You’ve heard about “different strokes for different folks.” Deal with every team member in the way that works best with them. But there are different strokes for different tasks, too. Even with the same person, you often need to supervise differently depending on the task. You may be able to delegate one » Read More
Category: Delegation
3 Variables of Delegation
I was still adapting to my new position on the West Coast when I got a call from my boss, Ed, in New York. Our company president had assigned him the task of arranging for a new warehouse in the Phoenix area. Ed explained things, and I asked a few questions. At the end of the conversation, he said, “Okay, it’s your » Read More
Delegation: Doing it right
Delegation is one of the ways you can assign work to your team members. You delegate when you describe a project or task to one of your team members, give them the objective, and make sure that they have the resources they need. Then you send them off to do the job. Mostly, you leave them alone unless they ask for help » Read More
Sometimes you’re the problem
In many ways, Janet was a great boss. She spent time with her people and knew them and their work. She cared about people, helped them grow and develop, and protected them from the random acts of stupidity by the bosses above here. There was just one thing, one phrase, really. “How hard can it be?” It was » Read More
Why don’t managers delegate more effectively?
Why don’t managers delegate more? There are good reasons and not-so-good reasons, but here are some that I came up with. They’ve discovered the hard way that delegating is not always the best way to assign work. Many managers don’t delegate at all because they tried it and got burned. They don’t » Read More