Why Managers Struggle to Delegate

In this course, Elizabeth Heichler of MIT Sloan Management Review and Sanyin Siang, CEO coach and director at the Duke University Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics, explore effective delegation for managers. Because delegation can be challenging for so many managers, Siang reframes delegation as a means of team development. She illustrates this by assigning a team member an open-ended task to improve LinkedIn content, discovering the team member's strengths and areas for growth through the process. Siang advises managers to verbalize their problem-solving process, sharing knowns and unknowns, and asking team members for input to nurture collaborative problem-solving. This approach helps managers scale their leadership by developing their teams and ultimately gaining time. By involving team members in open-ended challenges, managers encourage both delegation and development, fostering a more capable and autonomous workforce.