Posts tagged as:

control

The Art and Science of Dela-gation

February 9, 2008

in Leadership

A small handful of leadership behaviors disproportionately affect and accelerate rapid movement growth. Without question, one of the most crucial qualities of effective leaders lies in their willingness and ability to delegate well. Delegation requires those of us who lead others to constantly release key aspects of our work to the next generation of volunteers, employees, or family members.
My friend Dela Adadevoh distills delegation down into a continuum. At one end is Eyes On-Hands On delegation. Better known as micromanaging, this lame substitute isn’t delegation at all. With rare exceptions (such as the first few days of orienting a new employee), this path usually leads to the cul-de-sac of frustration (for the leader) and deflated confidence (for the worker). Michael Scott, the Dilbert-esque branch manager on the American hit The Office personifies this approach.

At the other end of the continuum we find Eyes Off-Hands Off delegation. In my experience this results in a sense of abandonment. Most of us say we enjoy having complete freedom to do our jobs. At the same time, if a job is really crucial and thus worth our best effort, our heart longs for someone who’s in charge to take notice. I’ve rarely met a volunteer or employee that will just keep on giving her best month after month with no feedback. Work builds up, motivation sags, and people feel overwhelmed but bored.

Between these extremes lies a wide swath of Eyes On-Hands Off delegation. Good leaders know how to tread lightly in others’ rose gardens while still stopping to smell – and inspect – the roses. Learning to let go of control while offering constructive feedback, affirmation and correction is an art and science. True delegation begins with the leader’s heart. Bill Lawrence, a friend and long-time mentor, says, “I can teach you everything you need to know about delegating in 45 minutes. But those are just skills. True delegation is a heart issue – a question of the will. Will you delegate?“

The long-term impact of our leadership may ultimately be determined by a few key factors. John Mott’s counsel on delegation echoes from my last post: “He who does the work is not so profitably employed as he who multiplies the doers. Count the day lost that you do not do something, either directly or indirectly, to multiply the number of unselfish workers.”

Question for aspiring leaders: How am I doing at multiplying the number of unselfish workers?

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Tagged as: control, delegation, heart, micromanaging

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Power Under Control

April 3, 2007

in Leadership

Today Ann and I have been dealing with international shipping companies, talking to export car brokers to deregister our Kia (for cash back from the Singapore government), and trying to figure out how to transport a different used car we bought via auction from Dallas to Houston, Texas. All in a day’s work for a family in transition. Of course there’s no closure in any of this, which is why God gave us electric guitars.

That’s me and buddy John Burke jamming. Years ago we were in a rock band – MYST – in high school. John played drums, I played keyboards. Neither of us played guitar.

Now we’re both involved pretty heavily with people everyday. And we both have Fender Stratocasters. A Strat is a piece of artwork you can wield. Its design remains fundamentally unchanged since its birth 50 years ago. Plug it in and you might hear anything from mellow jazz to overdriven blues to pop rock to scorching, juicy distortion.

I’ve played guitar for over 25 years now. But I just began learning electric guitar a few years ago. There’s one key difference between playing an acoustic guitar and strumming a Strat. That difference is POWER. Like most new electric players, in the beginning I used way too much power. Distortion sounds cool and appears to cover bad technique, at least for awhile. Too much power grates on people’s ears, though. Mature artists use far less distortion and power, and when it is used, it’s used well – for support, for accent, to build a crescendo, or to punctuate with a solo line.

The same seems to be true of leadership. Many young leaders try to use too much power – to drive the sheep, to solve problems, to get people in line, to make things happen. But too much power grates on people. Seasoned leaders seem to have a knack at playing in tune, on time, and using the right amount of power the situation demands in order to support, accent, build or punctuate.

Lesson for us: Just like playing a fine instrument, the art of leadership requires intentional practice and mastering the fundamentals of bringing power under control.

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Tagged as: control, electric guitars, fundamentals, transition

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