As you progress through your
leadership career, mastering the art of delegation early is strategic
investment. It can be defining in the
transition from positions of direct to indirect leadership, and the
underlying principles come into their own as you form or join your first management boards or leadership teams
where you collectively still hold the responsibility but physically cannot be
in every bit of detail.
Effective delegation
depends on your ability to describe outcomes and results, allowing those
closest to the job to bring their own experience and initiative to delivery.
That does not mean you have completely abrogated methods, rather that you know how
to set boundaries and values within which others are free to manoeuvre. You think
in terms of intent, you create clarity
and alignment
– essential organisational
leadership and board outputs.
Delegation practises your ability
to create the conditions for success, taking into account two key dimensions of
what it takes to enable and help others to achieve: sharing
and signposting
all you know that could be relevant to the task, and helping individuals and
teams develop the skills needed for you to be able to let them get on with
things. In time, you automatically recognise and link interdependencies and see
the ongoing strategic balance between generating outputs and nurturing people.
And, crucially, delegating consolidates
your ability to step back
. There is no question that you need to retain
oversight and appropriate control, but the emphasis is on knowing your
indicators that things are heading the right way, your thresholds for
intervention or correction, and being able to carve through a fog of information
to spot them. In so doing, you grow the skills to help others bring structure
and focus to their reporting, your capacity to look across wider inputs, and your
appreciation of what questions to ask. This is the experience that equips you to
go on to create and run effective governance frameworks that inform
and hold
to account
.
And finally, good delegation is
dependent on regular communication
; inputting new information promptly
if the situation changes, of course, but also providing encouragement and
acknowledgement where due. People appreciate feedback and connection, and
organisations can only operate to their potential when it exists. It is something
accomplished leaders never forget and work hard to preserve as they inevitably
find themselves more remote from their teams in more senior roles and on
boards.
Delegating is transformational
.
In the first instance, as the pivot from simply shedding tasks to spreading
effort smartly and creating a sum greater than the parts. Mastery then comes
largely through apprenticeship, but it instils an approach and confidence that are
transferrable to every level of leadership.
Proficiency
frees time for
leaders to think about the things only they can rightly decide, and to focus on
how they enable and guide their organisation through strategic complexity and
change. Delegation shepherds them towards the realisation that is their higher
purpose. It embeds a way of thinking and communicating that keeps everyone on
the same page, that galvanises endeavour, and aids succession. It fosters a
culture of empowerment, development, and trust.
So, developing that proficiency is investment
; the principles of effective
delegation elevate into something much wider reaching, setting the conditions
for high performing organisations and making the associated mindset a
potentially decisive attribute for any senior leadership team or board.
The author, Simon Carter, is a Consultant with Independent Directors and Trustees Limited and an experienced director and leader who is proficient in working with multi-functioning organisations
