Delegation: what to hand off and how to check it
For team leads, supervisors and managers who already delegate tasks with a clear brief (see 'Delegation for new leads') and now want to delegate larger pieces of work safely. You'll decide what to hand off and what to keep or split, write a delegation record with authority limits and tolerances, match your checks to the risk, respond when work drifts outside its limits without taking it back, and use delegation to develop people. It draws on the US GAO internal control standards (the Green Book), the UK GovS 002 project delivery standard and OPM development planning guidance, adapted for everyday teams. Your company's approval limits and segregation-of-duties rules take priority.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 76 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Decide which work to hand off, which to keep and which must be split between people
- Write a delegation record with the outcome, authority limits, tolerances and escalation triggers
- Choose checks on delegated work that match its risk
- Identify when delegated work is outside its tolerance and respond without taking it back
- Plan a delegated task as a development assignment with an agreed review
Course outline
- 1.Deciding what to hand off, what to keep and what to splitLesson · 15 min
- 2.Writing a delegation record with limits and tolerancesLesson · 15 min
- 3.Choosing checks that match the riskLesson · 14 min
- 4.Responding when delegated work drifts outside toleranceLesson · 14 min
- 5.Planning delegated work as a development assignmentLesson · 10 min
- 6.Delegation: what to hand off and how to check it: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 13 questions
- 7.Delegation: what to hand off and how to check it: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- GAO: Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government (Green Book), GAO-25-107721, product page
- GAO-25-107721: Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government (full text, May 2025)
- Government Functional Standard GovS 002: Project delivery (version 2.1, 2025)
- OPM: Individual Development Planning (Human Capital Framework reference material)
See it with your own jobs and topics
Tell us about your team and we'll walk you through setup, from choosing jobs to your first skills check.