Why It’s So Hard to Delegate — and How to Improve

At every stage of leadership, it's important to hand some tasks and even decisions off to team members to foster their development and free up your time for higher level work. But even seasoned bosses often have trouble effectively delegating. Elsbeth Johnson, senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, explains the four main reasons why we struggle -- both internal and external -- and outlines strategies for overcoming them to level up your delegation game. Johnson wrote the HBR article "Why Aren’t I Better at Delegating?"

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Episode 1042

Why It’s So Hard to Delegate — and How to Improve

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A conversation with MIT Sloan’s Elsbeth Johnson on letting go effectively.

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September 02, 2025

At every stage of leadership, it’s important to hand some tasks and even decisions off to team members to foster their development and free up your time for higher level work. But even seasoned bosses often have trouble effectively delegating. Elsbeth Johnson, senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, explains the four main reasons why we struggle — both internal and external — and outlines strategies for overcoming them to level up your delegation game. Johnson wrote the HBR article ”Why Aren’t I Better at Delegating?“

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This article is about DELEGATING

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Related Topics:

• Managing employees

• Managing yourself

• Personal productivity

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