As we progress in our careers, our responsibilities evolve towards more strategic and visionary thinking. To excel in this transition, it becomes imperative to relinquish some of the hands-on tasks though delegation. For some leaders, this phase is exciting and engaging as they get to play to their strongest suit.
However, many leaders find this challenging, as it may not align with their natural strengths. This doesn’t imply an inability to ascend to the highest ranks in an organisation; rather, it suggests the need to:
- Improve and practice creating vision and strategy.
- Become comfortable, and better, with delegating.
I have previously discussed strategies for enhancing strategic thinking in other posts. This article focuses on fostering comfort with delegation.
In my experience, only a few leaders openly admit their reluctance to delegate. Instead, they often cite reasons such as their team’s inability to perform tasks, concerns about quality, time constraints, or workload.
These are excuses, and it falls upon the leader to address them. Leaders aspiring to engage in visionary and strategic work swiftly find ways to overcome these excuses. Others may struggle, as underlying these excuses is often a genuine fear that they:
- Won’t excel at strategic / visionary work
- Will be “found out”
- Won’t enjoy it as much
- Won’t have a job left if they delegate too much
Coaching can be instrumental in addressing these fears and challenging the belief systems that fuel them.
What Happens When You Don’t Delegate
Failure to delegate as a leader leads to a cascade of issues:
- Stunted development for the team.
- A perception among the team that they are not trusted (interventions by leaders can undermine a team’s confidence).
- High turnover of talented individuals.
- Diminished performance from the remaining team due to lack of development, dependence, and motivation.
- Lower performance from the leader, engrossed in low-level tasks rather than strategic ones.
- Overwhelm and long hours as leaders attempt to manage everything.
Ultimately, the leader may be reassigned or performance-managed out, taking a toll on the organisation, the team, and the leader.
How to Delegate
The final piece of the delegation puzzle is the “how-to” aspect. Delegation is a skill that many new leaders may not have had to develop previously, requiring practice. Here’s how to start:
- Define what excellence looks like for the task or activity to be delegated.
- Anticipate the endpoint of full delegation.
- Determine what is acceptable in the short term.
- Clarify roles: approver, decision-maker, final reviewer, coach (for you); decision-maker, researcher, recommender (for them).
- Establish check-in points.
- Identify critical factors such as timing, details, and quality aspects.
If you find yourself in a position where delegation is essential or if you are coaching a leader in this regard, consider the need to upskill the team, reprioritise work, and begin implementing these changes. Equally important is delving into how leaders feel about visionary and strategic work, addressing discomfort and fear behind the excuses.
For help with developing leaders to be more strategic contact me at Sarah Robertson Consulting or book a discovery call
