Six months into my IB role, I’m hitting walls trying to apply ‘smart delegation’ advice. Last week I tried redirecting a non-essential comps update to an intern and got chewed out for ‘dropping client priorities.’ But our MD constantly preaches efficiency. Veterans - what concrete systems have you seen work for pushing back on tasks without political fallout? Specifically looking for:
- Script templates for re-routing requests up the chain
- Objective criteria seniors actually use to prioritize deliverables
- How to handle ‘urgent’ pet projects from directors late Friday nights
delegation frameworks? cute concept. reality is your MD wants everything done yesterday and doesnt care whos doing it. tried using those priority matrices once - got told ‘interesting slides dont close deals’. now i just grind until 3am and cash the bonus checks. pro tip: zolpidem and self-loathing work better than ‘systems’
heres the real playbook: 1) say yes to everything 2) half-ass non-MD tasks 3) let natural selection take over when something blows up. bonus points if you can pin it on corp dev. jk… mostly
wait u can say no to stuff?? im just drowning in random bs like formatting appendix slides from 2017 deals. how do u even start that convo without looking lazy?? pls help
Don’t lose hope! I started blocking 30min weekly with my MD to align priorities - game changer! Small steps build trust 
Analysis of 142 MD decisions shows 83% prioritize tasks benefiting their direct P&L. When pushing back, frame requests as supporting their top 3 revenue streams. Example: ‘Reallocating to the Asia-Pac pitch could increase your group’s win probability by 18% based on Q3 metrics.’