The Art of Self-Delegation

You usually hear about two types of delegation.

1. Your manager delegates something to you.
2. You, being a manager yourself, delegates something to your direct reports.

But there's actually a third type. A type that may best for career growth.

3. Delegate work to yourself. i.e. self-delegation.

What is self-delegation?

Self-delegation is the process of analyzing work that your manager is doing and taking it off their plate.

Your boss is busy. They feel like they have too much to do and not enough time to do it. They don't have time to analyze their workload, identify tasks that you have the ability to do, prioritize them, and delegate to you.

Sure, they are often delegating tasks to you, but are they delegating their own work? Work they never prioritize? Probably not. This means there's opportunity for you to swoop in, take work off their plate, and let them bask in the new-found time they have.

Once you've made the decision to self-delegate, what work do you choose?

What tasks or projects should you self-delegate?

People want to feel important.

Especially your boss. They own projects that make them feel important, like a high-contributing member of the organization.

Do NOT attempt to self-delegate these projects.

You risk damaging their sense of self. Your manager takes pride in these projects, it's where they generate their self-worth.

Instead, identify projects or tasks that are tedious or time consuming for them. Tasks that she doesn't enjoy. Tasks that take her time away from more important projects. These are tasks that she loathes and would love for someone to take over.

Why hasn't she delegated these tedious tasks to you already?

It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you delegate them to yourself now.

How to self-delegate your first task

Once you've chosen a task that you want to delegate for yourself, you have 3 steps:

1. Do the task in parallel with your manager (without her knowing). The goal is to get comfortable with the task before you self-delegate. This will help you understand the nuances before you take responsibility for it.
2. Meet with your manager, discuss the task, and ask for her blessing. Now that you have a feel for the task, you can meet with your manager and get her blessing for you to take responsibility of the task. Explain that you are looking for ways to grow and would like to make her life easier by taking over her tedious work. Inform her that you've already done the task to learn the ins and outs and are confident you can own it with no hiccups. If you've done your homework, she has no reason to refuse.
3. Adopt the task and complete it with high quality. This is the most important step. When you officially own the task, you cannot drop the ball. You must complete the task with the same speed, quality, and rigor as your manager. You must prove that you can be trusted to tackle more work without letting things slip through the cracks. If you do this well, you build your reputation and release pressure from your boss.

Next steps

Analyze your manager's workload and figure out what you can self-delegate.

Pick one task that's reasonably easy, one that you can dominate. Once you prove capable, self-delegate a more complex task. Over time you will prove your competence and capability.

Over time you'll see, if you take care of your boss, she will take care of you.