So, your boss has a meeting with their boss. They’re brainstorming, tossing ideas around, and you can just feel it coming. Here comes an action item.
Sure enough, you hear: “Can you put together a briefing on the new product? Just throw it together for a quick review when you get a moment.”
And what do you do? Well, you pass that “ask” down to your team. You’ve got someone who knows the product better than anyone else — they led the development of it, after all. So, they stop what they’re doing, push customer deadlines aside, and build a four-page white paper. History, context, industry implications — it’s a masterpiece.
They turn it around in 72 hours and are now behind on their client work. You forward it on to your VP, who passes it to their boss. And then the feedback rolls in:
“Thanks for all the details. I just needed one slide with a few bullets. This isn’t due for eight weeks, so we’ve got plenty of time.”
Cringe.
You’re frustrated, your team is frustrated, and the end product wasn’t even what was needed. That’s not just miscommunication, it’s a waste of precious time and resources. That’s the 360° Delegation Problem.
Stuck in the Middle
Most of us think of delegation as a one-way street: you assign work to your team. But that’s only a fraction of the story.
The reality is, you sit at the center of a 360° web of asks.
- Leadership is asking you for things.
- You’re asking leadership for things.
- Customers are asking you deliverables, and you’re asking them for details.
- Peers are asking you for partnership, and you’re asking peers for key dependencies
- And of course, while you delegate to your team, let’s be real: they delegate right back up to you, too.
You’re stuck in the middle, juggling asks in every direction. And unless you know how to manage it, you’ll end up either dumping on your team or working late nights to cover the gaps yourself.
The Core Issue: Guessing Is Waste
Here’s the critical problem: when we don’t have clarity, we guess. And guessing = waste.
Your boss’s boss asks vaguely. You don’t clarify. You pass it down. Your team doesn’t know what’s actually needed, so they guess. And then leadership says, “Not that. Something else.”
And suddenly, you’ve got rework. Rework is pure frustration.. And wasted time is how burnout happens – for you and your team.
If you’ve ever thought, “Why do I keep getting work back that’s not what I wanted?” or “Why does my team seem frustrated when I delegate?” – chances are, it’s not your team. It’s that you didn’t have enough clarity to begin with.
Step One: Run the 5 Steps of Empowerment on Yourself
Remember Blog 2, where we walked through the 5 Steps of Empowerment? Most leaders think of these as instructions for delegating downward. But here’s the twist: you can (and should) use them on yourself before you hand anything off.
Ask yourself:
- Do I have a clear description of the task?
- Do I know the due date?
- Do I understand the why and the context?
- Do I have the tools/resources needed?
- Do I know the measure of success?
If you don’t have these answers, you’re not ready to delegate. Because if you don’t know, your team definitely doesn’t know.
Step Two: Ask Great Questions in Every Direction
So how do you get clarity? You ask. But here’s the key: not all questions are created equal.
- Closed-ended questions get you quick facts. “What is the date for the next board meeting?”
- Open-ended questions draw out detail. “What’s the purpose of this briefing?”
- Comparison questions give options. “Do you need a four-page technical brief, or just a one-slide summary?”
- Clarifying questions help leaders articulate what’s fuzzy. “I heard you say you want a ‘briefing,’ are you picturing bullets, a narrative, or visuals?”
- Evaluation questions let you test assumptions. Draft an outline, show it to them, and ask: “What did I miss? What would you add or change?”
Pro tip: the more senior the leader, the less open-ended your questions should be. Give them something to react to like a set of options or an outline. Because if you’ve ever gotten the dreaded answer, “I’ll know it when I see it,” you know that’s a recipe for disaster.
360° Delegation in Practice
Let’s bring this full circle (literally). How do you apply all this in each direction?
- Downward (Team): Resist the urge to dump vague leadership asks. Clarify first, then delegate with empowerment. Stop the guessing/mind reading game.
- Upward (Leadership): Don’t just say “okay” when given a vague assignment. Ask clarifying, comparison, or evaluation questions so you know what’s really needed.
- Sideways (Peers): The best collaborative outputs come from clear roles and responsibilities. Define firm vs. flexible (blog 1), divide ownership, and use the 5 Steps to keep everyone aligned.
- Outward (Customers): Customers delegate, too. They ask for “a quick report” or “just a little update.” Stop and clarify before you commit your team’s time. “I want to give you exactly what you want (insert question).”
When you master 360° delegation, you stop being the bottleneck and start being the multiplier.
The Leadership Shift
Here’s the shift: delegation isn’t one-way. It’s a 360° skill that protects your team, increases efficiency, and ensures the work actually matches the need.
So this week, ask yourself:
- Where am I guessing instead of clarifying?
- Where am I unintentionally dumping on my team?
- What questions can I ask upward, sideways, or outward before I pass work along?
Because clarity isn’t just kindness (thank you Brené Brown!). Clarity is leadership. And leadership at scale requires you to delegate in every direction.
Reagan’s Rule
If you want to stop wasting your team’s time, don’t guess. Get clarity, then delegate — put the 360° Delegation into practice.
