Common Mistakes Made In Delegating

How you delegate speaks volumes about your leadership. Too little delegation and trust will plummet, and the organization will slow down dramatically. Too much delegation and you will find people pointing fingers of blame at you. Let’s look at some of the common mistakes made in delegating:

Being unclear about outcomes: As part of delegating, it’s your responsibility to tie your expectations to the company’s core values, vision, and goals. The strategic focus and strategic plan will help you. If you tell a manager: “We need to cut your budget by 10 percent,” she’ll have no idea where to begin. What if she unwittingly chops a program that is critical to another department? Without knowing the priorities and long-term outcomes, it’s nearly impossible to make the right call.

Being unclear about quality: It’s not fair to ask for a Rolls Royce on an Escort budget. Effective leaders need to point to concrete examples of what they want. Is it a report?

Then show them an example. Is it a new product rollout? Cite an example of a past success. The time you spend clarifying your expectations will be returned ten-fold in time saved putting out fires later on.

Being unclear about the level of input needed: You need to provide guidance about how much input to gather.

Here are three factors to weigh:

• How important is this decision - relative to other change initiatives in our organization?
• Relative to our customers, how many people will be affected?
• Relative to our employees, how many people will be affected?

Using these three criteria, you can assess how much input is needed.

The three most common delegating mistakes are being unclear about outcomes, unclear about quality, and unclear about the level of input needed. The problem in each case is a lack of clarity which can be improved through effective planning.

By: systems

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business management books: Leading at Light Speed - Build Trust, Spark Innovation, and Create a High-Performing Organization. For expert strategic planning consulting check out LRI's executive consulting using the Six Rings Model.