Manager's Toolkit #2: Decision Frameworks: When to Delegate vs. When to Direct
Navigate the balance between hands-off trust and needed guidance without second-guessing yourself
Every manager faces a fundamental dilemma nearly every day: should I make this decision myself, or should I let my team decide?
Unfortunately, it’s never a binary question - it’s a range of possible answers from direct command-and-control to going home and letting everyone sort it out for themselves.
Too much delegation can leave your team feeling abandoned or overwhelmed. Too much direction can create dependency and stifle your teams ability to make mistakes and grow from them. Finding the right balance might be one of the most crucial skills a manager can develop.
The cost of getting it wrong
When managers delegate inappropriately, team members may waste time, make avoidable mistakes, or feel set up to fail. Especially if it’s a novel task, or something involving new skills. This damages confidence, creates frustration and ultimately, will foster some negative relationships between you and your team.
However, when managers direct too much, they become bottlenecks. Teams lose ownership and motivation. Innovation suffers, everyone just does it “your way” even though there might be another (perhaps better!) way. People stop thinking for themselves and wait for your instructions.
Both extremes share a common fault: they fail to meet people where they are.
A practical framework for deciding
Instead of relying on gut feeling, try this four-part assessment before deciding whether to delegate or direct:
Risk assessment: What happens if this goes wrong? Higher-risk decisions may require more direction, particularly when safety, compliance, or significant resources are at stake.
Development stage: Where is this person in their growth journey? A beginner needs more guidance than an expert, but may still bring innovative ideas to the table your old head may not have though of. Match your approach to their experience level.
Learning potential: Is this a valuable growth opportunity? Sometimes letting someone make a recoverable mistake creates more learning than preventing the error. Obvious mistakes that you know will happen can be avoided, but are there other things you don’t know about that could be resolved and provide learning?
Time constraints: How quickly must this decision be made? Tight deadlines may necessitate more direction, while longer timeframes allow for more collaborative approaches.
These factors give you a structured way to assess each situation. The answers help determine where on the delegation spectrum a particular decision belongs.
Five levels of decision-making
Not all delegation looks the same. Consider these five levels of decision authority:
Level 1: Direct - You make the decision and announce it. Use when speed is critical or when the team lacks necessary context (or when you’ve had too many sherberts the night before and just want to get it done, go home and binge watch Netflix while eating ice cream).
Level 2: Consult, then direct - You gather input from the team but retain final decision authority. Useful when you need specialised knowledge but must maintain control of the outcome. But don’t forget to credit the team with the outcome!
Level 3: Consensus - The team makes the decision together through discussion. Appropriate when buy-in is essential and multiple perspectives improve quality.
Level 4: Advise, then delegate - You provide input but give the team member final decision authority. Ideal for developing leadership capabilities while providing safety nets.
Level 5: Full delegation - You assign the decision entirely to others. Best for routine matters or areas where team members have superior expertise. Or if you just feeling a bit like playing the slots.
The right level depends on the specific situation and the people involved. The key is being intentional about which level you choose and why.
Making it explicit
The most common mistake? Failing to clarify the decision-making approach upfront. When handing off work, explicitly state the level of authority you're granting: "I'd like you to explore options and bring me your recommendation, but I'll make the final call."
"This is your decision to make. I'm happy to offer advice if you want it, but I trust your judgment." This clarity prevents painful misunderstandings where team members think they have more or less authority than they actually do.
As always, the language you use is important, make sure you’re well understood and the desired outcomes are clear. Everything in between can be flexible.
Evolving your approach
The best managers gradually shift from directing to delegating as team members develop. This progression isn't linear and may vary by task or situation.
Pay attention to how people respond to different levels of delegation. Some thrive with autonomy from day one. Others need structured guidance for longer periods.
Track which decisions you delegate and which you retain. If you're consistently making all high-impact decisions yourself, you may be creating a development ceiling for your team.
Building the delegation muscle
Delegation is uncomfortable at first. You may worry about losing control or setting people up for failure.
Start small. Delegate low-risk decisions where mistakes would be recoverable. Provide clear context and be available for questions. Review outcomes together to build confidence in the process. As you and your team grow more comfortable, gradually increase the significance of delegated decisions.
Remember that your role isn't to make every decision – it's to ensure good decisions get made.
The right balance between delegation and direction creates teams that can think for themselves while benefiting from your guidance when it matters most. And that balance might be the difference between a team that needs you for everything and one that can achieve remarkable things even when you're not in the room.