leadership · whole group · offline + online
The Delegation Map.folder
A full plate is usually a habit, not a workload. Sort what you own into three zones, circle one hand-off, name the owner and the support. One, not five.
// kit v2: a stage-ready 12-slide HTML deck (presenter drawer, run-of-show clock, round timer, built-in QR) · poker-spec print-and-cut cards with backs and blanks · an A3 wall poster · a participant workbook and a one-page session sheet, A4 and US Letter with bookmarks · a machine-readable artifact template.
A leadership session, built as a complete workshop folder: a timed run sheet, printable cards, a 12-slide deck for the screen, a participant workbook and a one-page session sheet — and a mechanic that turns “I am overloaded” into exactly one real hand-off, with an owner, the support they get and a review date.
The props are poker-spec print cards (63.5 × 88.9 mm, bleed and cut guides) with branded backs and a blank; the deck is a single offline HTML file with a presenter drawer, a round timer and its own QR engine. Nothing in this folder needs a projector, and nothing needs an account to download.
the run sheet
// this is the guide file, word for word — read it here, run from it here. the .md at the bottom of the page is the same text, offline.
Folder: `the-delegation-map` · Category: leadership · 4–10 people · 25 min · offline + online · print props · tool pack License: CC BY 4.0
A 25-minute, 4–10 person leadership tool. A leader (or a peer group of leads) lays out everything they still personally own, sorts it into three zones, and commits to exactly one hand-off this week — with a named owner, the support that owner gets, and a review date. The map is the artifact; the circled hand-off is the point.
Objectives
By the end of the activity, participants will have:
- Spread the leader's real plate across three zones — Only me · Coach someone · Anyone can run — with habit defaulting to the third until proven otherwise.
- Circled exactly one highest-leverage hand-off for this week — one, not five.
- Attached a named owner, named support, and a review date to that hand-off, so it is a hand-off and not a dump.
When to use this activity
- A leader who says "I'm overloaded" while the team waits for permission they were free to take.
- A peer circle of leads, each mapping their own plate and only helping each other at the "circle one" step.
- You have 25 minutes and one wall or shared board; week two of a new manager, before habits calcify.
The three zones
| Zone | The test | What it exposes |
|---|---|---|
| Only me | Accountability, relationship, or judgment only this person holds | the short list of what leading genuinely means here |
| Coach someone | The leader should be teaching it, not doing it | the months of "coaching" that never left the leader's hands |
| Anyone can run | No real reason it is the leader's | the load that was never anyone's — it just parked on habit |
A note starts in Anyone can run until the room proves otherwise; Coach someone is only honest with a named person and a date attached.
Setup
- 4–10 people. Works as one leader + their team, or as a peer circle of leads each mapping their own plate.
- One wall or one shared board with three columns: Only me · Coach someone · Anyone can run.
- Sticky notes (or cards) for the dump. The zone cards from `the-delegation-map-prop-cards.pdf` label the columns; the Hand-off this week card sits beside them (see The card below).
- Put `the-delegation-map-activity-poster.pdf` on the wall so the three zones and the "a hand-off without support is a dump" rule stay visible the whole time.
- No projector, no account, no online form. Online, the three columns live on a shared board.
- Print one `the-delegation-map-worksheet.pdf` per group — the one-page artifact sheet the room fills while it talks.
- Put one `the-delegation-map-workbook.pdf` at each seat if people want their own copy; the sheet above is the group version.
- Optional: open `the-delegation-map-slide-deck.html` in any browser to run the 12-slide deck on the wall (S opens the presenter drawer, T starts the round timer); `the-delegation-map-slide-deck.pdf` is the same deck for print.
How to run it
| Time | Phase | Facilitator does | Participants do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–5 | Dump | Enforce no filtering, no justifying; invite the team to add what they see the leader doing | The leader writes every task they currently own, one per note |
| 5–12 | Sort | Keep the leader silent until last; hold every "it's faster if I do it" to Anyone can run | Place each note in a zone: Only me = accountability, relationship, or judgment only this person holds; Coach someone = should be taught, not done; Anyone can run = no reason it is theirs |
| 12–16 | Circle one | Refuse a second circle | In Anyone can run, circle the single highest-leverage note to hand off this week |
| 16–22 | Name it | Ask for the support in concrete nouns — an hour, a document, a decision right | For the circled note write: the owner's name, the support they get, and a review date |
| 22–25 | Say it | Go around; the leader speaks first | Each person says one sentence aloud: something they will stop doing, or start owning |
Then run the debrief — see `the-delegation-map-debrief.md`.
