How to delegate work: hand it over, then check in

You handed the work over on Monday. It sounded clear, they said yes, and it left your head. Three weeks later, on the due date, you find out it went sideways in week one and nobody said anything.

That is how most delegation fails. Not at the hand-over, but in the quiet week after it. This guide covers how to delegate work so it does not go quiet: two dates instead of one, what to say when you hand it over, the one question to ask at the check-in, and the promises that run the other way.

Why delegated work goes quiet

When you give someone a piece of work, two dates matter: when it is due, and when you will ask how it is going. The second one is the one people forget.

Without it, managers fall into one of two habits. Some hover, asking every other day, which tells the person you do not trust them. Others say nothing until the due date, and find out too late that the work stalled two weeks ago on a question only you could answer.

A check-in date fixes both. It is agreed up front, so it is expected. And it lands early enough that there is still time to help.

The two dates: due and check-in

Think of the check-in date as a promise to help, not a progress inspection. It answers one question for the other person: when will my manager next look at this with me?

A simple rule for choosing it:

• With a due date: two days before it.
• Without a due date: a week from today.
• Never after the due date. A check-in on the deadline is just a status report.

For example, you hand over a customer onboarding plan on Monday the 3rd, due Friday the 14th. The check-in is Wednesday the 12th. If the plan is stuck on a pricing question, you have two days to answer it rather than none.

For bigger pieces of work, check in more than once. After each check-in, set the next one a week on.

What to say when you hand it over

A clear hand-over takes three sentences:

1. The result, not the steps. “New customers can follow the plan alone and reach their first report in a week.” Not “write a doc with sections A, B and C.”
2. Why it matters, and to whom. “Support gets 20 tickets a week from confused new customers, and the sales team wants to stop doing onboarding calls.”
3. What they can decide alone, and what needs you. “Choose the format and the tools yourself. Check with me before promising anything to a customer.”

What to ask at the check-in

One question does most of the work: what is in the way?

It is better than “how is it going?”, which gets “fine” as an answer. It assumes there might be an obstacle and invites the person to name it. Often the answer is something only you can fix: a decision, an introduction, a priority call.

Write their answer down as an update on the work, in their words. Then set the next check-in. If the work is on track, a week on. If it is stuck on you, sooner, and fix your part first.

When a date passes, keep the language neutral. “Three days past due” says what happened. “Late” or “failed” says something about the person, and makes them less likely to tell you early next time.

Promises go the other way

Delegation runs in both directions. “I will ask about your promotion case” is work too, owed by you. So is “I will get you access to the data” or “I will talk to the other team about the deadline.”

Write these down as promises, with a date, the same way you track work you gave. Kept promises are most of a manager’s credibility, and the small ones are the easiest to drop. A 1:1 is a good place to start with what you owed them; see one-on-one meetings.

Signs you are handing over too much

Delegation can also overload people quietly. Watch for three signals on each person:

• Six or more open pieces of work at once. Ask whether that is too much.
• Work a week or more past its date. Usually a sign of a blocker nobody named.
• Things you owe them that are past their date. Their work may be waiting on yours.

A weekly look at these takes a few minutes and fits well into a Friday review. See weekly review for managers.

How Manager Kit helps you delegate

In Manager Kit, the Work module keeps three lists: work you gave, promises you made and your own to-dos. When you give someone work without a check-in date, the kit sets one for you: two days before the due date, or a week from today. On that day the work comes back to This week. You add their answer as an update, and the next check-in moves a week on by itself. A passed date shows as “past due” in amber, never as failed, and each person’s page flags work a week or more past its date, six or more open pieces at once, and things you owe them.