Recently, I was having a conversation with a fellow leader. He is relatively new to the role, having moved from high-impact individual contributor to leading the team he used to be part of. It can be a difficult road to navigate. The transition from SME to leader has many risks along the way. One of the biggest ones is how to delegate.
If we are the “go-to” person on a team, there can be an imbalance. Unless everyone is a “go-to” for SOMETHING, it makes one person a default for getting things done. They become the natural delegate for their leader.
How do I know? I’ve been that trusted person, as a leader or contributor, for my entire career. In the most balanced teams, my peers and I have all been trusted for the kinds of things we excel at. If you want someone to figure out the unfigureoutable? Ask me. If you want someone to design a new set of KPI’s and OKR’s? Definitely not, but I likely have an amazing peer who would love that kind of work.
Back to being the single go-to. If the SME is transitioned into leading the team, they are often still seen as having all the answers. The best person to do the work. Likely by the person and everyone around them.
None of us are scalable on our own. As a leader, we need the efforts of our team to affect positive outcomes. If we are doing all the work, why do we have a team? Delegation is a must. So what happens when we realize no one can do the work like we do?
Shift the narrative
First off, there are a myriad of ways to get from A to B. Someone else’s path might not be the path we’d take, but that doesn’t make it wrong. Our method isn’t the only method to get to a positive outcome, even if it’s informed by years of experience (and a lot of lumps).
Our mindset matters. We may have been told by our prior leader “I can’t trust anyone to do it like you do.” As a peer, we may have looked around, evaluated the quality of others’ work and found it lacking in comparison.
Whatever happened before? It needs to go once we pick up the mantle of leader. If we maintain the same mindset that our way is the best way or the team is lacking, how does the team get better or deliver more?
The mindset of a leader provides the upper limit to a team’s potential. When the leader has a growth mindset, about themselves and the team, the sky is the limit. If it’s a fixed mindset? Immediate restriction on the team, holding everyone back from achieving their potential.
Rather than think our way is the best way, we can reframe our thinking. “This way has risks AND it’s a chance for the person to anticipate and address them.” As long as I don’t think it will ruin someone’s career or brand, I do my best to let folks run with their ideas and approach to solutions. There’s no better way to learn.
Know where the “gotchas” are
Maybe the environment is risky and we are on the hook for the outcomes, regardless of what we delegate. That’s the conundrum for many leaders. We are accountable and we want to develop our people. That naturally creates risks that things won’t get done well or on time.
That doesn’t mean we don’t delegate. It means we need to know where the gotchas are. At what point might things go off the rails? What are the political hot buttons?
With experience, we may know instinctively how to navigate an environment and avoid pitfalls. If we clear the way or do the work to ensure success, we aren’t teaching anyone else on the team how to do the same. We aren’t creating future leaders.
I first started leading Marines when I was 21 after being asked to create a project management office (PMO) with folks who didn’t know a thing about projects or technology. There was no way to manage over 100 projects on my own, so how would I delegate successfully?
I documented the process I followed and created a workflow. At key steps that needed to be right, I added a validation step. If there was a partner to engage, like Finance, I added a signoff step. They had standards to guide deliverables, check-ins when things were most likely to go awry, and hard stops for anything that I had to be engaged in (like signing off on purchases).
Creating a process for the work, with key callouts or engagement points to avoid the “gotchas” can increase leader comfort with delegation. It allows the team to have accountability within known parameters.
Take yourself out of the scenario
As leaders, we are vested in our team’s success. That can make it difficult to be dispassionate and have an unbiased perspective on our ability to delegate. Unless we take ourselves out of the mix.
Years ago, I had major surgery and was out of the office for a month. During that time, the team did an amazing job with no escalations to senior leadership. I came back half-time and was suddenly engaged in questions that I knew they addressed on their own while I was gone.
They stopped feeling empowered because I was back, and they fell into old habits. It was easier to ask my opinion than to risk moving forward and being wrong. It highlighted that we were operating sub-optimally before I went out. I needed them to operate the same when I was present as when I was gone.
I don’t recommend leaving unexpectedly for a month. What I do recommend is for leaders to consider how they would want their team to operate if they weren’t here for some reason. What would need to be true for you to unplug on a 2-week vacation and know the work would get done?
Imagine that future and work backwards to what changes or development are needed to get there.
Another option is to imagine if it was another leader. What would you tell your peer if they had your team? We may struggle to see ourselves and our path clearly but can often see someone else’s perfectly. What would you tell him/her?
By taking ourselves out of the mix, we can better see steps forward to improve our delegation.
From “should” to “have to”
Delegation is not a nice to have or something we “should” do. It’s a have to. Developing our teams, scaling our contributions…the reasons are powerful and have a very real financial impact on our organizations.
While leaders are the upper limit to our teams, we are not the bar for our team members to measure themselves by. Each person has their own potential, gifts, and contributions to make. Our job is to help them find that bar and continually elevate it. In addition, we must invest in our own growth and development to make sure we don’t inadvertently stunt our team.
If we find ourselves struggling to delegate because we think we’re the only ones who can do it right, we are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. We are limiting our team’s ability to grow, learn, take risks, and elevate their contribution. No one improves their quality or work product on assignments they are not given. Anyone can improve with practice.
When we see delegation as a “have to” our minds immediately go to how. A “should” can be dismissed or deprioritized. A must tends to get our attention.
Leader of leaders? Make delegation a requirement of the job. Coach, provide feedback, and offer air cover for the extra time and/or rework that might be required as delegation occurs. Otherwise, we risk rewarding a short-term win with long-term consequences.
It may be uncomfortable to be held responsible for outcomes that someone else is delivering on, but that’s leadership. It may be bumpy at times but can be such a rewarding ride. Welcome aboard.
