During a conversation I had at a workshop in Chicago, the phrase on this card was uttered: Delegate problems, not tasks. So, we are back to the popular topic of delegation.
The way the conversation came about was a CEO’s complaint of “I wish people would volunteer more, rather than having to give orders and assignments.” So I asked him, “do you delegate things people would WANT to volunteer for?” Packaging and presentation is everything. Give someone a TASK, and it is a task. OK, they can drive some sense of accomplishment by finishing it, but…give them a PROBLEM to solve? Suddenly your team can apply themselves, will take ownership of the solution and they can learn while growing in the process.
I strongly believe his issue was in a way he delegated. Sadly, our time was limited there and we went our separate ways, so I couldn’t confirm. The trouble is not necessarily with the people’s willingness to help, but with people’s willingness to help while playing by his rules. Perhaps he micromanages. Perhaps there is no reward for completing the delegated tasks. Perhaps he keeps the interesting stuff for himself. I don’t know, but the words “Delegate Problems, not Tasks” seemed to resonate with him. I recommended him to read “Turn the ship around!”.
Being a taskmaster rather than cheerleader is one way delegation happens, and it often leads to a “Genius with 1000 helpers” type of organization. Those rarely get to hire the thousand helpers, by the way. Instead, they usually start breaking down just around the magical number of 25. The “genius” becomes the main bottleneck, to a growing frustration of everyone involved. Eventually, the team gets so bogged down by the sheer load of task distribution and management that they actually cease to do anything meaningful and the organization suffers.
Do you want to work with an army of mindless task-processing drones or do you want to leverage people’s own creativity?
Lead with empowering your team and delegating based on skill set with accountability measures in place. The work will flow and tasks will be done without hesitation and members of your team will be stepping up without you having to ask every time for support.
