I call it the boomerang.
My client recently referred to it as Hotel California.
Or maybe it's like that nursery rhyme:
"I'm rubber, you're glue. Whatever bounces off of me, sticks to you."
No matter what you do, some task, client account, or project you've been trying to delegate never seems to get fully off your plate.
Which means the future you had in mind by handing it off - whether it was to free up your time or get more attention and coverage to the client or both - is looking further and further away.
In a world in which we are barely taught to delegate and are given such (usually applicable) phrases as "delegate, not abdicate", it can be hard to differentiate the techniques needed to effect a true handoff of responsibilities.
Below I share some of the ways in which delegation and responsibility transition fall apart and how to correct those errors so that you become more effective and delegation and free up your time for a higher value focus.
Below are the most common reasons delegation breaks down — and how to fix them so responsibility actually transfers and stays transferred.
And this isn’t just an owner problem.
When employees get promoted and start handing things off themselves, they often trigger the same boomerang effect, quietly blocking their own growth and the success of the people now working for them.
The Delegation Ladder
Before we talk about what goes wrong, it helps to understand what “delegation” even means.
There are three distinct rungs and most people never get past the middle one.
Rung 1: Delegating a Task
An early foray into delegation looks something like this.
- You have a relationship with Client X.
- You put together the quarterly reporting for Client X but ask Associate A to gather some data.
- Associate A sends you the data, you finalize the reporting and you send to Client X.
- You'll later schedule a relationship review meeting.
If something goes wrong though, you own it. You take responsibility.
That means that if the reporting is wrong, the service is off, or the client says good-bye, you take responsibility.
You delegated a task but you still own the outcome. And while it's as good a starting point as any, it's bottom of the ladder from a leverage standpoint.
Rung 2: Delegating a Process
This is where most people progress somewhat comfortably.
- You have a relationship with Client X.
- You hand off preparation of the quarterly reporting for Client X to Associate A.
- Associate A pulls together the reporting based on a process they or a peer has built then asks you or a peer, Associate B, to double check the work.
- Associate A sends to the client directly with a cc to you.
- You'll participate in the upcoming relationship review meeting. Associate A may or may not attend.
You still "own" the relationship.
But you've delegated the sub-process as well as authority on how to get the job done. But if it's wrong or late, the client will likely call you to escalate but you're giving them the opportunity to trust Associate A.
Delegation (of a process), not abdication of ownership
Rung 3: Full Ownership Transfer
Now this is the utopia that truly leverages your time, but it's more challenging for the typical service provider to attain.
- You have a relationship with Client X.
- You've decided Associate A is now going to manage the relationship going forward.
- You tell Associate A to manage the relationship.
- Associate A is now responsible for the reporting, getting a 4-eye check, sending it and following up and hosting the review meeting.
- You attend only when specifically requested and when deemed necessary and worthwhile.
Associate A now owns the relationship with Client X.
Associate A can keep all the sub-processes or delegate them but if anything goes wrong or the client has an issue, including when Associate A goes on vacation, gets busy, or has other things they want to work on...
Associate A is the one who figures it out. It does NOT bounce back to you.
This is where significant leverage occurs for business owners. Knowing that someone else owns the outcome frees up your focus for other things.
Why Delegation Breaks & How To Fix It
Here are some reason why your delegation process isn't going the way you'd like it to and transforming that into the tangible freedom and focus you're looking to gain.
Reason 1: Your employees are trained to take direction
You'd think this would be a good thing but many employees have been trained to do exactly what their previous managers have told them to do.
My brother, who at the time ran a department in state government, once complained that his new employees would take his casual instructions way too literally.
He would say in plain English the point of the legislative brief he needed them to draft. But instead of drafting it in the acceptable formal language, they'd use his exact words.
Kind of like saying "the Respondent should knock it off" in a court petition instead of "Wherefore the Petitioner demands the Respondent cease and desist all negative actions immediately" and hoping the judge will appreciate sentiment more than structure.
