The corporate world has become accustomed to the buzzword “delegation of authority.” It’s a phrase thrown around in appraisal discussions, where a manager might say something like, “If you don’t delegate, how will you grow as a leader?”
This type of simplistic statements tend to imply that once you’ve delegated tasks and expanded your team, congratulations—you’ve now become a leader!
At first glance, this seems logical. Delegation is often framed as an essential step in leadership growth. The notion is simple: hand off your tasks to others, manage them, and voilà—you’ve levelled up.
But what if this simplistic view of delegation and leadership is incomplete? What if, by flipping the concept on its head, we could unlock a deeper, more meaningful understanding of what true leadership entails?
This inversion of the traditional delegation-leadership relationship is inspired by Charlie Munger, who famously said, “Invert, always invert.”
Now access all our services on mobile app
Let’s use that principle to examine delegation and leadership in a new light.
The Traditional View: Delegation as a Path to Leadership
The conventional wisdom surrounding delegation and leadership suggests that in order to grow, an individual must first delegate operational activities; and then, over time, critical or intellectual responsibilities.
By shedding the tasks, they once did, the logic goes, they can rise to higher positions of authority. As a result, they can focus on more strategic, visionary work while their subordinates manage the day-to-day.
This framework makes sense at a surface level. Leaders who can delegate effectively free up their time, allowing them to focus on higher-level decision-making.
But there’s a danger in assuming that delegation alone transforms someone into a leader. Delegating without first undergoing a personal transformation or acquiring new skills can create hollow, directionless leadership!!
Imagine this scenario: an individual who is an expert in a particular area is asked to delegate those tasks without first growing in another direction. They hand off their responsibilities, but in doing so, they are stripped of the very expertise that qualified them for the role. What are they left with?
A title, perhaps, but no clear path forward. In such cases, delegation might only lead to frustration, confusion, or worse—a feeling of incompetence.
The Inversion: Leadership Drives Delegation, Not the Other Way Around
Now let’s invert the idea. Rather than viewing delegation as the path to leadership, consider this-
True leaders delegate because they’ve already elevated themselves to a higher level of capability or understanding. Delegation, then, is not the cause of leadership, but the result.
To break this down, let’s start with the definition of elevation. Elevation means “the process of moving to a higher place or more important position.” This suggests that leadership growth happens when an individual rises above their previous level of expertise.
Leadership involves an array of skills. While the core operational expertise is of course essential and the domain knowledge must keep improving, there are other aspects of the management function involving not just one’s own team, but also the peers, superiors and even external entities, that become even more critical.
For example, a technical expert who becomes a departmental head doesn’t simply stop being a technical expert—they’ve developed new skills, such as team management, strategic thinking, or organizational design, that surpass their earlier technical prowess or some new functional skill.
Once someone has elevated their own skill set, delegation then becomes a natural byproduct. They are no longer the person best suited to handle the operational tasks they once excelled at. Instead, they now focus on higher-order responsibilities, while someone else takes over the work they’ve mastered. The beauty of this model is that delegation happens organically, not as an imposed requirement.
The Pitfalls of Delegation Without Elevation
Delegating tasks without first achieving personal growth can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it might free up an individual’s time, but on the other hand, it could leave them without the expertise or authority to manage the new role as explained above.
Think of a house built on a foundation. If you remove the foundation without replacing it with something sturdier, the whole structure collapses.
Similarly, if a leader is told to delegate but hasn’t yet mastered new skills, they lose the foundation of their expertise. Suddenly, they are responsible for leading teams, setting directions and making decisions without the tools or experience to do so effectively. In such cases, the result isn’t leadership—it’s disarray.
In the organisation this would show up, among other things, in terms of –
- The reportees feeling lost and unsupported when it comes to driving internal change for operational efficiencies.
- The teamwork between the reportees goes for a toss as the binding force is missing. Each one seems to be on his/her own trip.
- Inter departmental issues that remain unresolved.
- Frustration amongst team members seeing lack of strategic moves to take on competition.
This in turn starts attrition in the team as they start seeking other jobs.
The Elevated Leader: A Different Approach to Delegation
By contrast, the elevated leader has already achieved a higher level of capability before delegating. They have mastered new skills, whether they be strategic vision, interpersonal communication, or organizational management. This means that when they delegate, they do so from a place of strength, not weakness. They are handing off tasks they’ve already outgrown in favour of new, more valuable responsibilities.
This is where the leadership-delegation connection becomes clear. The act of delegating isn’t what makes someone a leader—it’s the internal transformation that leads to the need for delegation. A true leader delegates not because they are told to, but because they’ve naturally outgrown the tasks they used to do.
Conclusion: Leadership is an Inside-Out Process
As individuals grow into leadership roles, delegation becomes instinctive.It doesn’t need to be taught or enforced as leaders naturally recognize its value. Their expanded mission drives them to delegate, focussing on greater responsibilities rather than tasks, without the need of external prompting.
Inverting the traditional view of delegation and leadership reveals a powerful insight: leadership is an inside-out process. It starts with internal growth, skill development and personal elevation.
Nischal Kapadia’s next article will be a follow up of the above article, with focus on the concept of elevation and steps to elevate oneself as a leader.
Please do leave your comments at the bottom and do share with others if you like this article.
