Tell me you've had this experience. You assign a task but then forget about it. I sure have. As a leader, I am not a micromanager. That's good news for my team. But I have to be intentional that delegation doesn't drift into abdication.
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\nIt's not always disastrous when this happens. If we've hired well, our teams bridge the gap and nobody is worse off. But sometimes when assignments fall through the cracks, we create serious problems for ourselves.
\nI know better, but this happened to me recently.<\/p>\n
I hired a company to completely landscape my backyard. It was a big job, and the contractor projected significant costs and three months to complete.
\nBoth estimates were well off the mark. The job ended up taking almost fifteen months. The contractor didn\u2019t bill more than he had bid, but I had to hire two other contractors to fix parts of the job he goofed and wouldn't fix. It kills me saying it, but just the salvage job cost an additional $7,000.
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When the job was finally finished, I was angry and wanted to blame the contractor. I thought about writing a negative review on Yelp, complaining to the Better Business Bureau, or even suing him. Maybe you recognize the pattern from similar situations you've had. If so, you also probably recognize three key ingredients that commonly contribute to abdication:<\/p>\n Clarity is important for leadership, but some of us try to skip this step because it takes focus and time. We get only a vague, general idea in our heads, if that, and proceed from there. Trouble follows.<\/p>\n The second ingredient usually flows from the first. Because we\u2019re unclear on what we want, we can\u2019t effectively communicate our expectations<\/a> to others. We don\u2019t just task them with filling in some details, we expect them to make up for what is lacking in our vision. After we give them orders, we physically or mentally vacate. We don\u2019t check on their progress because we don\u2019t want to nag or, frankly, to be bothered. Fortunately, it\u2019s simple enough to correct the problem of abdication. Effective leaders must first get clarity about what we want<\/a>. Then we need to communicate a desired outcome that is vivid and clear from the beginning, answering any questions team members\u2014employees, contractors, or volunteers\u2014might have.
\nBut then I took a deep breath<\/a> and asked myself a question I often use when coaching other leaders: \u201cWhat was it about my leadership that led to this outcome?\u201d
\nI asked that question because I believe that many of the negative things that happen in our businesses, and throughout our lives, are the result of faulty leadership. That certainly was the case here.
\nUltimately, landscaping my yard was still my job<\/a>. I had only hired somebody to do it. The great delays and added expense suggested I must not have done something important.
\nAnd the thing I didn\u2019t do was provide leadership. I ought to have stayed on top of the landscaping job. When it approached and then blew past the three-month deadline and was clearly not close to being done, I should have had questions for the contractor and prodded him to get the job back on track.
\nBecause I didn\u2019t do any of that until it was very clear that things had gone badly wrong, I let delegation turn to abdication and then paid the price for it.<\/p>\nThe 3 Ingredients of Abdication<\/h3>\n
1. We\u2019re Unclear on What We Want<\/h4>\n
2. We Don\u2019t Effectively Communicate Expectations<\/h4>\n
\nOr sometimes we are clear in our heads and we just do a bad job translating those expectations to those who are supposed to make it happen. We could quickly correct the miscommunication of clear ideas but for ingredient three.<\/p>\n3. A Lack of Visibility and Engagement<\/h4>\n
\nNow, delegation is supposed to free leaders to focus on other priorities. But that only works when we've properly set up the task. Instead, what sometimes happens is that we leave it up to others to make important decisions absent clear instructions and hope it all goes well. Then, when everything goes wrong, we wonder what in the world happened!
\nWell, what happened was that we didn't actually lead.<\/p>\nBack to Basics<\/h3>\n
\nOversight is key part of leadership as well, especially for those of us who don\u2019t like to dictate every little detail. We don\u2019t need to look over their shoulders every minute. We do need to make sure, from time to time, that our people are making good progress on the larger tasks we set out for them.
\nOne helpful delegation hack I recommend is learning and communicating the five levels of delegation<\/a>.
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