My brother wanted employees to think for themselves, but too many of them had been trained (usually by previous bosses) to do exactly what they were told to.
So why does this happen to otherwise qualified employees?
Because it was their safest path forward at the time.
You can't get in trouble if you do what the boss says, right?
If you want different results, you need to retrain them for critical thinking.
And that starts with a certain amount of psychological safety and letting go of the time-saving temptation you feel to give them the answers.
Considering those drafted documents like my brother dealt with, ask for their revisions before you give theirs.
Don't redline their draft. Add comments or just ask them to revise and come back for a second round.
And then coach and refine from there.
Reason 2: You never clarified the type of handoff.
Especially in a full hand-off, you need to be very clear about what's happening.
When I ran the relationship team in my investments career, any account transitions meant many millions of dollars at stake. So moving a relationship from one client manager to another included a formal sit down meeting in which we:
- Ran through the most important client data
- Discussed the context of the relationship and upcoming deadlines
- Physically signed a checklist that we'd both followed the process and the handoff was official
I'd still get phone calls and the occasional client email, but the other employee knew they were now the owner.
We didn't want to drop the ball and neither do you.
My Hotel California client didn't decide to push through to requiring the signature-on-page checklist. But even the simple language change, from "assistance" to "ownership," helped shift the dynamic with the relationship that kept boomeranging back her way.
Formalized "handoff" langugage made clear that she was no longer going to serve as the backstop anytime the new person, in this case a peer, got distracted.
Reason 3: The chaos (and context) lives in your head
If all the knowledge and context is in your brain, you can't expect a full handoff. This is why systems and process are so key to the scalability of your firm.
If you deal with things like...
- Files all over the place with no naming conventions
- Client background that's in your head and not your CRM
- Data that's kept here in QuickBooks and there in Asana and over there in Google Sheets
- Or even mini fiefdoms inside your company where people gatekeep their help and their resources
It's time to rethink your structural approach.
When we work with clients, we're ensuring that the right tools, processes, and information flow are established. This in turn make it so much easier for employees to focus on delivering for client at the highest value, building not only free time for you, but revenue and enterprise growth for you business.
When you build the systems for success, your people will be able to follow suit.
Reason 4: You let tasks bounce back to you.
No shaming here. I know that if an employee quits or no shows, you're not going to let a client go without help. Reputation matters.
But if the client keeps emailing you, or the employee just assumes you'll handle it, you can't be passive about it. You will need to keep repeating the handoff and redirect the client... every time.
Say the client emails you but doesn't cc the new relationship owner.
Reply back, copy the relationship owner and say, "Client, great to hear from you. Employee is now handling your relationship and will get back to you shortly."
Rinse and repeat.
I do understand this is hard to do but please...
Remember you moved on from managing this relationship because you have bigger (read: higher value) things to focus on.
And pretend for a moment you'd left the firm. Would you still be handling that relationship? Would you be jumping in to save the new relationship owner?
No, they'd be figuring it out.
But because you're still there, you'll have to reinforce the transition. Probably multiple times in fact.
Reason 5: Some people don't want to "own" it.
Not everyone wants the risk of responsibility or figuring it out for themselves.
A (now former) friend of mine once told me she just wanted to show up each day and have someone tell her exactly what to do. I honestly couldn't fathom it!
You can try to course correct from the above scenario...
You can encourage them and provide incentives...
But it might not make a difference.
They may want to stick to their comfort zone.
And until there is a reason for them to step out of it, they'll keep relying on you to keep them in their comfort zone.
Look to your hiring, make sure your workflows and systems are defined, including quality control, get ruthless about boundaries, and if it still doesn't work...
You need to decide if that employee is a good fit.
The Bottom Line
In a fast growing organization, you don't always have time to take delegation step by step and ladder up to a full handoff. You just throw things at the nearest warm body and keep moving forward.
But understanding these principles of delegation...
Including the full handoff and transfer of ownership that so often ends up in boomerang mode...
Can help you and your people successfully hone your time and energy to focus in on your highest value activities, without feeling like the delegation process (or you) are failing.
