The essence of formal leadership is “getting results through others“. So, effective delegation skills are a leadership essential. Like all intangibles, delegation skills are never fully mastered. Let’s look at what it takes to become a better delegator. Effective delegation begins by understanding the difference between assigning a task and delegating responsibility. I’d like to make General George Patton responsible for helping me describe the difference, While he’s no longer with us, this quote is up to the task.
“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”
I love the film Patton. I occasionally dust off my DVD to revisit his other great quotes like: “I hate paying for the same real estate twice”. And, George C. Scott’s Oscar winning performance is always worth revisiting. The driven General Patton and I agree that, when delegating, sharing “what” is better than “how”. To take your delegation skills to an even higher level, let’s consider key concepts from two leadership thought leaders:
Delegation has the most potential when you go beyond how and what to unleash the power of why.
Whys turn tasks into causes. As you consider the ongoing leadership challenge of motivating others, remember that the root word of “motivate” is motive. To be a truly effective leader and motivator of others, you must align your initiatives with the motives of your followers. They own their attitudes, not you. Another legendary WW2 leader, Dwight D. Eisenhower, sums it up:
That “want to” comes from motive ownership. Motive ownership comes from “why alignment”. It can work for both menial and complex initiatives.
How do you create that “want to”? Let’s look at the common task of sweeping the floor. Here are three different approaches to getting it done with, how, what and why:
Which of these approaches would Commander-in-Chief Eisenhower endorse? How can you improve your ability to unleash the power of WHY and get others to “want to” do the important things you need done?
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