VolunteerBadge

Free · Certificate included

Delegation for Volunteer Leaders

Stop doing it all yourself and grow your team by handing off the right work.

32 min Beginner 7 modules Pass 80%
For: Volunteers leading other volunteers

What you’ll learn

  • Understand why capable leaders cling to work — and the cost of doing so
  • Decide what to delegate and what to keep using the urgent-important matrix
  • Match each task to the right volunteer’s strengths, growth, and availability
  • Set an explicit level of authority so handoffs don’t fall apart
  • Follow up and support without slipping into micromanagement

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Course outline

  1. 1

    Why good leaders refuse to let go

    You became a volunteer leader because you were good at the work — reliable, capable, the person who got things done.

    5 min Quiz Interactive
  2. 2

    The monkey on your back

    The most famous picture of failed delegation comes from a 1999 Harvard Business Review classic by William Oncken Jr.

    5 min Quiz Interactive
  3. 3

    What to delegate, what to keep

    You can’t — and shouldn’t — delegate everything.

    6 min Quiz Interactive
  4. 4

    Match the task to the person

    Once you know what to hand off, the next question is to whom.

    5 min Quiz Interactive
  5. 5

    The 7 levels of authority

    Most delegation breakdowns aren’t about what was handed off — they’re about an unspoken mismatch in how much authority came with it.

    6 min Quiz Interactive
  6. 6

    The delegation conversation

    A handoff lives or dies in the conversation that launches it.

    5 min Quiz Interactive
  7. 7

    Follow up without micromanaging

    Here’s the paradox at the heart of delegation: you have to stay involved enough that work doesn’t fall through the cracks, but not so involved that you smother the…

    5 min Quiz Interactive

Sources & further reading

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