When I was a brand new leader, I had the grade but not the team; and also had far too much work to do.
My manager decided the answer was to give me some help, so we hired an assistant.
When he joined he sat there doing nothing all day long. The reason?
I had absolutely no idea how to get him going.
When I did give him something to do, I for sure didn’t explain it well enough. I didn’t know how to hand something over properly and because of this I didn’t trust he was doing it the way I wanted it done.
So, naturally, I ended up doing most of the work myself.
Eventually he spent a lot of the day doing bits and pieces that would have bored anyone senseless.
Looking back, I can see there was a lot going on underneath that.
- I was young.
- I was new to leadership.
- I wasn’t secure in myself yet.
And I had no idea what delegation was supposed to look like beyond: “I have too much work. You can do some of it.”
Years later, I learned that delegation is much more thoughtful. It isn’t about finding the thing you can’t be bothered doing and handing it to someone else. It’s asking:
"Why am I giving this person this piece of work?"
"What will they learn from it?"
"What will they own?"
"Is this the next step in their development?"
Of course, sometimes you genuinely do want another pair of hands - when there’s a backlog - and you specifically hire someone for two weeks to help clear it.
On these occasions its fine to call it what it is.
The problem comes when we dress unwanted work up as a “development opportunity.”
I’ve worked in places where: “Does anyone want a development opportunity?” was code for: “Who wants this boring shitty job that nobody else wants to do?” The good thing was... everyone knew it was code.
And yes, sometimes people are happy to help; they can see you’re drowning and they want to take something off your plate. There’s nothing wrong with that either.
The part I think leaders want to be more thoughtful about is what their people are giving up by taking those meaningless tasks. Because while they’re spending hours doing the thing you don’t want to do, they could have been learning something that moves them forward.
Good delegation isn’t simply about reducing your workload. Good delegation has a purpose.
You’re not only deciding what leaves your desk. You’re deciding what lands on someone else’s.
Until next time, Aileen.
Something happening in your team that you can’t quite put your finger on?
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If something’s happening right now and you’re not quite sure what to do about it, talk to me.
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