The Complete Guide to Delegating Work Like a Pro

Use the 7 levels of delegation to develop your team while avoiding unnecessary work

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I’ve always known delegation is important for leaders, but its importance really sunk in when I saw two leaders almost lose their marriages from failing to delegate work.

It happened almost a decade ago. Two client service leaders who reported to me — let’s call them Greg and Derrick (pseudonyms) — called me into a conference room to chat.

I knew they’d both been feeling overworked, but I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until Greg started crying.

“I just can’t do it anymore, Bobby,” he said. “Supporting this client is killing me, and I feel like I’m never home with my family anymore.”

Then Derrick chimed in.

“Yeah, my wife just threatened to leave me last week,” he said. “I’m not getting much time with her and the kids because I’ve been working so many hours.”

Hearing their story crushed me. I value work/life balance, so I strive to work 40-hour weeks and I want my team to do the same. But what really killed me was that we had been trying to get Greg and Derrick to delegate work for months.