Keys to Effective Delegating: Addressing Slips and Mistakes

Last week, in an article entitled Delegating Like a Pro in 10 Easy Steps!, I gave you a step-by-step set of instructions on how to delegate tasks to other people.

Today, I’m looking at the dark and seedy underbelly of the delegating world…that terrible place where leaders and managers must go when that which has been delegated doesn’t get done!

The question is thus: After I delegate something, what do I do when the person I delegated to doesn’t do what they were supposed to do? How do I address the slips and mistakes that usually cause me to stop delegating to others and just do it myself?

Chances are, if you’ve ever been in a position of leadership before, you’ve grappled with questions like these. Here’s why…

Slips and mistakes are a normal part of delegating to other people. They provide a necessary feedback loop that gives us information about our own effectiveness as leaders. The challenge is in recognizing the lesson available, and applying what you learn.

It’s a matter of context. If someone slips up or drops the ball on something you’ve delegated to them, you can go down one of two roads. You can see it as a failure on the part of the person who dropped the ball, and you can blame them for screwing up, or you can see it as information about your own leadership, and an opportunity to expand your ability to produce results through other people.

Whichever road you head down is going to give you a context for addressing the slip or mistake. The context you hold, or the way you relate to the situation, is going to influence how you respond.

In the first case, the road usually gets bumpy pretty fast, and then ends abruptly when you get so disgusted with other people’s stupidity and sleaziness that you give up on them altogether and resort to never trusting anyone again with anything of any importance. I’ll do it myself, thank you very much.

For some people, the fear or awkwardness of addressing someone’s failure, or confronting their mistake, is enough to send them down this road. Their fear is a mask that hides or conceals an insufficient context. In other words, somewhere underneath that fear or awkwardness is a point of view. From that point of view, someone else is responsible for the mistake. If someone else is responsible, you’re off the hook. (Remember what happens to the kite when you let go of the string!)

In contrast, if you take the other road, you take the case that the slip-up communicates something useful and valuable about your leadership skills. From this point of view, there’s something to learn about yourself, by addressing the mistake. There’s something to gain by learning everything you can about the slip.

This context is going to influence how you respond to the situation. Instead of being fearful or angry, or disgusted with the person who dropped the ball, you’re apt to be interested. You’re apt to ask questions and to try to discover the source of the problem. You’re apt to communicate differently, because from this point of view, it’s not about disciplining someone, it’s about uncovering something, the uncovering of which feeds you power and makes you a stronger leader.

If you haven’t figured out where I’m going with this yet, I’ll clue you in now. Addressing slips and mistakes is a matter of context. I’m not going to tell you what to say. If you see it as an opportunity to learn something valuable and expand your leadership skills, you’ll come up with the right words on your own.

I will, however, give you a couple of pointers…

1. Coming from the right context, you can say anything. You can hold people to account. You can be firm when you need to be firm. You can push when you need to push, you can relax when you need to relax.
2. Never underestimate the power of humor to transform your experience of reality!
3. Always address slips and mistakes in the moment, or as soon after as possible. Waiting fosters resentment; resentment causes the context to deteriorate.
4. If you feel yourself avoiding or resisting addressing the mistake, take a hard look at the context you’re holding. Which road are you headed down?
5. If people often screw up the things you delegate to them, go back to the 10 steps and see which step(s) you’re missing.
6. Remember that slips and mistakes are a normal part of delegating tasks to other people. Even with slips and mistakes, you can increase your productivity and effectiveness by delegating, so there’s really no excuse for giving up on people.
7. When you do give up on people, it’s because you’re attached to your point of view.

Related Posts from Verve Coaching:

Leadership for Unprecedented Results
Management Coaching: How and When to Give Feedback

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