The card
The sheet from `the-delegation-map-prop-cards.pdf` (poker spec, 63.5 × 88.9 mm, bleed and cut guides, branded back, blanks) runs the board: three zone cards — Only me, Coach someone, Anyone can run — label the columns; the Hand-off this week card sits beside the single circled note and is the only card that leaves the room with a name on it; blanks take your own zones or labels. The cards are not decoration — a note's placement is argued against the zone's definition, not against the leader's memory.
Failure modes
- *Everything lands in Only me.* The leader is protecting identity, not work. Rescue: ask "what would have to be true for someone else to do this well?" Then move the first note that answer unlocks.
- *Everything lands in Anyone can run.* Overcorrection. Rescue: pull back the two notes that carry real accountability or a live relationship, and say aloud why they stay.
- The circled hand-off has no support. It is a dump, not a hand-off. Rescue: before anyone leaves, name one hour of coaching or one document the owner gets before the review date.
- **Coach someone becomes a parking lot.* Notes "in coaching" hide the fact that nothing is being taught. Rescue: every coach note needs a named learner and a by-when, or it moves to Anyone can run* honestly.
Variations
- Peer circle: each lead builds their own three-zone map on their own board; the circle only helps with the "circle one" step.
- Quarterly reset: run the full map, then re-run only the Coach someone column to see what actually got taught.
- New-manager onboarding: run it in week two, before habits calcify; the Only me column should be short and deliberate.
Facilitation notes
- The leader speaks last in Sort. Defending a note as "only me" before hearing the room biases the whole map — and the room hears the difference between a reason and a habit.
- Anything done "out of habit" or "because it's faster if I do it" starts in Anyone can run. The burden of proof runs the other way from how people feel.
- One circled hand-off per session. A map with five circles is a wish list, not a decision; the discipline of one is what makes the circle meaningful.
- The review date needs a place to live — calendar, standup, the team's real doc. A date that only exists on the worksheet is a goodbye, not a checkpoint.
Put it on the wall
Print `the-delegation-map-activity-poster.pdf` (A3) to put the run of show, the three zones and the "no support is a dump" rule on one wall while you facilitate.
Props in this folder
- `the-delegation-map-prop-cards.pdf` — poker-spec print sheet (63.5 × 88.9 mm, bleed and cut guides): the three zone cards, the hand-off card, branded back, blanks
- `the-delegation-map-guide.md` — this run sheet
- `the-delegation-map-debrief.md` — twelve numbered debrief questions with what each targets, plus failure modes of the debrief
- `the-delegation-map-worksheet.pdf` — the one-page session sheet, print-and-fill: three zones plus one circled hand-off, with owner, support and review date
- `the-delegation-map-workbook.pdf` — participant workbook: the sheet in plain words, the artifact as fill-in pages, session notes, a before-you-leave page
- `the-delegation-map-slide-deck.html` / `.pdf` — the 12-slide deck for teaching or projecting: presenter drawer (S), round timer (T), built-in QR, print fallback; the `.pdf` is the same deck for print
- `the-delegation-map-run-sheet.pdf` — the print edition: this run sheet + the debrief, bound as one A4 document with bookmarks
- `the-delegation-map-activity-poster.pdf` — the whole activity on one A3 wall sheet: run of show, the three zones, watch-outs
- `the-delegation-map-tool.json` — machine-facing file (not listed in the download table): the artifact as a machine-readable template: zones, flow, fields, prompts, watch-outs
- `the-delegation-map-start-here.md` — one page, thirty seconds, then print and go
- `the-delegation-map-license.md` — what you may do with all of this: run it, copy it, translate it, rebrand it; keep the attribution line
- `SKILL.md` — machine-readable manifest for AI agents
- `*-Letter.pdf` — US Letter editions of the print documents
Agent version
Every file in this folder has a stable public URL — an AI agent can fetch the props, the debrief and this run sheet with three curl commands (see `SKILL.md`). The paper version itself needs no screen at all: no projector, no accounts, just notes, a wall and one honest circle.
the debrief sheet
// the debrief questions, in full — the .md version prints on one page for the room.
