In this guest blog by Lucie Simic she discusses the importance for practice managers and leaders of learning how to delegate.
How many times this week have you done something for your team because you thought, “It’s quicker if I do it myself”? Perhaps you didn’t want to add to someone’s already full plate. Perhaps explaining the task would have taken longer than doing it. Or perhaps you delegated it, found the result wasn’t quite right, and quietly fixed it yourself.
If that sounds familiar, you’re in good company. It’s one of the most common struggles I hear from practice managers. And the frustrating thing is that you’re probably right: today, it is quicker to do it yourself. But repeat that decision for six months and you create a practice where everything comes back to you. You answer every question, check every detail and rescue every task that hasn’t gone to plan. Meanwhile, the work that needs your attention as a leader keeps moving further down the list.
Early in my career, I noticed that the brilliant leaders around me worked differently. They weren’t doing everything themselves. They knew how to give people responsibility while maintaining high standards, and they made time to support the team without hovering over every task.
I started putting what I saw into practice with my own team. Over the years, I’ve refined that approach into my five-step Strategic Leader’s Delegation System.
- Decide what actually needs you
When you’re used to being the person who knows how everything works, it’s easy to treat every task as yours. Start by looking at what you do in a typical week.
- Which decisions genuinely need your experience or authority?
- Which tasks have stayed with you simply because you’ve always done them?
In a dental practice, that might mean stepping back from chasing every routine patient query or preparing every team meeting update. Those things matter, but you may not need to be the person doing each one. The aim is to make room for the work only you can do; coaching people, spotting patterns, improving the patient journey and helping the practice move forward.
- Choose the person, then check their capacity
Delegation should help your team grow. Think about who would benefit from taking ownership of a task, as well as who has the skills to do it. Then have an honest conversation about their workload; “I’d like you to take the lead on this. What’s already on your plate, and what would need to move to make it possible?”
That question is especially important in a busy practice. Giving someone responsibility without making space for it is unlikely to produce their best work. You may need to change a priority, share part of another task or agree a longer timescale.
- Explain the outcome and the standard
“Can you sort this?” may feel clear to you, but it leaves a lot for someone else to guess. Tell them what a good result looks like, why it matters and when you need it. Be clear about any decisions they can make themselves and which ones should come back to you.
For example, if you’re asking your front of house lead to review missed calls, you could explain that you want to understand when calls are being missed, what happens afterwards and where patients might be slipping through the gaps. Agree what they should bring back to you and when you’ll discuss it. This takes more time than handing over a vague instruction. It also gives the person a fair chance to succeed.
- Agree when you’ll check in
Giving someone ownership doesn’t mean disappearing until the deadline. Equally, asking for an update every hour makes it difficult for them to feel trusted. Agree a useful check-in point at the start. It gives them the chance to raise a question before they’ve gone too far in the wrong direction, and it gives you a chance to offer support without taking the task back.
Try asking, “What have you noticed so far?” or “Is there anything you need from me to keep moving?” Listen before you offer the solution. Often, the most valuable part of delegation is giving someone room to think through the problem themselves.
- Review the result together
If the work comes back below the standard you expected, the temptation is to fix it and move on. I understand why. The diary is full; a patient is waiting and there are another ten things demanding your attention. But if you always make the correction yourself, your team never gets to see the gap between what they delivered and what was needed.
Talk it through. Be specific about what worked and what needs to change, then give them the opportunity to improve it. You could ask, “How do you think that went?” and “What would you do differently next time?” If your instructions weren’t clear enough, own that too. Delegation is a skill for both people.
The first handover may take longer
Good delegation involves explaining, checking in and sometimes having an uncomfortable conversation about standards. It rarely saves you time on day one.
What it gives you over time is a team that can make decisions, solve problems and take pride in their work. It also gives you space to lead the practice instead of spending every day catching what everyone else drops.
So, the next time you hear yourself say, “It’s quicker if I do it myself,” pause for a moment. Ask yourself whether you’re making today easier at the expense of the next six months.
