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Why Women Leaders Delegate Less and How to Fix It

  • Mar 10
  • 2 min read

I never feel good about the word delegation—I'll give you three reasons:

  1. Delegation feels clunky and often doesn't work the way I hope it will.

  2. I know I'm supposed to be good at delegating, but (see reason #1). So, I fight the urge to file this with other problematic concepts, such as a Zero Inbox and radical candor.

  3. And finally, delegation reminds me of those lame, generic training courses people used to attend in hotel ballrooms across America to fulfill a required training metric at work.


Which is exactly where I found myself some years ago with my 10-person leadership team: In a generic meeting room, taking a generic course on delegation. My expectations were low, but the first thing I learned was unforgettable. It went like this: For the opening exercise, everyone counted off 1-2, 1-2, to divide into two groups. Because of the original seating arrangement (male, female, male, female), all the women on my team ended up in one group and the men in another. Unintentionally.


Each group was asked to brainstorm the words and feelings we associated with the concept of delegation. At the top of the women's list was the word "GUILTY" in capital letters. Yet, guilt was entirely absent from the men's list.


In the debrief afterward, the men appeared confused. It never occurred to them to feel guilty about delegating! Why feel guilty?! Meanwhile, the women in the room not only felt guilt about delegating, but we also began feeling guilty for feeling guilty, because clearly, half the population didn't have a problem with delegation whatsoever. Classic.


Why it Matters

Turns out there's a reason women leaders feel guilty about delegating. Research published in a 2018 Academy of Management Journal confirmed that, for women, delegation feels assertive — even aggressive — in ways it doesn't for men. Those feelings trigger guilt about burdening their teams and anxiety about how they'll be perceived.


Effective delegation is a mark of a good leader, but it also makes women feel like bad people. So women delegate less. And when they do, the study found, the guilt undermines the handoff — leaving employees feeling less supported and less motivated.


The Fix

Reframe the exercise.


When women were told that delegation was an act of developing their people, the guilt and anxiety dropped. The delegation improved.


Emphasizing the communal nature of delegation reduces women's negative associations with the act, making it more palatable and likely.


The Bottom Line

Who suffers if you don't delegate? You. Your business. A promising approach for women leaders is to stop thinking of delegating to employees as a self-serving dumping ground for work. Envision instead what you're creating for the person on the receiving end. ▪️


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