Be alongside, in front of, or close behind…..But never absent.
One of the benefits experienced by new managers is having a group of people to call on to get things done.
One of the challenges experienced by new managers is having a group of people to call on to get things done.
There is no role that is more challenging than managing people, at any level. One of the traps, though, is a mistaken sense of what delegation is all about.
Helping people perform means you have to spend time focusing on the people who do the task, not just the task.
- Who needs help?
- How much?
- How much is too much?
- How often do you need to follow up to see how things are going?
- When you follow up, what do you really need to do to be helpful? (It may be to get out of the way, explain how to do something in detail, or something in between).
Invest in your people, don’t just use them.
We agonize over how to invest our earnings so that we reap personal financial growth.
When we delegate are we asking, “How can I invest in this person during this task in order to benefit all of us over the long run?”
Or is the question “What can this person do for me?”
Each question leads to very different outcomes. One is personal and organizational growth. The other is a sense of using and being used.
Be alongside, in front of, or close behind…..But never absent.
No one is successful alone. However, it’s really easy and incredibly common to fail by thinking we can do it alone.
So the best managers I know live out a model that clearly shares responsibility. They provide direction and support; their people ask questions easily as a result of the “we’re in this together” atmosphere.