Why do subordinates delegate projects to you? Are they just
shirkers who want to dodge their toughest tasks? Actually,
that's rarely what underlies an epidemic of upward delegation.
"People doing upward delegation don't actually want to do
it," maintains Ford. "They really would prefer to do
their own work." Therefore, rather than looking to the
failings of your subordinates in order to identify why upward
delegation is flourishing in your business, you should take a
closer look at yourself.
Experts pinpoint two causes that underlie most cases of upward
delegation. The first is that you habitually overturn
employees' decisions. When employees know that no matter how
hard they work, you'll overturn everything they do, they lose
the desire to do the job and will pass on as much as possible to
you.
Is your way the right way? Perhaps, but by constantly rejecting
employees' work, you ensure that they'll never develop the
ability to make independent decisions--and that will block not only
their growth, but your business's growth as well.
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Are the costs of accepting your employees' decisions higher
than the costs involved in blocking their growth? When employees
see their decisions implemented, they're likely to take ever
more care in their thought processes--meaning they'll make ever
better decisions.
The second big reason employees kick work back to you is that
sometimes they honestly don't know how to do the job you've
given them. What should you do then?
For many business owners, the instinctive response is to agree
to take the project back. Don't. The more shrewd step is to
take the time to train the employee in what he or she needs to know
in order to accomplish the task. "Ask, `What do you think we
should do here?' If the employee says, `I don't know,'
don't jump in with solutions. Instead, suggest to the employee
that he or she come back to you with, say, three options and a
recommendation later in the day," advises Blohowiak.
If the employee comes back empty-handed, don't give up.
"Walk him or her through the process. And ask questions
designed to teach people how to solve their own problems,"
says Fortgang. "This process may take longer than doing the
work yourself, but if you do it yourself, you end up becoming an
ineffective leader."
Adds Blohowiak: "It's the old saw about teaching
somebody to fish vs. handing them a fish. Teach them, and
you've solved their problem for a lifetime. In business, it may
take time to accomplish this teaching, but it pays more dividends.
You get to watch your people blossom, and you enable yourself to
eventually be free to do more of the work you really should be
doing."
You're also building the foundation for a business that will
achieve continued success, says Ford. "For an entrepreneur,
the only sustainable competitive advantage is leadership. And
upward delegation is what most destroys it." But help
employees grow, and you're creating leadership that will give
your business a sustainable advantage. And that's the
bottom-line reason why the next time an employee tries to push a
task back on your plate, the only smart response is to just say no.
Do that, and your company may start growing almost as quickly as
you can delegate.
Contact Sources
The Herman Group, (800) 227-3566, http://www.herman.net
InterCoach Inc., (888) 23-COACH,, http://www.intercoach.com
Lead Well, (888) LEAD-WELL, http://www.leadwell.com
The Meyer Group, (831) 439-9607, PeterEva@aol.com
Optima Consulting Inc., (408) 257-0500, http://www.optimaconsulting.com
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