Delegating does not work for me! Why?

 Still, many managers I coach find themselves frustrated that delegating through, handing over a task or assignment, doesn’t work. They discover the work isn’t done right or on time — or worse, they end up spending even more time fixing the problems than if they’d done it all themselves. So.. they rather do it themselves. Result: overachieving, working too operationally, and no time to analyze and personally grow strategically.  There are four common reasons why most of us think why delegation fails. My direct reports have a:

• lack of critical thinking
• lack of initiative
• lack of quality
• lack of speed

By the time before handing off the task, you can address these issues preemptively and make your team more motivated and productive.

To elevate your team’s capacity to think for themselves, embed the practice of coaching early in the process. Instead of providing answers, ask questions. The quality of their insights will be directly proportional to the quality of your questions.

Managers often experience the push and pull of delegation. We push out the work, only to pull it back again when it fails to meet expectations. By diving deeper into the point of failure, we can better address the underlying causes of delegation failure. By asking questions and aligning beforehand and during the process on expectations we will create trust to delegate.

Loomancoaching/HBR