Delegate Before You Trust

Delegation

“In multinational operations, you cannot possibly trust another nation’s team from the outset. The only option is to delegate first,” says Sir Gordon Messenger. Modern military thinking is clear: “When the mission and the constraints are made explicit, you can delegate with confidence. Trust is built when the team you have entrusted delivers on your expectations.”

You do not delegate because you trust.
You come to trust because you delegate.

Strong teams are built by leaders who have the courage to delegate, and by team members who rise to the expectations placed in them.

Deep Dive

As Commander of the Royal Marines, Sir Gordon Messenger led troops on the front lines of the Gulf War, the Iraq War, the Afghanistan War, and many other operations. So I was genuinely surprised when he told me:

“When operating alongside the armed forces of another nation, you have no choice but to delegate before you trust.”

I asked him to make sure I had heard correctly.

“You mean you entrust life-and-death missions to people you don't yet trust?”

He replied without hesitation.

“There is no other choice. And from long experience, we know it gives us the highest probability of success.”

At that moment, it clicked. In other words, refusing to delegate because trust has not yet been established actually increases the chances of failure—and of people being killed.

Richard Watts, who commanded forces in Iraq, also taught me the importance of constraints when delegating.

“Making each side's constraints explicit greatly increases the chances of success. For example, if British forces don't know that Iraqi forces will not fight during Ramadan, they may see it as betrayal. On the other hand, if we fail to explain that British units rotate every six months, the Iraqi government forces may interpret those rotations as a lack of commitment.”

That was when I understood that making constraints explicit is the first step in building trust. It also reinforced another lesson from modern military leadership: delegation is not the objective itself—it is the means of maximizing the performance of the entire organization.

When I first became a manager in my thirties, my American boss repeatedly told me,

“Delegate more to your team.”

At the time, I honestly didn't understand what I was doing wrong.

Looking back, I realize that I had confused delegation with division of responsibilities. I assigned work to my team, but then constantly stepped in with detailed instructions. Even though that was exactly what my boss was trying to correct, I found myself thinking,

“I'm giving people work and coaching them properly. Why am I being criticized?”

I simply didn't understand that true delegation means giving people the freedom to make decisions and take action.

I didn't truly grasp the essence of delegation until I was in my forties.

I was recruited as CEO of a company in a completely different industry, while also taking on responsibility for leading the sales organization—an area where I had very little experience.

I quickly realized:

I don't even understand this industry yet, let alone the nightclub and host-club business. There's no way I can master it in a short time.

I know even less about this kind of sales work. There's no way I'll suddenly learn how to coach salespeople whose job is to win over Ginza hostesses and club owners.

I was left with only one realistic option: delegate.

Fortunately, Damian and his team were supporting me at exactly that time. I had originally brought them in to help develop the company's long-term vision, but during the project Damian told me:

“Creating the vision with your head is only one wheel of the vehicle. Unlocking your people's potential with your heart is the other.”

He then taught me practical methods for delegation through Freedom and Constraints and ASPIRE®.

What surprised me most was that I eventually became able to delegate even in marketing, a field I had always considered my own area of expertise. Partly because I was also responsible for sales, I simply didn't have time to interfere in every marketing decision. But I also came to realize something important:

“Whether it's work you know well or work you know almost nothing about, the way you delegate doesn't change.”

The only difference was the kind of patience required.

With sales, I found myself thinking,

“This is nerve-racking—I have no idea what's going to happen.”

With marketing, it was more like,

“It's frustrating not knowing whether things will turn out the way I would have done them.”

In both cases, however, I discovered that when I practiced delegating before trusting, my people performed with far greater confidence and produced better results than when I interfered.

Most importantly, genuine trust developed within both the sales team and the marketing team.

It took me years to truly appreciate a simple truth:

“A CEO's job is to improve the company's performance. Micromanaging the details adds no value.”