“Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority and don’t interfere.”
–Ronald Reagan
Leadership is a challenge that requires wisdom, tenacity, resilience as well as an unending amount of patience. Wisdom to know right from wrong, to see far ahead in the future, to plan your team’s moves in a sustainable manner, to overcome yet unforeseen obstacles and the wisdom to lead by example help give an edge to effective leadership.
Tenacity/determination/fortitude/courage and/or moral fiber of the leadership genes help determine how far you can go in supporting those under your charge at a given time. Your hard-earned knowledge with hands-on experience in tackling challenges prepares you to foresee oncoming difficulties your team could face while executing a given project. The foregoing elements of your character help keep building the required momentum.
Resilience is your ability to adapt to difficulties, opposition, challenge and/or negativity in order to bounce back and make your mark. How hard you work at maintaining progress against adversity dictates how well you can lead your team. So long as you are willing to be the guiding beacon to those lacking such resoluteness, your leadership will find value among the followers.
Patience is a virtue, no doubt, but it is also one of the foremost skills true leaders deploy beyond belief. Their fortitude built upon all the preceding traits acts as the engine that powers uninterrupted progress of the team. These leaders display an all-round grasp of the skill-set needed for success.
So long as you command the above faculties, in addition to so much more per other learned experts’ viewpoint, you are well positioned to delegate authority. With the empowerment of delegates to follow your directions, you can extend your own reach multiple times and rest assured the project/s so assigned get executed with perfection.
On the other hand, your continued interference reeks of mistrust in your team. In turn, your leadership comes into question. Until and unless your followers have an abiding faith in your wisdom and positive approach, they may not perform at their level best.
Delegate responsibilities and see performers elevate themselves beyond their dreams. When your team rises to a given challenge with zeal and vigor determined by your abiding faith in their capabilities, your rise to new heights is definitely a must. Their enduring faith, born out of personal experiences under your able guidance, helps them come to their creative best.
Let your leadership affirm an abiding faith in the creative aspect of your followers. Give them an uninterrupted opportunity to shine at their best rather than micromanaging their every move. Such interference will only lead to undue obstacles as your team’s faith in your leadership will be shaken for no fault of theirs.
Continued meddling breeds resistance. Rather than bring out the deficiency and/or incompetence of others, it highlights your own lack of competence in leadership. Your expertise in leading others to their level of productivity is up for a challenge when you exhibit discomfort in trusting your best possible team members. Your capacity to identify their individual traits and capabilities comes into question, thus diluting your leadership role.
Allow creativity to take the front seat so the team feels motivated. Let them come up with their own solutions to challenges as they raise their heads. It may not be long before you also learn a variety of new ways to address situations that pose obstacles to your chosen team members. Continued interference, on the other hand, will suppress creativity and soon turn the project into a boring chore.
It is in your hands to stand out and make a mark or keep yourself immersed in the mundane. Picking on others will only debase your leadership to no end. The choice is yours!
TRY IT, YOU MIGHT LIKE IT!
I agree there are times to delegate to elevate. It is required for subordinates to feel comfortable leading the charge and being accountable. The challenge is mitigating the risk if there are any costly mistakes. When you delegate to someone and everything is going to plan, usually the person will be successful with their new accountability or responsibility. But when things don’t go to plan and there is a major blowout — a lot of long term damage will occur. There is always a risk to delegation.
We cover this quite a bit with our individual clients who are transitioning into management and executive positions.
Thanks a lot, Chris, for giving me an opportunity to clear the air of misunderstanding we have developed over the last few months. You are absolutely right about the risk component resulting from delegating to a ‘subordinate.’
So far my understanding goes, not all bosses are leaders; as a matter of fact most of them aren’t! A true leader has No Subordinates because he/she has team members. To take this point further, and without pointing a finger at you or your belief, leaders remember the struggles, the challenges, the roadblocks they have had to encounter on their way to get to this level and this knowledge gives them the insight to gauge capabilities of the team member in question.
True leaders never turn a blind eye to their followers’ actions and/or beliefs. Rather, they help hone them to perfection. So, where is the question of a ‘major blowout?’
I would like you to see the fine line between being a boss delegating tasks and a leader helping his followers rise higher with the help of his/her delegation of authority.
Thank You and Have a Great Day!
Bharat,
I love your concept “delegate to elevate” which is a simple truth. Both the leader and the delegates are elevated, leading to more freedom for all involved.
Thank You, Cynthia Stewart, for your kind endorsement of my belief in the power of delegating responsibility. It helps create a sense of appreciation in the minds of the followers.
I wish more leaders and leadership aspirants paid attention to this necessity.