Stepping in to help your team isn’t always helpful. Particularly when you’re delegating work, offering too much hands-on assistance or direction can actually backfire and undermine your team’s long-term learning and development. How can you take a more hands-off approach to delegation instead? Start small by identifying low-stakes tasks to hand off to an employee. You want to leave room for mistakes that will lead to their growth—not mistakes that could tarnish their reputation or jeopardize the team’s success. Then adopt a mindset of patience and curiosity. This doesn’t mean tolerating poor effort or carelessness, but rather understanding that your employee may take some time to learn this new skill—and they could end up developing their own approach in the process. Lean into the discomfort you feel watching them experiment, encounter challenges, and falter. Resist the urge to take the work back, do it for them, or point out the solution before they’ve identified it. Tell yourself: “I was allowed to struggle, and that’s how I built confidence in my skills. So I’m going to give my employee the same gift to solve the problem on their own.” Remember: Delegating effectively means shifting your mindset away from doing to leading.
This tip is adapted from “To Help Your Team Grow, Give Them Space to Struggle,” by Kelli Thompson
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