Delegation
performance review phrases

Hands over whole outcomes rather than tasks, with the authority attached.

Let [name] run [work] and stayed out of it, which is why they can run the next one alone.

Matches the work to the person's development need, not only to their current capability.

Worth making the delegation approach explicit to other managers. Most of the team delegates tasks and keeps the thinking.

Ready to delegate something they are genuinely good at, which is the harder version.

I handed [work] over completely, including the decisions, and resisted stepping in when it was done differently to how I would have.

Distributes work fairly and checks capacity before assigning.

Gives enough context for the person to make sensible calls without coming back.

Follows up without hovering.

Delegates the work well. The next step is delegating the decisions inside it, which is where the development happens.

Worth asking what you are still holding because it is quicker to do yourself. That list is usually the development plan.

I started handing over the decisions rather than just the tasks, and the work came back needing less of me.

Delegates the execution and keeps the judgement, so people do the work without learning the reasoning.

Takes work back when it is not going as expected rather than coaching through it.

Holds tasks that others could do, which caps both their capacity and the team's growth.

Next time you are about to take something back, ask whether the cost is this week or the whole year. Taking it back solves the week.

Pick one thing you are good at and give it away this quarter. Delegating your weaknesses is easy and teaches nobody anything.

I keep the interesting decisions and delegate the execution, which is not really delegation.

I take work back too quickly when it is not going the way I would have done it.

Work that should sit with the team continues to be held personally, and this has been raised before without change.

Team members have said they are not given the authority to do the work they are accountable for.

We need a written list of what moves to whom and by when, agreed this week and reviewed in six weeks.

If the concern is that the team is not ready, that is a capability plan, and I would rather build it than have you absorb the work indefinitely.

I have held on to work the team should own. I want an agreed handover list rather than deciding case by case.