Agile is built on principles of collaboration, adaptability, and shared responsibility. But an organisation can’t truly be agile if its people don’t trust each other enough to distribute work effectively. Poor delegation leads to micromanagement, slow decision-making, and teams that lack the ability to self-organise.

Effective delegation, on the other hand:

• Enables faster decision-making by empowering teams to act
• Encourages knowledge sharing, reducing reliance on a single person
• Increases adaptability by distributing ownership across the team
• Frees up leaders to focus on strategy and high-impact work

Burnout isn’t just about working long hours—it’s about carrying too much responsibility with too little support. Leaders who fail to delegate end up stretched thin. Even worse, they unconsciously signal to their teams that taking on too much is the norm.

When teams don’t have opportunities to step up, they also miss the chance to take ownership. As a result, they don’t develop the skills needed to lighten the load. The result? A culture where pressure mounts, key people become overloaded, and high performers eventually crash.

To prevent this:

Set clear expectations – Delegation isn’t just about giving work away; it’s about ensuring people know what success looks like.

Encourage autonomy – Give people the space to make decisions within agreed boundaries.

Normalise asking for help – Teams should feel psychologically safe to redistribute workload when needed.

A resilient team is one that doesn’t grind to a halt when a key person is out of action. Yet, in many organisations, critical knowledge and responsibilities sit with a handful of individuals. This situation creates massive risks when those people leave or take time off.

Delegation is a practical way to de-risk this by ensuring:

Knowledge is shared, not hoarded – Teams should document and cross-train on key responsibilities.

Workflows aren’t dependent on one person. This means if only one person knows how to do something, that’s a business continuity risk.

People develop new skills – Delegation isn’t just about lightening your load; it’s about growing the team’s capability.

The best leaders aren’t the ones who do everything themselves—they’re the ones who make themselves less essential to the day-to-day.

So how do you actually delegate well in an agile team? It’s not as simple as just assigning tasks and hoping for the best.

🔹 Use Agile Ceremonies Wisely – Stand-ups, retrospectives, and planning sessions should be spaces where work is distributed effectively. They should not be meetings where a single leader takes on all the actions.

🔹 Communication and Collaboration – Communication is key. During my teacher training days, we were told ‘Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em. Then tell ’em. Finally, tell ’em what you told ’em’. Communication is not just talking, it’s listening, documenting and following up in a timely manner. Use the tools available – Slack, Confluence, Teams etc but the main thing is communication and commitment.

🔹 Create Clarity Around Roles & Responsibilities – Clear responsibilities reduce work hoarding. People who understand their roles are less likely to hoard work.

🔹 Encourage Peer-to-Peer Delegation – Delegation isn’t just a top-down activity; teams should feel empowered to share workload among themselves.

🔹 Regularly Check for Bottlenecks – Look for signs that work is getting stuck with one person and intervene early.