"Competence can prevent the system from developing competence." That one stung a little, in a good way. The founder who always catches the dropped ball is also the reason nobody else learns to catch it. I like that your drills include letting small misses stand long enough to become information. That's the step most people skip because it feels irresponsible in the moment.
Yes - it’s so easy to fall into the saviour mode and fix it yourself. But the greatest learnings come when the team self-identifies the problem and can start to ideate solutions. For myself, I used that feeling of stepping back just a bit more each time as a personal exercise to see that the failures weren’t necessarily catastrophic, and that my greatest role was to guide the thinking of the group to locate the problem, but not to identify if myself nor solve it. So challenging, and yet so rewarding for everyone when you master it!
Guiding them to the problem instead of handing them the answer is such a hard habit to build. Treating each step back as practice makes a lot of sense.
The question of whether anyone knows where to be when the ball arrives is the real test of delegation. A practical habit is a three line handoff note covering what they own, what they can decide without asking, and what you want to hear back about. Ask the receiver to restate it in their own words, because the gaps show up in that restatement and not in the original.
Yes - great advice! I think this is what we were practicing as a family with the one step in and one step out as we succeeded and failed as well - it’s a form of scaffolding.. do you understand your role/job to be done? Is the way you understand it the same as how I see it? Knowing that, do you accept and commit to the role as I accept mine?
Your three questions work well as a script. One small change that helps is to skip the yes or no version of the first one and ask them to describe their role back in a single sentence. A hesitant answer to "do you understand?" is easy to hide, but a vague sentence shows the gap right away.
Simply practical and well organized, this concept laid out in steps is primary thinking for organizations of all sizes, and it is RICH in depth and value. New to a leadership position, with clear ownership (responsibility, accountability and authority)? Best make sure the folk (part of the organization) you own are on the same playbook you are on, then practice (as outlined), throwing the ball, backing up, etc. on a continuous improvement process, decreasing your own usefulness as MANAGER!! Really excellent piece!!!
"Competence can prevent the system from developing competence." That one stung a little, in a good way. The founder who always catches the dropped ball is also the reason nobody else learns to catch it. I like that your drills include letting small misses stand long enough to become information. That's the step most people skip because it feels irresponsible in the moment.
Yes - it’s so easy to fall into the saviour mode and fix it yourself. But the greatest learnings come when the team self-identifies the problem and can start to ideate solutions. For myself, I used that feeling of stepping back just a bit more each time as a personal exercise to see that the failures weren’t necessarily catastrophic, and that my greatest role was to guide the thinking of the group to locate the problem, but not to identify if myself nor solve it. So challenging, and yet so rewarding for everyone when you master it!
Guiding them to the problem instead of handing them the answer is such a hard habit to build. Treating each step back as practice makes a lot of sense.
The question of whether anyone knows where to be when the ball arrives is the real test of delegation. A practical habit is a three line handoff note covering what they own, what they can decide without asking, and what you want to hear back about. Ask the receiver to restate it in their own words, because the gaps show up in that restatement and not in the original.
Yes - great advice! I think this is what we were practicing as a family with the one step in and one step out as we succeeded and failed as well - it’s a form of scaffolding.. do you understand your role/job to be done? Is the way you understand it the same as how I see it? Knowing that, do you accept and commit to the role as I accept mine?
Your three questions work well as a script. One small change that helps is to skip the yes or no version of the first one and ask them to describe their role back in a single sentence. A hesitant answer to "do you understand?" is easy to hide, but a vague sentence shows the gap right away.
Simply practical and well organized, this concept laid out in steps is primary thinking for organizations of all sizes, and it is RICH in depth and value. New to a leadership position, with clear ownership (responsibility, accountability and authority)? Best make sure the folk (part of the organization) you own are on the same playbook you are on, then practice (as outlined), throwing the ball, backing up, etc. on a continuous improvement process, decreasing your own usefulness as MANAGER!! Really excellent piece!!!