• Leaders: A Delegation Question
Leadership: A Delegation Question
Here’s My Answer…to the Delegation Question!
Okay, here’s my question, How do you have a high standard and expect them (those you delegate to) to do less at the same time? Isn’t that expecting them “to do less” the same as having a lower standard?
Regarding your good delegation question. My answer is No! High standards are like “invisible,” no one really sees them, but you. When you work with someone, you start with them where they are. (Like, I do when I work with you.) You might never know how high my standard really is, until I reveal it to you and even then, I might hold back some of it. Meanwhile, I focus on where you “are” now. Then I try to get you to move forward and up, when I can. If you reveal all of your high standard and start with that, no one would respond to your delegation. It might be just too high. They have to be successful with what they are willing to do for you. They have to try it. It has to work for them.
It is a tension, admittedly, but it is the same way you work with someone much younger, you “bring them along,” over time. At first, you focus on making the relationship work and accommodate your standards as the experience level increases. This is a very common experience for me in coaching. There are plenty of “aha” moments when the student begins to “get it.” Then we can go to another level. (so now you see… what I am doing with you. (Ha-ha)
So the more experience you have as a leader, the more that you can offer them. Then you can coach them to where you want to influence them to go. For example, I can see your potential. I can see what you could be doing. I have this long-term view of ministry that is now 50 years old. I see you in ways you cannot see yourself now. So, if I become your long-term coach, you will be ramping up, jumping higher, and maybe raising the bar, or going farther than either of us could have imagined in the beginning, one step at a time.
So how is that for explaining the tension between high and low standards? Don’t be afraid of this, I just focus on what is the next step. That is what coaching involves, no skipping of steps, but finding ways to be accountable for moving forward and up.
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