Leadership and the story of delegation

As senior partners go, this individual is a classic leader, very astute, highly emotionally intelligent and able to really sense the reality and need of the moment in any given conversation.

People looked around the room and then said, "Yes, we trust you......(pause)........but" and then he held up his hand and said, "Do you really trust me?", again there was a pause a few nervous laughs amongst the 30 people in front of him followed by lots of "nods and yes we do's". He simply said, "Good, I was banking on you all saying that, thank you"; and that ladies and gentlemen of the Birmingham Business Blog reading community was that, everyone stood up and went back to work.

Over the next 2 months the Senior Partner increased the workload of the newly promoted manager, to breaking point, giving him every bit of new work that could possibly be aligned to that role. The new manager, burnt the midnight oil, worked through the night and the weekends and then finally snapped, walking into the Senior Partners office he let loose with the statement, "For gods sake I'm doing the work of 20 people!"

The Senior Partner, looked up at him and asked him to take a seat, called through to his PA and asked her to gather the new managers team together immediately; five minutes later everyone was in a meeting room, the Senior Partner turned and said, "I count 30 thirty people".

Now I'm not advocating the style or methodology of anyone here, because it was the style of one individual that worked well for them, but I think you get can get the point of the story.

Now if this story is you take a moment and think about it; you have to trust people to delegate to them trust means 'relationship and engagement' to understand a persons capabilities. Delegation means the people are capable of carrying out the task, that they are positioned to succeed by a license to operate and that you are there to learn from them as much as to develop and coach.

Don't make the fatal error of jumping to task and think the harder you work, the more likely it is you will succeed, the contrary may even be true and always remember that managers control resources, leaders motivate people, that success though often happening because of you, may well also sometimes happen 'in spite of you!'

Top Tips for Delegation

• Be absolutely sure you need it doing, people hate doing irrelevant work.


• Choose the right person to do it, this isn't always the most capable. Consider those that would benefit from the experience.


• Ensure people understand the context of the delegated task, so they understand the value of their work.


• Be sure to follow through on the task and be seen to do something with it.


• Show people how this has/is/will make a difference.


• It's an old story but set SMART objectives, so people understand the whole deliverable.


• Check back occasionally to demonstrate interest in the the individual and the activity.


• Be sure to consider the individuals need in relation to the task, this means you are considering whether you are Delegating, Coaching, Directing or Supporting them in this endeavour.


• Say "Thank you", it goes a long way!

Sooner you start, the sooner you'll get there.