Skip to content
    GuruNowGuruNow
    All momentsMoment category · Development

    Delegation and Authority Architecture

    Distributing work gives somebody a task. Delegating gives somebody a decision. The first moves effort off your desk and leaves the judgement with you; the second actually moves the job, and it is much rarer than people think they are doing it. Authority architecture is the second half of the name: being explicit about which decisions sit where.

    There is work you do quickly and well. Someone capable needs to own the decision as well as the task.

    Try this moment freeCreate a free account
    15Skill
    Signals
    Research Prevalence
    No. 10

    13.2%

    of the 11,359 leadership cases in our research

    Report 01, draft

    Why it's hard

    Handing over the work is easy. Handing over the decision is where it gets hard.

    The first time something wobbles, it's tempting to take it back. Or you check in so often that the other person never really owns it. Or the handover is an announcement, not a conversation, and they end up answerable for decisions they were never allowed to make.

    Real delegation means being clear about what you're handing over and what you're keeping, then staying out of the way.

    What we look for

    Here is an example of some of the Skill Signals that we teach you how to implement and then test for as you progress with this skill

    Skill Signal Groups
    • Framing the handover
    • Checking it is workable
    • Cadence and escalation
    • Closing
    Some sample Skill Signals

    1. You said why this person

    2. You asked what they would need

    3. A check-in point was agreed

    A sample of 15 Skill Signals. The assessment also looks for behaviours we don’t list.

    Try it without anyone watching

    One four-minute conversation from Delegation and Authority Architecture. See your initial feedback straight away, then save your results with a free account.

    Try this moment freeCreate a free account

    No account to start. No card. Your employer can't see how you did.

    How your practice stays private

    Questions about this moment.

    Individual contributor: Low; First-line manager: Core; Mid-level leader: Core; Executive: High. Low relevance means the moment is not offered at that level.

    It appears in 13.2% of 11,359 real leadership cases in draft Research Report 01.

    The assessment uses 15 observational markers across 4 groups. This page shows only a small sample, because held-out assessment depends on some behaviours remaining unseen.