Why you are not delegating

Everyone agrees delegation is important and most managers do very little of it. The reasons are worth naming, because you cannot fix a habit you have justified.

"It is faster to do it myself." True today and false within a month. The first time you hand something over it takes longer, including the explanation and the corrections. The fourth time it takes none of your time at all. Refusing to pay that cost is how a manager arrives at a permanently full calendar and a team that cannot operate without them.

"Nobody else can do it properly." Sometimes true, usually a definition problem. Properly often means exactly the way you would have done it, which is not the same as well enough. Ask what the actual requirement is, and it is rarely your specific method.

"They are already busy." Then something else of theirs has to move, and deciding what is your job.

"I enjoy this part." The most honest reason and the hardest to act on. The work that got you promoted is often the work you liked, and continuing to do it is comfortable. It is also how you fail in the new role while feeling productive.

"If I hand it over, what do I do?" Under this is a fear of being unnecessary. The answer is that your job changed, and holding on to your old one is the surest way to be poor at both.

Be honest about which of these is yours. The technique in the next lessons only helps once the reason is named.