Twelve questions, three failure modes of the debrief itself, one rule: a hand-off without named support is a dump — and the debrief says so out loud. Use with `the-delegation-map-guide.md`. The debrief runs the last five minutes of the twenty-five.
How to run this debrief
- The map stays on the wall during the debrief; questions point at columns, not at people.
- The owner of the circled hand-off answers before anyone else speaks about their work.
- Close on the three commitments said at 22–25 and check them against the map — what the room *said* should match what the wall *shows*.
Read the wall
- Stand in front of the three columns without talking. Which one is fullest, and how did it get that way?
- Count the notes in *Only me* against the notes in *Anyone can run*. The ratio is this leader's real load story.
The twelve debrief questions
1. The fullest column.
"Which zone filled up fastest, and what does that say about how this plate got full?"
→ The biography of the overload — nobody plans a pile-up; habit builds it one note at a time.
2. Accountability or ritual.
"How many notes in *Only me* are actually accountability — and how many are just 'I've always done it'?"
→ The distinction the whole map exists to force.
3. The eternal coaching.
"What is sitting in *Coach someone* that you have been 'coaching' for months without it ever leaving your hands?"
→ The polite hiding place for what was never really delegated.
4. The uncomfortable note.
"In *Anyone can run*, which note made you uncomfortable to place there?"
→ That discomfort is the real conversation the session opened.
5. Why this one.
"Why this hand-off, and not the easier one next to it?"
→ Leverage versus relief — the easier one is tempting; the higher-leverage one is the point.
6. Agreed or assigned.
"Who is the owner, and did they agree — or were they assigned?"
→ A hand-off the owner didn't accept is a dump wearing a name.
7. The support, in nouns.
"What support does the owner actually get: an hour of coaching, a document, a decision right, or nothing?"
→ The line between hand-off and dump; nothing is a legal answer, but it names the failure now, not in a month.
8. What 'working' looks like.
"What is the review date, and what will 'working' look like on that date?"
→ Turns the date from a calendar event into a test the owner can pass.
9. The failure preview.
"If the hand-off fails, what was most likely missing — the owner, the support, or the leader's ability to let go?"
→ Pre-mortem on one line; teams almost always pick a different answer than their leader does.
10. What the leader stops.
"What will the leader stop doing on Monday to make room for letting this go?"
→ Delegation fails at the top; the vacated hour is the real gift.
11. What the owner starts.
"What will the owner start owning that they do not own today?"
→ Makes the addition concrete — ownership is a verb before it is a title.
12. The sentence you leave with.
"What is the one sentence each person will say aloud before leaving?"
→ The public commitment; it should survive being repeated at the review date.
Failure modes of the debrief
- The debrief becomes a thank-you session. The team praises the leader for finally letting go; nothing gets tested. Rescue: spend the first three questions on the columns, not on the moment — the map is the evidence.
- The owner stays silent about their own hand-off. Everyone discusses the leader's relief while the owner never says whether they can carry it. Rescue: the owner answers questions 6–8 first, in their own words.
- The support promise blurs into availability. "I'll be around" passes as support. Rescue: force a noun and a duration — one hour Thursday, the runbook, the right to sign off expenses under the cap.
Who is The Delegation Map for?
Leaders whose plate is full mostly with things that were never anyone's but habit, and peer circles of leads who each need to see what to stop owning. It needs 4–10 people and 25 minutes; it runs on a shared board online.
What does it produce?
A three-zone map (Only me · Coach someone · Anyone can run), one circled highest-leverage hand-off, and for that hand-off a named owner, the support they get, and a review date. No pre/post measure; the artifact is that map plus each person's spoken commitment.
Can my AI agent use this folder?
Yes. Every folder ships a SKILL.md skill file: frontmatter for matching plus runnable prep commands — fetch the cards, pull the debrief. The three-step workflow (discover, install, run) lives on the skills page, every folder ships a one-command zip bundle, and the machine index is skills.json.
Is it really free?
Yes — CC BY 4.0, no account, no email wall inside a folder. Download it, run it, copy it, rebrand it for your own workshop. Attribution keeps everything free.
make it yours
This map needs no online form and no account — three columns, zone cards, sticky notes. The zone names are the one file to change: rename Only me / Coach someone / Anyone can run to how your team already talks about what to let go, and reprint at poker spec; the one-circled-hand-off rule stays. The license spells out what you may change.
Files in this folder
All files are free under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: “The Delegation Map · WorkshopSkill · CC BY 4.0.”