delegating with details
In my previous blog, Delegation: The Power of Letting Go, you read two stories about Director Brittany, who delegated the Harvest Day Festival to lead teachers Sabrina and Iliana. One strategy that may have helped Brittany and the lead teachers in this transfer of power might have been some written details to guide the festival’s planning process. Providing instructions on paper gives people a document they can revisit when questions arise, reducing the need to ask the director for answers they have already received.
Here is a list of information you may want to include in a memo delegating a task to staff:
Historic context
List and location of needed materials and supplies
Specific responsibilities and person(s) responsible for each one
Decisions that need to be made
Budget
Check-in meeting dates
Deadlines
Delegation requires thoughtful prework, even if nothing is put in writing. When directors prepare to hand off a task, they must first reflect on its components: what needs to happen, who should be involved, and which decisions lie ahead. This kind of strategic thinking does not just support a smoother transition; it also increases the director's own clarity and organization. By front-loading the planning process, directors naturally reduce their own procrastination. The details must be defined early, well before the task’s final deadline, because effective delegation is not a last-minute act—it is a practice in preparedness.
The following resource is a sample memo you might send to staff members outlining instructions for a delegated project that includes many tasks and decisions. The example goes along with the story about the delegated coordination of the Harvest Day Festival from the previous blog. The memo includes a thorough explanation of the task and decisions being delegated. The amount of direction you give a person depends on their knowledge and skills related to the task. For some people, you may need to give a lot of information (as seen in the following example), for others, only a small amount will suffice.
©Bella, J.M. (2025 August 5). Delegating with Details. bella mattina. Retrieved from https://www.bellamattinaconsulting.com/blog/delegating-with-details. This document may be printed, duplicated, and distributed freely with attribution. Permission for the inclusion in publications must be obtained in writing from the author.
