Last email, we shared the costs of failing to delegate.
Delegation is a terrifying prospect for some, but for others it’s an easy default.
Delegation requires autonomy; someone else has to be trusted to manage themselves through the performance of some amount of work, without immediate supervision.
The only way that works is if there’s alignment.
While some might view alignment and autonomy as a trade-off (in other words, high autonomy = low alignment), we know we can have both, and in fact alignment enables autonomy.
Von Moltke’s insight is that there is no choice to make… He realizes quite simply that the more alignment you have, the more autonomy you can grant.
Stephen Bungay, The Art of Action
As a leader, you get alignment by sharing the what and why, coaching to ensure both are understood, rehearsing to ensure that proposed actions are in-bounds (coaching if not), and then getting out of the way while they handle the how.
Something like this:
A: “We must do [task], because [rationale]. Can you say that back in your own words?”
B: “Sure, it sounds like we need to do [restatement of task in own words], so that [restatement of rationale in own words].”
A: “Excellent. And what would you intend to do then to make that happen?”
B: “I’d do [slightly more detailed tasks], so that [slightly more detailed rationale].”
A: “That sounds like the kind of thing I’d expect. Carry on.”
Any leader can learn to do this.
Ben and David
StrategyTeaming.com