The Worst Advice I Ever Received
The lieutenant slammed the door as he clamored into the backseat of the Humvee. I wasn’t sure what the problem was, but I could tell he was frustrated and overwhelmed. At the time, I was a young cadet in the Ohio Army National Guard, and our unit was conducting its annual training event. As an officer in training, my task was to “shadow” the lieutenant to gain some experience. Once situated in his seat, he turned to me as if to impart some profound lesson in leadership and said, “Remember this: If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”
That turned out to be the worst leadership advice I ever received.
To be honest, I’ve been there: I’ve been frustrated when team members or junior leaders failed to properly complete a task or to complete it to a high standard. I’ve thought if I wanted it done right, I should have done it myself! Experience, however, taught me that such advice is flawed logic.
In fact, a far better assessment was this: If I wanted it done right, I should have had someone else do it. Too often I tried to do everything myself rather than allowing a team member to take on some of the load — and I thereby exemplified inefficiency. In other cases, when a task failed after I’d delegated it, the failure was because I’d given poor guidance or no guidance at all, despite being trained on the importance of a leader issuing clear intent!
I believe that, over time, I’ve improved at delegating and issuing proper intent and guidance. What I do know for certain is that I’ve became more intentional about giving the effort required to delegate well — and that effort has been worthwhile.
Perhaps delegation is something with which you have also struggled. If so, consider the following counsel.
1. A leader who lives by the if you want it done right you have to do it yourself philosophy will fail to build or to maintain trust with team members, and thus risk losing team members who will quickly realize their talents will be better utilized somewhere else.
2. If you never delegate a task, you will never need to issue intent or guidance. Nope, none. That’s right. Just plan on doing everything yourself — go on and burn yourself out. In fact, let your staff go home. You’ve got it all taken care of, so why waste their time…and experience…and talents?? I trust that’s enough sarcasm and that you get the point. Delegating tasks is an art that few leaders ever truly master. But to lead well requires the willingness and ability to delegate. Think of delegating tasks as a spectrum with the sweet spot in the middle. Many leaders sadly fall far to the right by giving no guidance at all, or far to the left by acting as the ever-popular micro-manager. Those who find the sweet spot, though, realize that delegating tasks requires selecting the right people for the job, capitalizing on the developmental opportunities that delegating presents, and then preparing and delivering useful guidance.
“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” — Gen. George Patton
3. Stop doing the things that you don’t have to do. Let me say that another way: Stop doing things that you could delegate to others. You’ll be glad you did, and here’s why. You’re busy. You’re tired. Some days you’re overwhelmed. You get home and wonder what you accomplished that day. When you take stock of what kept you busy, you’ll find that you did a bunch of stuff that the talented people on your team could have done. In fact, those people probably would have done everything better than you. There are plenty of things that only you can do. Do those things. When you stop doing the other things, you’ll find that your performance on those things that only you can do improves. Additionally, your team will perform better because you’ve got the right people engaged and using their talents. Skeptical? Prove me wrong.
“Hire people who are better than you, then leave them to get on with it.” — David Ogilvy
4. If you want the job done right, don’t leave your people guessing. Provide clear and concise guidance or intent. Explain why the task you’re delegating is important, the key things that must be accomplished for it to be done right, and the conditions that will exist when the task is successfully completed. The Army’s framework for this is “purpose, key tasks, and end state.” This framework is simple to remember and applicable for any leader in any environment. Keep in mind that for long-duration tasks or team operations, you may need to modify and reissue your guidance as conditions change.
So now what? What do you do after you’ve delegated and provided good guidance? Well, you focus on doing the things that only you can do. You lead. You supervise. You assess. You provide presence and feedback. You encourage and support. You step in and help when necessary.
What you definitely don’t do is throw your hands in the air and exclaim, “If I wanted it done right, I should have done it myself!”
