Episode #142: We Need Help

Why did DIY typing make smart leaders stop delegating?

When Executive Assistants and secretarial pools faded, leaders began producing their own emails, decks, and spreadsheets. That “DIY default” felt efficient—but it quietly trained managers to hold on to work others could handle. Over time, the delegation muscle atrophied.
Mini-summary: Keyboard-era efficiency masked a deeper problem: leaders stopped practicing real delegation.

Ask yourself:

• Do you work out details others could handle?

• Keep your hands on too many projects?

• Rush to meet deadlines and work longer hours than peers?

• Do tasks your team could do themselves?

• Re-enter projects you thought you’d already given away?
  Mini-summary: If you answered “Yes” to several, you’re doing others’ work—and capping your own impact.

Chronic under-delegation traps managers in low-value tasks and blocks succession. Organizations can’t promote you if there’s no ready successor. You lose time for thinking, anticipating, and innovating—the very value executives are paid to create. In Japan’s fast-moving, bilingual business context, this means missed opportunities to lead change across functions and markets.
Mini-summary: Without delegation, both individual careers and company momentum stall.

Two common scripts:

• “It’ll be faster if I do it myself.” That’s short-term convenience over long-term scalability.

• “Delegation doesn’t work.” It works—when you use the full process (clear outcomes, resources, checkpoints, and coaching).
  Mini-summary: It’s not delegation that fails—it’s half-delegation.

• Audit your time: Separate high-value work (strategy, relationships, decisions only you can make) from low-value tasks.

• Choose the right tasks to delegate: Pick repeatable, teachable work with clear success criteria.

• Define the outcome, not the steps: State the “what” and “why,” agree on “how good is good,” and set review points.

• Equip and support: Provide context, tools, and guardrails. Coach skill gaps rather than reclaiming the task.

• Institutionalize the habit: Build weekly delegation slots into your calendar; celebrate team wins to reinforce ownership.
  Mini-summary: Treat delegation as a system—scope, enable, coach, and review.

• リーダーシップ研修 (Leadership Training): Reframe manager time, decision rights, and coaching routines that scale.

• エグゼクティブ・コーチング (Executive Coaching): Replace “I’ll just do it” with outcome-based leadership habits.

• プレゼンテーション研修 (Presentation Training): Give delegated owners the skills to brief up and present confidently.

• 営業研修 (Sales Training): Free leaders to focus on pipeline strategy while teams execute with clarity.

• DEI研修: Build inclusive delegation norms so opportunities—and stretch roles—are distributed fairly.
  Mini-summary: Skills training turns one-off delegation into a repeatable leadership system.

• Run the six-question self-check above and pick three tasks to delegate.

• Schedule 30 minutes to define outcomes, milestones, and resources for each task.

• Coach, don’t grab back: Use checkpoints to course-correct without reclaiming the work.
  Mini-summary: Start small, be specific, and stay out of the weeds.

The keyboard-era “do-it-yourself” mindset made leaders efficient at the wrong things — true delegation brings back focus on high-value work.

Saying “It’s faster if I do it myself” might save a few minutes today, but it costs months of future capacity and team development.

A clear delegation process — with defined outcomes, proper resources, checkpoints, and coaching — ensures consistent results every time.

Dale Carnegie Tokyo helps both Japanese and global companies build scalable leadership habits through Leadership Training, Sales Training, Presentation Training, Executive Coaching, and DEI Training.

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching, and DEI. Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese and multinational corporate clients ever since.