Your approach makes all the difference. Many leaders think they are delegating, but they are just telling people what to do. They are allocating; poorly.
Dumb delgation – “Do this.”
Intimidating delegation – “Do this by 2 pm.”
Devaluing delegation – “I don’t have time to show you…just stay busy until I get to you.”
Confusing delegation – “Go there and help them for now.”
Disempowering delegation – “Do this. No, like this. Never mind, I’ll do it myself.”
Hollowing delegation – “You aren’t good enough to do that. Just do what I tell you.”
There are the tactics of a leader or manager who has to ride their people all the time, who feels overwhelmed and can’t take time off, and has high employee turnover. They are the techniques of a losing manager.
Now that you have identified all of the ways I have been delegating incorrectly, I can hardly wait until tomorrow to hear how I can do it correctly! 🙂 Just kidding (I hope…) All of us have likely done it wrong in one of those ways more than once. I know I certainly have. I’m curious what your approach is but I like to begin with the end in mind. Properly communicate the intended outcome and then give leeway on how it gets done.