Do You Delegate, or Abdicate?
By Sean Alexander

For most of us, there’s just too much to do. Shuttle the kids hither and yon, cook the meals, mow the lawn, rake the leaves, write the report, grow the garden, grow the business, visit the parents, attend classes, buy glasses, and on and on, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. There seems to be no rest except the grave. Of course, there is a solution: delegate some of the tasks to others.

At work, we can delegate to those who report to us, or someone at our level who will take on an assignment from us, or even to the boss. At home, we can delegate to the kids, the spouse (very carefully) or the neighbor; even the dog can be taught to fetch the paper. So what keeps us from doing it more often? The simple fact is that we are lousy at it.

And the simple reason we are so lousy at it is that we don’t really delegate. We tell, or ask, someone to do something for us, and then we wait, sometimes patiently, sometimes not, until the task is done. As often as not, the task is either not done at all, or not done to our satisfaction, so we end up doing it ourselves anyway; another failed attempt at delegation notched into our lives. How is it that we continue to go so wrong? There are three ways:

1. We don’t define the work in terms of the desired result. In other words, we tell them what to do, but we don’t tell them what we want. We all have a strong tendency to believe that nobody can do the job as well as we can. And frequently we’re right. But when it is time to ratchet our game to a higher level, we need to leave some tasks behind for others to do. It doesn’t matter whether the work is done the way we would do it; only that it is done.
2. We don’t check to see how things are going; before it’s too late to do anything about it. We tend to be a bit narcissistic about the volume of work that needs to be done. That is, we tend to think that we are the busiest of the bunch, that no one else has as much to do as we, that we alone carry the greatest burden of the household or organization. But the truth is that everyone is busy. Everyone has more to do than they can possibly accomplish. We must check in with our delegate frequently, or we risk sending the message that the work we delegated to them isn’t all that important. It is critical that we continuously impress upon them that what we have assigned to them, that they accepted, is very important and must be accomplished on time.
3. When, because of our failures identified in #1 & #2, above, we end up with something other than what we wanted, we frequently throw up our hands, take the work back, and do it ourselves. So, who’s really delegating to whom here? If we allow it to happen our delegates quickly learn that if they just drag their feet, we will charge in to save the day by doing the work ourselves. This is sometimes called the “Hero Syndrome.” By taking the work back, and getting it done, we become the hero. Actually, in the world of delegation we become not heroes, but chumps. How can the delegate ever learn how to do the job well if we keep doing it ourselves?

So, how can we do better? How can we break the cycle of failed delegation? Here are three steps to successful delegation:

1. It is rarely important how the work gets done. It is only important that it gets done at the level of quality we desire. Specifically, we need to define what “Done” means so our delegate can proceed to do that, rather than a vague perception of what we want. We need to define the expected result, or outcome. Be specific as to form, fit and function, and specify the due date and expected cost. Do not scrimp in this area. This is where success is defined.
2. Define interim indicators of progress. In other words, how will we know everything is on track? Don’t be bashful here. Be creative; call it a Success Map. Schedule specific times when a review of the work will ensue. And don’t forget to check those indicators. Our best team members will be thrilled with the opportunity to show what they have accomplished; the least among them will cower and hide from this oversight. We must follow the call to action espoused by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, “Trust, but verify.”
3. When errors occur, insist that they be fixed. Do not take the work back. Not even if it is late. That would be comparable to a North American football coach sidelining a struggling quarterback and taking over that roll himself. Ridiculous you say? And yet when we choose to step in and do the work ourselves that is exactly our behavior. It is imperative, no matter the time crunch, to take the time to teach the delegate how to approach the work, how to conceptualize it and how to choose the right tools to accomplish it. It is the delegate’s job to use that information to figure out how to actually do the work, meet the objectives and finish on time and on cost. If they can’t do that, then we must get someone else who can. Nobody ever said this stuff was easy.

Delegation is a critical skill for all managers. Failure to develop this skill will hobble even the best among us. And, the higher in an organization one rises, the more this skill is needed. In fact, it is rather foolish to aspire to higher levels of responsibility if we don’t first learn how to get more and more work done through others. Stop abdicating. Start delegating. It is only within the realm of competent delegation that we can see the sharp, Vital Edge of Leadership.

To Your Vital Success,

Sean Alexander

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Sean Alexander is President of VitalThought, a boutique consulting company that focuses on Results-Based Management. His monthly ezine, The Vital Edge, helps executives, project managers and team members discover project and personal success with results-based strategies and tactics. If you're ready to energize your projects and yourself, investigate the possibilities at www.vitalthought.com.