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Stop Hoarding Tasks Like a Dragon: Why Most Australians Are Bloody Terrible at Delegation

You'd think after 18 years in business coaching that I'd have seen every possible way people stuff up delegation. Wrong. Dead wrong.

Just last month I watched a Melbourne-based CEO literally micromanage a senior manager through a simple client presentation over Zoom. This bloke was earning $180K a year and getting coached through PowerPoint transitions like he was fresh out of uni. The kicker? The CEO complained to me afterwards about being "overwhelmed with workload."

Here's the uncomfortable truth: 78% of Australian business leaders think they delegate effectively, but their teams would disagree. Strongly.

The Great Australian Control Freak Epidemic

We've got this bizarre cultural thing happening where delegation is seen as weakness. Like admitting you can't handle everything personally is somehow un-Australian. Rubbish.

I see it constantly in Perth mining offices, Sydney consulting firms, and Brisbane tech startups. The same pattern: smart, capable leaders drowning in minutiae while their talented teams sit around waiting for something meaningful to do.

The delegation paradox: The better you get at your job, the worse you become at letting others do theirs.

Take stress reduction training – everyone knows they need it, but who has time to actually implement stress management when you're doing everyone else's job too?

Why Your Team Actually Wants More Responsibility (Yes, Really)

Controversial opinion: Your employees are probably more capable than you think. And they're definitely more frustrated than you realise.

Last year I conducted an informal survey across my client base – about 340 professionals from Darwin to Hobart. The results were eye-opening:

  • 67% said their biggest workplace frustration was lack of meaningful responsibility
  • 82% believed they could handle tasks their manager was hoarding
  • Only 31% felt their skills were being properly utilised

One middle manager from Adelaide put it perfectly: "My boss delegates the boring stuff and keeps all the interesting challenges. Then wonders why I'm not engaged."

This isn't just about workload distribution. This is about respect, trust, and professional development. When you refuse to delegate properly, you're essentially telling your team they're not good enough. Ouch.

The Art of Strategic Laziness

Here's where I might lose some of you: Good delegation is strategic laziness, and strategic laziness is a leadership superpower.

I learned this the hard way during my burnout phase in 2019. Working 70-hour weeks, checking emails at 11 PM, approving expense reports that should have been handled three levels down. Classic control freak behaviour.

My mentor – a gruff ex-construction manager from Townsville – gave me the best advice I'd ever received: "Mate, if you're doing work that someone earning half your salary could do, you're stealing from the company."

That hit hard. Really hard.

The best leaders I know are almost annoyingly good at delegating effectively. They create systems, set clear expectations, then get out of the way. They trust their teams to figure things out.

The Delegation Framework That Actually Works

Forget the corporate textbook nonsense. Here's what works in the real world:

Start with the "Does This Require My Brain?" test. If the task doesn't specifically need your expertise, experience, or authority level – delegate it. Simple.

Be specific about outcomes, vague about methods. Tell people what you need, when you need it, and what success looks like. Don't tell them how to do it unless they ask.

Create feedback loops, not approval gates. There's a massive difference between "check in with me weekly" and "get my approval before proceeding." One builds confidence, the other destroys it.

I made this mistake for years – creating elaborate approval processes that slowed everything down. My team started calling me "the bottleneck." Not my finest moment.

Home Delegation: The Forgotten Frontier

Everyone talks about workplace delegation, but we completely ignore home delegation. Huge mistake.

Your partner can handle the school pickup. Your teenagers can manage their own laundry (shocking, I know). Your eight-year-old can pack their own lunch. These aren't revolutionary concepts, yet most Australian families operate like everything must go through one person.

My household delegation breakthrough came when I realised I was treating my family like incompetent employees. Once I started applying the same delegation principles at home, everyone became more capable and I became significantly less stressed.

The "family project manager" role is exhausting and unnecessary. Share the load.

What Nobody Tells You About Delegation

People will initially do things differently than you would. That's not failure, that's diversity of thought. Some of the best solutions I've seen came from people approaching problems completely differently than I would have.

You'll feel guilty at first. Especially if you're naturally helpful or have perfectionist tendencies. Push through it. This guilt is not serving anyone.

Mistakes will happen. Budget for them. Factor them into your timelines. Use them as learning opportunities, not reasons to take control back.

One of my clients in Canberra was terrified of delegation because "what if they stuff it up?" My response: "What if they do it better than you?" That possibility seemed to terrify him even more.

The Technologies and Techniques for 2025

Modern delegation isn't just about verbal instructions anymore. Effective communication tools and project management platforms have revolutionised how we can delegate effectively.

I'm a huge fan of Asana for task delegation – it eliminates the "I thought you meant..." conversations. Everything is documented, timestamped, and trackable.

But technology won't fix poor delegation habits. If you're a micromanager in person, you'll probably become a digital micromanager. The tools don't change the mindset.

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The Bottom Line

Delegation isn't about being lazy or shirking responsibility. It's about maximising everyone's potential and creating sustainable business practices.

Stop hoarding tasks like they're precious resources. Start treating delegation like the multiplier it actually is.

Your team wants more responsibility. Your stress levels need the break. Your business needs you focused on leadership, not logistics.

The question isn't whether you can afford to delegate more effectively. The question is whether you can afford not to.

Trust your team. They might just surprise you.

And if they don't? Well, that's a different conversation entirely.