delegation

Definition

The art of making something someone else's problem while still taking credit if it succeeds. It's a group of representatives sent to negotiate or discuss issues, or the management technique of assigning tasks to subordinates because you're 'too strategic' for actual work. The corporate skill that separates executives from employees.

Example Usage

I'm practicing effective delegation by assigning all the hard parts of this project to my team while I focus on high-level oversight, which is executive for 'nothing.'

Source: Management and political terminology

Related Terms

Beginner

bitter betty

The office nickname for anyone radiating maximum crankiness, whether from PMS, lack of coffee, or just their baseline personality setting. Gender-neutral despite the name, a bitter betty can strike anywhere, anytime, turning meetings into emotional minefields. They're the human equivalent of a Monday morning.

💼 Corporate / Business

Advanced

rubber coyote

A corporate buzzword for a solution that sounds clever in PowerPoint but fails spectacularly in practice. Named after the brilliant strategy of using fake predator decoys to scare away geese—which works about as well as you'd expect. It's the business equivalent of thoughts and prayers: well-intentioned, completely ineffective, and beloved by middle management.

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

Walk the floor

When executives leave their corner offices to briefly interact with regular employees, like anthropologists visiting a remote tribe. Often done before layoffs to identify who actually works there.

💼 Corporate / Business

Advanced

vertical integration

When a company controls multiple stages of production or distribution within its supply chain, from raw materials to final sale. The corporate equivalent of growing your own vegetables, milling your own flour, and baking your own bread.

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

authorization

The formal granting of permission that transforms "you can't do that" into "I guess you can do that now," usually involving signatures, stamps, or increasingly annoying multi-factor authentication. This bureaucratic blessing gives official sanction to actions that would otherwise be forbidden or impossible. It's the administrative magic spell that makes things legal, legitimate, and hopefully less likely to result in lawsuits.

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

Leverage

To use something that already exists rather than building something new, which sounds strategic but usually means "we have no budget." The Swiss Army knife of corporate verbs -- it can mean literally anything.

💼 Corporate / Business💰 Finance / Accounting

Translate This Term

See “delegation” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

Try the Translator

Share This Term

Post on X Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn

Discover a Term

Beginner

wwg1wga

where we go one we go all...