https://hbr.org/2017/10/to-be-a-great-leader-you-have-to-learn-how-to-delegate-well
To be a great leader, you have to learn how to delegate well.
One of the most difficult transitions for leaders to make is the shift from doing to leading. As a new manager you can get away with holding on to work. Peers and bosses may even admire your willingness to keep “rolling up your sleeves” to execute tactical assignments. But as your responsibilities become more complex, the difference between an effective leader and a super-sized individual contributor with a leader’s title is painfully evident.
The upper limit of what’s possible will increase only with each collaborator you empower to contribute their best work to your shared priorities. Likewise, your power decreases with every initiative you unnecessarily hold on to.
You need to be more essential and less involved. When you justify your hold on work, you’re confusing being involved with being essential.
How ancillary or essential you are to the success of that portfolio depends on how decisively and wisely you activate those around you.
To know if you’re guilty of holding on to too much, answer this simple question: If you had to take an unexpected week off work, would your initiatives and priorities advance in your absence?
Regardless of your preferred methodology for delegation, here are four strategies that I’ve found work for leaders at all levels.
Start with your reasons. give them context about what’s at stake, how they fit into the big picture, and what’s unique about the opportunity, then you increase personal relevance and the odds of follow-through.
You can’t motivate somebody to care when you can’t express the reasons why it matters to you, so this essential step sets the table for effective partnering.
You can’t motivate somebody to care when you can’t express the reasons why it matters to you, so this essential step sets the table for effective partnering. Otherwise, you leave people to come to their own conclusions about what you’re asking them to do and why.
Inspire their commitment
People get excited about what’s possible, but they commit only when they understand their role in making it happen. Once you’ve defined the work, clarified the scope of their contribution, and ensured that it aligns with their capacity, carefully communicate any and all additional expectations for complete understanding.
“But I told them how I wanted it done!” will not be the reason the ball got dropped; it will simply be the evidence that you didn’t confirm their understanding and inspire their commitment.
Engage at the right level
Too involved, and you could consciously or inadvertently micromanage those around you; too hands-off, and you could miss the critical moments where a supportive comment or vital piece of feedback would be essential.
frequency of touchpoints they will find useful but also gives them autonomy in how the delegated work will move forward.
Practice saying “yes,” “no,” and “yes, if.”
Start by carefully assessing every demand that comes your way, and align the asks with the highest-valued contributions that you’re most skilled at making. For those requests that draw on this talent, you say yes and carve out the time and attention to be intimately involved. But for those requests that don’t align, you say yes, if…
I lead people, priorities, and projects — in that order — and the work will get done because the right people are focused on the right tasks.
To be a great leader, you have to learn how to delegate well.
One of the most difficult transitions for leaders to make is the shift from doing to leading. As a new manager you can get away with holding on to work. Peers and bosses may even admire your willingness to keep “rolling up your sleeves” to execute tactical assignments. But as your responsibilities become more complex, the difference between an effective leader and a super-sized individual contributor with a leader’s title is painfully evident.
The upper limit of what’s possible will increase only with each collaborator you empower to contribute their best work to your shared priorities. Likewise, your power decreases with every initiative you unnecessarily hold on to.
You need to be more essential and less involved. When you justify your hold on work, you’re confusing being involved with being essential.
How ancillary or essential you are to the success of that portfolio depends on how decisively and wisely you activate those around you.
To know if you’re guilty of holding on to too much, answer this simple question: If you had to take an unexpected week off work, would your initiatives and priorities advance in your absence?
Regardless of your preferred methodology for delegation, here are four strategies that I’ve found work for leaders at all levels.
Start with your reasons. give them context about what’s at stake, how they fit into the big picture, and what’s unique about the opportunity, then you increase personal relevance and the odds of follow-through.
You can’t motivate somebody to care when you can’t express the reasons why it matters to you, so this essential step sets the table for effective partnering.
You can’t motivate somebody to care when you can’t express the reasons why it matters to you, so this essential step sets the table for effective partnering. Otherwise, you leave people to come to their own conclusions about what you’re asking them to do and why.
Inspire their commitment
People get excited about what’s possible, but they commit only when they understand their role in making it happen. Once you’ve defined the work, clarified the scope of their contribution, and ensured that it aligns with their capacity, carefully communicate any and all additional expectations for complete understanding.
“But I told them how I wanted it done!” will not be the reason the ball got dropped; it will simply be the evidence that you didn’t confirm their understanding and inspire their commitment.
Engage at the right level
Too involved, and you could consciously or inadvertently micromanage those around you; too hands-off, and you could miss the critical moments where a supportive comment or vital piece of feedback would be essential.
frequency of touchpoints they will find useful but also gives them autonomy in how the delegated work will move forward.
Practice saying “yes,” “no,” and “yes, if.”
Start by carefully assessing every demand that comes your way, and align the asks with the highest-valued contributions that you’re most skilled at making. For those requests that draw on this talent, you say yes and carve out the time and attention to be intimately involved. But for those requests that don’t align, you say yes, if…
I lead people, priorities, and projects — in that order — and the work will get done because the right people are focused on the right tasks.
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