4 Reasons Why Managers Don’t Delegate

Every successful manager knows that to deliver their best results they need to do what they do best. Despite knowing this, many managers never delegate or they delegate badly.

So what are 4 reasons why managers don’t delegate?

Reason 1: Fear

You might not be expecting this to be top of the list but, surprisingly, fear is a big factor. Those who are afraid to delegate worry that others will do a poor job or even do a better job than the manager, who will in turn look bad. If this is you, ask yourself if your fear is real or made up. If your own personal reputation is more important than results, your fear is ego driven.

Reason 2: Lack of know how

Surprisingly, many managers don’t seem to know how to delegate. Maybe it is because they have never seen delegation done effectively. More likely is that they are so submerged in the fine detail that they cannot see the opportunity right in front of their nose.

Reason 3: Playing it safe

You might have heard the phrase, “If you want a job done properly, do it yourself”. Sometimes that might be right and sometimes it might be completely wrong. We are all better at some things than others. Managers who try to be masters of everything think they are playing it safe. The truth is they are probably de-motivating their team, suffering from high levels of turnover and huge amounts of personal stress.

Reason 4: It takes too much time

Okay, let’s be honest, delegating takes time. However, it is a one-off time investment that pays back time and time again. Next time you notice yourself saying that passing something to someone else takes too much time, do the maths and see how long it will take to pay back the one off investment of time.

The Bottom Line

If you are serious about being a successful leader or manager, you need to delegate or learn how to delegate.