I have lost count the number of times I have brought delegation to life in leadership programmes. It is a perennial topic requested by organisations and identified by leaders as being poorly done. Yet it doesn’t have to be this way.
The challenge is that for most of the time those training it out focus on the process of delegation. The actual act of working delegation out with individuals or teams. If you actually examine the process of delegation, it just requires leaders and managers to follow some simple steps.
So, this can’t be the actual problem as to why leaders don’t delegate as much as they should.
What is delegation made up of?
Delegation is not just a process; the process is the easy part. Delegation is actually made of two parts, the leader’s mindset and the delegation process itself. It is the first that is the actual challenge. Sort this out and the rest is straightforward. It’s the mindset that inhibits the process from being the reality. If we follow the natural process of mindset to language to behaviours, we can see that leader’s mindset underpins the success or failure around delegation happening.
Real reason leaders don’t delegate
Over the years I have collated the reasons behind why leaders don’t delegate. It comes down to several overlapping areas:
Fear
- It won’t be up to the right quality (a.k.a. they won’t do it as well as me)
- I actually like doing X, so I don’t want to delegate it
- Perception of perfection, thinking everything has to be ‘gold plated’ rather than good is good enough
- It will take too long to delegate and then the get work done
Control
- Fear of losing control over something, some piece of work
- Fear that others will become better than me
- Poor planning that prevents delegation from being done
- As leaders the role is about people, not the field of work you spent years honing your skills in.Â
Perception
- Don’t want to ‘burden’ others with work
- Others don’t want ‘more’ work
- Reports don’t have the right skillsets
- Not properly understanding the leadership role – some leaders don’t realise delegation is a critical part of the leadership role
The leader’s mindset
If leaders aren’t delegating, the hard part comes in understanding why it is they don’t want to, or ‘can’t’ delegate to others. What is going on for them, inside? The symptom is not delegating, but what is the actual cause?
Get a leader in a 121 conversation and quite readily they will recognise and admit that it is they themselves are the causes of not delegating.
Is their mindset around their reports fair? Rational? An excuse? Ill conceived? Based on evidence? A self-created justification? This reflection requires brutal honesty with self to truly understand what is actually going on. If this reflection isn’t undertaken there is a risk that only a patch fix is put on the problem, enabling it to surface again in other situations. Deeper examination enables to get the heart of the matter, bringing sustainable solutions.
Only by understanding their own mindset and its origins can there be hope of changing thinking, language and then the behaviours needed to delegate.
Overcoming the mindset challenge around delegation
There are several ways leaders can begin to attend to shifting their mindset around delegation. None of which are difficult:
- Acknowledge the fact that you have a challenge around leadership. Always the best starting point
- Reflect and challenge own mindset – healthy introspection, challenging own thinking and history may reveal valuable insight
- Coaching – Coaching is a powerful tool here for understanding, testing and challenging a leader’s mindset. Whether it is an external coach or a peer coaching relationship, the coaching can really begin to unpack what is going on with the leader. Then be able to bring some rational challenge and a path forward.
- JFDI (Just ‘Flipping’ Do It) and see what happens. Sometimes biting the bullet giving a go and thinking about how it went works. Safely diving in at the deep end.
- Test the waters – similar to the above, in a controlled way, with a low risk topic and strong report try it.
- Reframe own mindset to a positive – rather than thinking ‘I can’t delegate this because…’, instead reframe it. ‘If I do delegate this, what might it bring me?’ or, ‘How might I feel if I get someone else to deliver this?’
- Test your perceived reality – Have conversations with reports over actual workloads, actual desire to take on more work. What real time information does it give you and tell you? Test own thinking as well – ‘What is the ACTUAL risk of delegating this?‘
Delegation issue? Leadership issues? Let’s talk!
Whatever your people based development challenges, Abintus are here to talk to you about them. To understand them, explore them with you and help you find the right intervention for your needs. Contact us on 07867 785314 or nick@abintus.co.uk
Nick Howell is a professional coach, facilitator and author of ‘Great Coaching Questions‘ a best selling coaching and leadership resource.