Delegation VS Abdication

Nice piece of professional advise from Kenneth Vogt:

When most people delegate, they have two modes: delegation in name only, and abdication instead of delegation.


Delegation in name only is when you delegate a task, then give instructions that only a three-year-old would require to carry it out. You hover and “manage”, you give non-stop advice, you visibly cringe at everything that is subtly different than how you would do it, and you spend more time sweating the poor person you granted the task than if you had done it yourself. Perhaps you even take the task back just to “clean up a few things”. Since this works out so poorly, you realize that you just can’t delegate things anymore. Whew, you are saved from having to delegate which was your secret agenda all along.

The other side of poor delegation is abdication. You read that last paragraph and resolve, “Oh no, that’s not me. I am really going to delegate.” So you give cursory instructions, close your eyes, cover your ears, and start singing a rousing chorus of the National Anthem. Pleadings for clearer instructions are unheard because you are “trusting” your faithful subordinate to muster their considerable abilities to do a great job, perhaps an even better job that you. But since all you did was throw it over the wall and they really don’t know what you want, they turn in a weak result due to their timid undertaking of a murky task with no clear objectives. You are very disappointed and find that this delegation thing just doesn’t work in “your business” because you are oh so very special – which was your secret agenda all along.

Read more:
http://blog.contentcrooner.com/2010/01/everything-i-needed-to-know-i-learned-from-a-winery.html