Delegation vs. Accountability: Which Comes First?

High-performing leaders struggle with delegation not because they don’t care, but because they care too much. You want things done right. On time. Maybe even better than you could do them yourself. So instead of delegating, you white-knuckle tasks into your overflowing calendar and tell yourself, “It’s just easier if I do it.”

Until it’s not.

Eventually, that leadership bottleneck starts leaking downstream: missed deadlines, decision fatigue, team confusion, and that lovely 11 pm Slack message you didn’t mean to send but kind of did.

The Real Issue

You are a potential capacity bottleneck (no matter how good you are). And your personal capacity is finite (sorry). If the team, the department, or the company is only as productive as the leader, you are in trouble in the long run.

If you want to build a culture of accountability, you’ve got to get delegation right first.

Let’s break it down.

1. Don’t delegate tasks - delegate outcomes.

Too many leaders assign tasks instead of results. “Can you draft this?” isn’t the same as “Own the end-to-end of this project and bring me a recommendation by Friday.”

Clarity is your best friend here. In Agile, they call it the “Definition of Done.” In leadership, it sounds like:

• What does success look like?

• When is it due—and why?

• How will we know it’s working?

Poets use adjectives. Leaders use nouns and verbs. Define “done” like a litigator – crisp and clear. Sometimes it helps to co-create the outcomes for more ownership.

2. Choose who gets what based on skill and will.

Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model nailed it: before you delegate, assess both competence and commitment. Some folks need coaching. Some need cheerleading. Some need you to outline the first few steps – even a ‘high performer’ will need direction when working on something new. What is the work and do they know how to do it?

Ask yourself:

• Have they done something like this before?

• Are they confident and motivated to take it on?

• Is this in their zone of strength or stretch?

Delegation isn’t a dumping ground; it’s a development tool. When you get the match right, people rise. When you don’t, you’ll be fixing boomerang work all quarter.

3. Capacity isn’t infinite - check the bandwidth.

You wouldn’t shove more toast into a full toaster and expect it to run faster. (You're welcome for that image.) So why do that to your team?

Before delegating, pause to ask:

• What’s on their plate already?

• What needs to shift or pause to make room for this?

• Do they have the tools, info, and support?

Over-delegating to your A-players leads to burnout. Under-delegating to your B-players blocks growth. Find the balance - or expect a lot of dropped balls. And heroic personal effort when you swoop in to save the day.

4. Follow-up isn’t micromanagement - it’s leadership.

Ever had this happen?

You delegate something, don’t check in, and then – surprise - it’s not done the way you expected. So, you quietly take it back, fix it yourself, and never talk about it. You don't talk about it, but you sure do remember.

That’s not delegation. That’s learned helplessness (for them) and a leadership bottleneck (for you). And possibly an early warning sign of future frustration. Leaders aren't goalies - you don't get points for "saves".

Set a rhythm:

• Check in early and often.

• Ask questions instead of giving answers.

• Course-correct before things go sideways.

The best leaders stay close enough to guide, but far enough to empower. And feedback along the way is key. I like to tell people that my expectations grow exponentially over time. So if I haven’t seen something for 2 weeks, I’ll imagine it as the most amazing output ever. So hit me up with an early draft…

5. Delegation culture beats delegation heroics.

You can’t build a resilient team if only one person knows how to delegate well.

Teams thrive when:

• Ownership is shared and visible.

• People speak up when they’re unclear, not after it’s late.

• Delegation is proactive, not reactive.

• Broken handoffs get fixed without blame.

Want to test this? Ask your team, “How do we decide who owns what?” If you get 5 different answers, you’ve got work to do.

TL;DR: Delegation comes first.

Accountability is built upon a foundation of good delegation. Want to scale your leadership and empower your team?

Start here:

• Define the outcome.

• Match the task to skill and will.

• Check capacity before assigning.

• Follow up with intention.

• Normalize delegation as a team habit.

The leaders who delegate well don’t just do less. They grow capabilities.

💬 Want help untangling your delegation traps and building a team that owns their work? DM me or head to sabercoaching.com. I coach leaders who are great at what they do and ready to stop doing it all themselves.

Mike R. Sweeney

If you found this post valuable, please share it far and wide so others can benefit. If you want to think about investing in some coaching, shoot me a note @mikesweeney @sabercoaching.com. Maybe we can co-create some clarity and get you moving closer to the island you want to sail towards!