Do The Math on Delegation
It’s Just Smart Business (and Sanity-Saving)
Let’s play a quick game called “Should I Be Doing This?”
You're knee-deep in an Excel spreadsheet, cross-referencing data that someone else pulled together. You’re fixing formatting, rechecking totals, maybe even resizing columns like it’s some kind of productivity puzzle. Fun! Except... not really.
Now pause and ask yourself:
How much do I get paid an hour?
And how much does *someone on my team* get paid an hour?
Because if you’re a manager, the math gets real ugly real fast.
The Price of “I’ll Just Do It Myself”
We all do it. You tell yourself it’ll be faster if you just handle it. Maybe you don’t want to burden your team. Maybe you think you’re being helpful. Maybe (and let’s be honest here) it’s a little ego. You’re the best at it, after all, right?
But every time you swoop in to tweak the deck, run the numbers, or coordinate the catering for the team offsite (yes, even that), you’re using premium executive-level labor to do entry-level work. And that’s just bad economics.
Imagine this:
You’re paid $120K a year. That’s roughly $60 an hour.
Your direct report is paid $60K. That’s $30 an hour.
So when you take on a task you could have delegated, you’re basically saying, “Let’s pay double for this task because I like doing it *myself.*”
Would you do that with office supplies? “No thanks, I don’t want the $15 mouse—I’ll take the gold-plated $30 one because it makes me feel better.” Didn’t think so.
Delegating: It's Not Lazy, It’s Leveraged
Delegating doesn’t mean you’re lazy or out of touch. It means you understand how to use resources wisely. Your team *is* a resource. And if you’re hoarding the work like a dragon with a treasure chest of to-do lists, you’re not leading—you’re blocking.
Let’s look at two examples of how delegation actually saves money and increases value:
1. The Report from Hell
You need a weekly report pulled together from three systems, cleaned up, and emailed to leadership. You’ve done it before. It takes about two hours, and honestly, it’s kind of annoying.
If you do it: 2 hours x $60/hour = $120
If your team member does it: 2 hours x $30/hour = $60
Savings: $60/week
Over a year? That’s $3,120.
Now multiply that by *how many things* you’re still clinging to. Your spreadsheet habit might be costing your org more than a nice vacation. (But sure, go ahead and format those cells just one more time.)
2. The “Quick” Presentation
Your VP needs a deck. You think, “I'll throw this together in a couple hours.” Five hours later, you’re still hunting for the perfect stock photo of teamwork (spoiler alert: it doesn’t exist), and you haven’t touched your actual job all day.
If you had given your team member a rough outline, they could have built the first draft while *you* reviewed project risks, talked to stakeholders, or, I don’t know, led.
Let them do the first 80%. You polish the last 20%. That’s not slacking—that’s scaling.
But What If They Screw It Up?
Ah yes, the classic manager fear: “If I delegate it, they might mess it up.”
Sure. That might happen. At first.
But how else are they going to learn? You weren’t born knowing how to navigate every spreadsheet, email nuance, or PowerPoint transition. Someone gave you a shot (and maybe a few gentle corrections along the way).
Delegation is how people grow. It’s how your team becomes stronger, more capable, and—let’s be honest—*less reliant on you for every single thing*. That’s not just efficient. That’s freedom.
Save Yourself for the Work That Matters
Let’s be real. No one promotes you because you're the fastest at formatting slides. They promote you because you think strategically, you lead people, you influence decisions. That’s your actual job.
Every time you spend your hours on work someone else could do, you're stealing time from the stuff **only you** can do.
Building relationships across departments
Giving real-time coaching to your team
Creating a roadmap for your team’s development
Thinking ahead instead of putting out fires
But none of that gets done if you’re neck-deep in formatting an agenda for the Q2 planning meeting. Delegate it.
A Quick Litmus Test
Next time a task lands on your plate, ask:
Does this require my level of authority or insight?
Is there someone on my team who *could* do this with some support?
If I spend my time here, what won’t get done?
If the answer is “No,” “Yes,” and “Something important”—then congratulations. You’ve got a delegatable task on your hands.
Conclusion
Delegating isn't about offloading boring tasks. It’s about investing in your team, using your time wisely, and making sure your organization isn’t wasting money paying manager rates for analyst-level work.
So go ahead. Let go of that deck. Pass off that report. Delegate the follow-up notes.
Because being a good manager doesn’t mean doing *everything.* It means doing *what only you* can do—and helping your team do the rest.