The hardest transition.
WHAT MAKES IT HARD
You can do it faster You know it will be right Letting go feels risky
WHAT THAT PRODUCES
You remain the constraint The person never develops You resent being overloaded
WHAT TO ACCEPT
They will be slower initially They will do it differently They will make mistakes
WHAT MATTERS
Whether the outcome is acceptable, not whether it matches how you would do it.
WHAT TO DELEGATE
The task and the decision, not only the task.
Delegating a task while retaining every decision saves you nothing.
WHAT TO RETAIN
Decisions with significant consequences Anything requiring your specific expertise
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
What they may decide alone What needs checking What must come to you
WRITE THAT DOWN
Ambiguity produces either paralysis or overreach.
WHAT TO DO WHEN THEY MAKE A MISTAKE
Establish the cause Improve the documentation or the training Do not simply take the task back
THAT LAST POINT
Taking work back at the first error means you never delegate anything.
