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Delegating Work

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You know you need to delegate some of your work so that you have time to focus on the things that require your expertise. But it's not easy to do. Delegating Work quickly walks you through the fundamentals


Establishing a productive environment
Assigning the right work to the right people
Conducting an effective hand-off meeting
Monitoring without micromanaging
Don't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic. Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives--from the most trusted source in business. Also available as an ebook.

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 6, 2014

34 people are currently reading
366 people want to read

About the author

Harvard Business Review

1,128 books1,874 followers

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5 stars
49 (17%)
4 stars
110 (38%)
3 stars
108 (37%)
2 stars
18 (6%)
1 star
3 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
Profile Image for Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill).
1,381 reviews3,657 followers
March 21, 2023
Delegating work is an art that can be mastered through experience. This book tells what, who, how, and why you should delegate your work.

The most crucial thing in delegation is to give the right work to the right people. You should also provide the necessary resources for them to carry out the work. This book will be an excellent choice to refresh your concepts if you are a company's manager or CEO or anyone who manages a group of people.


"Despite the benefits to all involved, many managers still feel uneasy about delegating. For instance, you might fear that by assigning your work to others, you abdicate responsibility and lose control because you relinquished day to day over site or pressed for time; you might like to do the job yourself rather than teach someone else how to do it. If this is your first leadership role, you might be reluctant to delegate the types of tasks that gave you your star power, such as mentoring junior employees."


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137 reviews15 followers
January 9, 2021
This is me trying to adult - the book was concise and full of actionable recommendations. Looking forward to reading the other titles in this series.
Profile Image for Boon.
380 reviews8 followers
January 14, 2020
Short, practical, direct-to-the-point.

Key takeaway

- Delegate entire project or function when possible
- Avoid assign only tedious or difficult job.
- Provide resources (staffs, tools, information, time, etc..)
- Make sure to communicate both what and why this task.
- Measure the success (what is the success)
- Identify the skill require, past performance, future plan, and availability.

Here are things that can’t be delegated
- Directing and motivating teams
- Aligning tea, strategy with company’s goals
- Evaluating performance
- Helping direct report dev career
- Hiring and firing staffs
- Handling complex customer negotiation

Three scope of delegating
- by task
- by project
- by functions

Level of authority to grant
- make and implement decisions needed without prior consult you
- make decision needed, but notify you before implementing
- make recommendations for final decision which you will approve
- provide you with several alternatives, which you will make a decision
- provide you with relevant info, which you will develop alternatives

Making the assignments
- Describe the tasks, projects, or functions
- Introduce background material
- identify resources and available
- Establish the feasible timeline with agree-upon deadline
- Explain level of authority
- Agree upon standard performance, measure of success
- Determine the process for follow up and feedback
- Discuss your possible involvement

Don’t let the monkey leap back to you

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Amjed Chand.
2 reviews
March 31, 2019
Clear and concise.
No bullshitting around.. like narrating some stories, anecdotes, setting premises defining the problem and presenting a solution.
Someone in a managerial role knows the works needs to be done, given limited time it cant be done buy him alone.. the Solution ? Delegate the work.
This book provides sort of manual how you
1. Delegate
2. Choose who to delegate
3. What to delegate
4. How to track progress/follow up
5. and much more.
Profile Image for Jakub Dembiński.
72 reviews3 followers
August 17, 2021
Krótka i treściwa pozycja o delegowaniu zadań i procesów. W godzinę możesz usłyszeć dokładny poradnik:
-jak delegować
-jak wybrać co masz delegować
-jak sprawdzać postępy
Do tego wszystkiego dochodzą porady np. jak przedstawić delegowane zadanie osobie, która ma je wykonać. Zwłaszcza jeśli zadanie będzie nudne, ale trzeba je wykonać. Czy jak pomagać podczas całego procesu.
2 reviews
February 6, 2021
Solid but not amazing

Ok. Good framework. Pretty self explanatory (very few 'aha' moments). It could benefit from an update since how worknis done is pretty dated in a digital world.
83 reviews2 followers
November 15, 2019
To the point - concise

To the point. Concisely written. Goes directly into tactics and to do list to get started with delegation. Good read.
Profile Image for Gregg.
629 reviews9 followers
April 3, 2020
This is a solid primer with some good lessons in a very short period of time.
Profile Image for Blake.
19 reviews8 followers
April 16, 2020
A concise break down of delegation and a good thing to listen to for those who have direct reports but can't seem to get caught up.
Profile Image for Jeff.
100 reviews5 followers
September 8, 2020
Lots of great points in a very concise format
2 reviews
June 6, 2023
Brief and to the point. Helpful as a refresher if you’ve been managing for a while.
99 reviews3 followers
June 17, 2023
Searching with Google would provide you with better resources how to delegate effectively. Not worth the money.
Profile Image for Nicole Rothenay.
79 reviews1 follower
March 21, 2025
A nice short read on how to delegate successfully. This felt more topical than purely actionable, so it read like a nice reminder that you should be delegating.
Profile Image for Jai.
144 reviews1 follower
May 6, 2025
This series is so essential, practical, useful, and concise.
60 reviews
September 6, 2025
A quick read regarding delegation. Some good pointers in there. Maybe would serve as a good refresher for someone looking for a memory jogger on how, where and why to delegate.
Profile Image for CA Ram Melam.
439 reviews5 followers
March 12, 2022
Delegation of work from Harvard Business Review is not very lucid and practical, but we can utilize this short work for academic purposes.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews

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