My guess is you were hired to lead your organization to exponential results. Exponential or transformational results are those beyond what’s predictable. Those might include a turnaround after years of average performance, merger or acquisition to triple your market presence, a massive payout from a sale or IPO, or bringing a product to market that will change the world. If those were the type of results you’re charged with leading, then read on. If this wasn’t why you took the job, you can stop reading now. This article isn’t for you.
If you were hired to create an organization that does something transformational, then your leadership team must start actually delegating. The way most of us delegate isn’t actually delegation at all. The most basic element of delegation is done – assignment of something to someone else so it’s off your plate and more can be accomplished. That will get you predictable results not the transformational ones you want.
To experience exponential results, your delegation must move beyond checking the box to say you did it. Your delegation must create an environment where people feel a tremendous sense of ownership, and once you unlock that, what flows is high levels of engagement, retention, innovation, and creativity. This is what I call their discretionary capacity, and it’s the stuff that cannot be ordered, only volunteered. When you have a team offering all their discretionary capacity, you can achieve the kind of exponential growth you desire. In short: the right kind of delegation is the key.
Mechanical Vs Contextual Delegation
Mechanical Delegation
There are two kinds of delegation I commonly see done. The first I referred to above and is called mechanical, the kind where you’re ticking the box, but aren’t unable to fully let go. This happens when you don’t fully trust your people and you’re afraid of what the outcome will be. You end up micromanaging, which leads to the person not feeling empowered or having the freedom to do it the way they want.
This results in a dynamic where you feel overworked, bitter, resentful, stressed, and burnt out because you’re still carrying the weight of every task and the team feels disempowered, frustrated, and like they’re not being used to their full potential.
The problem is that in this approach the leader is afraid of things breaking down – mistakes being made, failure or conflict. Those are hard to stomach and it seems reasonable to pull back the reins on the delegation but those breakdowns, and your ability to be with them and lead through them are the inflection point for the exponential results you want.
You can say you want people to step up and accomplish things, but if our actions point otherwise, they are not going to. You need to create an environment where your team willingly steps up.
Contextual Delegation
The second kind of delegation, the type that will lead to exponential results, is contextual delegation, where the focus is on creating a powerful context for the delegation and allowing freedom for the person to do it the way they want, to try different things, and to feel 100% responsible for what’s being done.
Instead of delegating in a “check the box” way, you set the context and then give people the freedom to act, perform and execute the way they want. This unlocks their desire to give their personal creativity, effort, innovation, engagement, and these are things that can’t be ordered, only volunteered. These are also the things that lead to exponential growth in an organization.
The key to contextual delegation is the leader having a mindset that ultimately creates an environment and relationships where people are empowered to take action. This environment is defined by psychological safety, having the right resources, knowledge and trust.
When these four exist, there is fertile ground for:
- Team members to take calculated risks, experiment and to feel safe in failure.
- Leadership from any seat or level of the organization even when formal authority does not exist.
- An “act like an owner” mentality and approach.
- Sound judgement of what is required on a situation by situation basis.
The leaders who create this environment have a mindset that is made up of three elements.
- People first
- An owner’s mindset of their own
- Leadership is different than management
PEOPLE FIRST
Most leaders would agree that their goal is to get the best from their people and might ask the well-intentioned question – “how do I get the most out of my people?” However, this is the wrong question to ask. It doesn’t come from a people first mindset. It’s not a question about helping people grow stronger, it’s about extracting more output from them. People are not objects from which we can squeeze every last drop of performance. The people first question is “How do I create an environment in which my people can work to their best?”
Leaders with exponential results on their mind have the mindset that people are the foundation for those outcomes. Performance is important, but it is never prioritized over people. The interesting part is that when people are prioritized over performance and results, your people will want to give their jobs their all and the results will follow.
OWNER’S MINDSET
The next element of contextual delegation is an owner’s mindset.
To promote an “act like an owner” approach in team members, you must have this mindset first.
The term ownership comes from a concept called “psychological ownership” – which means we can feel like we “own” something, even if it’s not a physical object. At work, we take ownership when we assume full responsibility for a task, target, or result as the owner of the company would. It’s the opposite of passing the buck or making excuses.
You must take on the mindset of an owner in whatever is being done. And regardless of what may “officially” be your authority, position, or formal power. This isn’t done as a way to exert more control over the task or over others, but rather to ensure the best possible result.
Some questions that you might ask when acting like an owner and promoting it in others include:
- How would I act/behave/perform if my child was going to be impacted by the service or product produced here?
- What would an owner do? (WWOD)
- Is that my best (given the priority and context)?
You can do a task because you’re told to, but it doesn’t mean you’ll do it to the best of your ability. However, if you internalize the need to do it, you’re more likely to act like an owner.
LEADERSHIP VS. MANAGEMENT
The fourth element of the contextual delegation mindset is to understand the distinction between leadership and management.
Leadership is often a misunderstood word. Leadership is not management.
We all know people who sit at the highest levels of an organization who are not leaders. They may hold rank and others may do as they tell them because they have authority over them but that does not mean they are trusted or that people will follow them.
Then there are leaders who you wouldn’t call good managers or they may not even hold formal authority, but they know how to inspire and influence people to action. They have taken the risk to care for their people. They are able to create a space in which others can be themselves and feel safe. They are trusted and people follow them anywhere and willingly go the extra mile for them.
Management is what you do. Leadership is the person you are and the influence and impact you have on the people you come in contact with.
Management makes you capable and competent. Leadership makes you followable.
Author and teacher Ken Blanchard said, “leadership is influence. Period.” The final test of leadership is this ‐ do you leave things better than you found them? Will your employees advance and grow because they spend time with you? Bottom line ‐ will people be glad you were there?
This leader mindset encourages and enables leadership in others and from any seat or level of the organization even when formal authority does not exist.
Leadership is what’s required for exponential results. Management will keep the train on the tracks and accomplish what’s predictable.
If we want to achieve exponential growth in your organization, then the key is contextual delegation. When we delegate through context, we unlock all the deepest engagement, creativity and potential our team has to offer. If you’re interested in diving deeper into how to do this, reach out to me by clicking here.