Susan was given some difficult staff reduction numbers to hit for her entire organization. She was dreading delivering the news to her direct reports. She’d been working with a coach to change her style to delegate more and be less directive with her staff. The goal was to encourage them to step up their leadership skills. "Maybe this is a good opportunity to try some of this” she thought.
Susan called her five managers into her office and told them she has a target to reduce staff by 5% before the end of the year. She explained that rather than decide herself how that reduction would be distributed, she’d like each of them to review their staff and come back to her with their reduction plan by next week. She was trusting them to keep this target in mind and honestly evaluate what they can contribute out of their teams.
The following week, after reviewing all of the recommendations, Susan calculated the total reduction for her area would come to about 1.7%. “What is wrong with them? Can’t they step up and take responsibility?” she fumed. She set up one-on-ones with each manager and in the meetings handed them each their 5% target number. They left deflated, demoralized, and wary of any future “delegation” that might come their way from Susan.
What happened? Susan was using what one of my insightful clients calls “fake delegation”. The dead giveaway that you’ve used fake delegation is that the ultimate decision or task boomerangs back to you. It can appear that the problem is with the person you’ve delegated to: “They don’t get it!” “They’re not mature enough!” “They’re not leadership or even management material!” This can happen with something as simple as a Powerpoint presentation (“He used 6 different fonts on one page! What is the matter with him?”). Or as complex as our scenario above.
In order to delegate authentically and not “fake-ally” you should consider the responsibilities, capabilities, knowledge, and interests of the person you are delegating to. More importantly, you need to identify any unspoken or assumed parameters that you view as essential for a good outcome, and share those explicitly with the person you’re delegating to; don’t set them up to play a guessing game they are destined to lose.
What are your ideas on how Susan could have used authentic delegation in her situation?
