentally moved on. The task might have been unclear to begin with, but because it made sense in your head, you assumed it made sense to everyone else too.
The third — and perhaps the most damaging — is team abandonment masquerading as autonomy. You might tell yourself that you’re giving your team independence, but if you’re just getting them to handle the things you don’t want to deal with, that’s not autonomy. That’s avoidance.
What Real Delegation Looks Like in Practice
The shift from dumping to genuine delegation isn’t complicated, but it does require intention. Here are a few questions worth sitting with before you hand something off:
- Does this person understand why this task matters?
- Have I given them true ownership — not just the task, but the authority to improve it?
- Is there a process they can follow, and is there space for them to evolve that process over time?
- Will they document what they learn so the whole team benefits?
When you hand off a task with that kind of framing, you’re not just crossing something off your to-do list. You’re investing in your team’s capability and building systems that get stronger over time.
A Question Worth Asking Yourself This Week
Take a look at the tasks you’ve delegated recently. Are people thriving with them, or are they struggling? If it’s the latter, it might be worth asking whether you genuinely delegated — or whether you dumped.
The good news is that the fix isn’t complicated. It just starts with being honest about which one you’ve been doing.
If you want to dig deeper into this, feel free to reach out or download Unlocking Your Most Successful Year Yet — it’s a great starting point for unpacking accountability and getting your whole team genuinely involved in moving the business forward.
About Monday Myth Check
Monday Myth Check is a weekly dose of reality where Jono Brake holds up commonly held leadership beliefs and asks the question “What if this was not true”. You can find the weekly videos and other posts by following Jono Brake on LinkedIn or following The Forged Leader, as well as on Youtube @jonobrake.
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