Why Delegation Fails in Business (and How Leaders Can Fix It)

A delegation that doesn’t work is like handing someone the TV remote… …then snatching it back the second they pick a channel you don’t like.

That’s what one clinic owner did. She gave her director the “patient access project.” Two weeks in, she was rewriting emails, questioning decisions, and demanding updates and explanations.

The director stopped deciding. Not because she didn’t care. But because every choice was getting re-decided.

Another owner had the opposite problem. He “delegated” billing cleanup. But whenever claims got messy, he jumped in and fixed it himself. The manager learned the real rule: if it’s urgent, the boss takes it back. Or another lesson Just wait. The boss is going to take over regardless.

Here’s the hidden truth: Delegation doesn’t fail because people are lazy. It fails because decision rights are fuzzy.

Tasks boomerang. Authority sticks.

Think of decision rights as a ladder:

• Level 0: Decide, act

• Level 1: Decide, then give me a heads up.

• Level 2: Recommend, I approve.

• Level 3: Frame options, I choose.

• Level 4: I decide. (Rare.)

Decision rights require guardrails. These are the boundaries that create trust.

Strong leaders push decisions down the ladder until they hit a guardrail.

Weak ones keep climbing back up it.

The reflection is simple: Where have you delegated work but not decisions?

Next week, I’ll show you how to write a one-page “decision rights contract” that keeps delegation from bouncing back.