When a Delegating Leadership Style Becomes Abdication

Clearly there is a big difference between delegating and abdicating in definition. However, all too often I see the two being confused in practice. When a well-intentioned delegating leadership style devolves into abdication, it is disempowering, ineffective, and degrades trust. It also undermines our ability to hold people accountable with honor and respect. This further undermines the health of our relationships and our organizations.

An Example of How Delegation Can Unwittingly Become Abdication

Here is an example of how I see this playing out. Ann decides to give Ben a very important assignment. Based on previous experience, Ann believes that Ben can be trusted to get the job done right. Ann is also relieved to finally have someone to delegate this to so she can focus on her very long list of other things to handle.

Because Ann and Ben have worked together for a while, Ann assumes that Ben knows what to do. Ann also assumes that she and Ben have the same understanding of what success looks like, including how things should be done in process and form.

And sometimes it really works this way. It is effortless. Ann gets her result with little effort or involvement required, and Ben feels appreciated and empowered. Trust is bolstered. Life is good.

The problem is that once this way of operating has worked with one person, you then believe that it should always work this way. Unfortunately, this is actually the exception rather than the rule.

When things break down the “root causes” are quickly identified. Depending on who you ask, Ann is seen as a lousy manager or Ben is not quite as good as she/he thought he was. It becomes somehow personal and not in a good way. In their frustration they have lost sight of how they have each unwittingly contributed to the breakdown. Their trust in each other has been damaged.

In my experience, breakdowns in delegation are usually not because of malintent or even incompetence of either party. When delegation goes badly, it is more likely because of a lack of rigor and practice in the process of delegating.

What Is A Delegating Leadership Style?

Delegating effectively starts with making a clear and specific request. Two questions to ask yourself when preparing to delegate are:

1. What is the specific outcome or result you are asking someone to be accountable for delivering and by when?

2. What difference will producing that outcome make in the overall goals of your team, your company, your community?

Effective Delegation Requires Negotiation

While many people think that a clear request is enough to ensure the desired outcome, I’ll suggest there is one more very important part of the delegation process – negotiation.

If you want to delegate in a way that empowers people and fosters accountability, take your request a step further and negotiate to ensure that both parties own success.

Effective delegation begins by establishing clear, minimum standards for declaring success, both in terms of what must be accomplished, as well as how it is accomplished. From there you can determine what is and what is not negotiable when you make your request.

While some things may not be negotiable like a deadline, going one step further to engage in a negotiation conversation will enhance your personal delegating leadership style. Some examples of things you can negotiate are: how something is done, where it is done, who is involved, information, resources or training that may be needed to complete the requisition, etc.

In the process of negotiation you will increase the odds that you have a shared understanding of what success looks like. It will also help you to discover what is and what isn’t workable for both parties. This ensures that you can together determine the approach that will best ensure a mutually satisfying result. In addition, by negotiating you will establish a sense of shared ownership for the success and satisfaction for all involved.

A Common Way You May Abdicate When You Intend to Delegate

I tend to err on the side of believing people have good intentions and want to do a good job. When people abdicate, most of the time it is not an intentional act. Instead it’s a result of not being rigorous or mindful in how they delegate.

Delegation becomes abdication when the person delegating relinquishes their responsibility for the outcome vs. approaches delegation as an opportunity for partnership and empowerment.

There are many variations of what I consider to be “abdication” that masquerade as delegation. The most common form I see is what I call the “lob”. In fact, lobbing is the one that seems to catch the attention of most of my clients. This is true even of those who more often than not do a good job of delegating, and have yet to develop the delegating leadership style that works for them and their situation.

The Lob…

You need something done quickly so you try to pass it off to someone without any rigor including what you need, why you need it and by when. Often you do this with an item on your to do list that needs to get done, but seem easier to just hand off. Often these are often seemingly simple things to do, so you assume the hand-off should be really simple, too.

So you “lob” it over to someone, expecting they should just be able to catch it and run with it. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. But consider of the cost of when they don’t. And by now I hope you are thinking…if something doesn’t get done as I expect, what can I do to delegate better?

What other ways do you think people abdicate in the name of delegation? Please do share examples!