Explore how the Essential Leader hands off responsibility effectively and avoids the “I’ll just do it myself” trap. In this Tough Things First podcast, Ray Zinn explores why it is essential to maintain accountability and quality, without obsessing and micromanaging.
Rob Artigo: Many leaders say that they delegate, but secretly they’re thinking it’ll be faster if I just do it myself. That trap can kill growth. It can burn out leaders. It also keeps the teams from developing the way that they normally would in bonding, I think. So today, Ray, let’s explore how the essential leader hands off the responsibility effectively and maintains accountability and equality. Especially in the fast-moving tech environments that we all work in. And it also avoids the micromanagement trap, the negative kind. In your book, The Essential Leader, you talk about delegation as one of the essential skills. Why is it so hard for many leaders to let go without losing control?
Ray Zinn: Well, because they don’t trust whoever they’ve assigned the task to and so the person you assign the task to assumes that you don’t trust them.
Ray Zinn: You don’t believe in their ability. And that’s the negative side of micromanaging. Because we talk about the two faces of micromanaging actually in the book, the bad face and then the good face. So as you would that smiley face versus that frowning face. So what we’re talking about today is that frowny face, or when we don’t trust the person that we gave the task to. And so we end up doing it ourselves or we think that they’re not going to be able to perform the task in a timely way. And that’s a real sign of an organization that there’s a lack of trust.
Rob Artigo: Yeah. It shows that there’s a disconnect somewhere in there, a malfunctioning cog in the wheels, so to speak. So you’ve mentioned there’s a good side and bad side to micromanaging here on this program. And in your book, The Essential Leader, you also talk about doing it the right way. What is the good thing about micromanaging? Rethinking micromanaging is what you talk about in the book. So how does that fit into effective delegation?
Ray Zinn: Well, when we talk about micromanaging, most people think the negative, the frowny face, the bad side of it. But little things become big things if you don’t take care of them in a timely way. And so that’s the smiley face version of micromanaging is don’t let the little things become a big thing. Don’t ignore the signs what … If you get a signal that your employee is struggling, that they’re having difficulty, don’t let them fail. Okay. Go to them in a kind and gentle way, help them get back on path. And so that’s the smiley face of micromanaging.
And now we call that coaching and be a good coach. Don’t overmanage and don’t undermanage. In other words, there’s a balance. If you let employee fail or if you let a customer fail, or whoever it is you’re relating to, that’s hard. I mean, that’s like one bad apple spoils a whole barrel. So don’t let them have a bad experience because then they’re not going to even trust themselves. So that’s a good side of micromanaging. Keep in tune. Stay in tune with your customers and with your employees. And if you see things going awry, don’t let it become a big thing. Nip it in the bud, as they say.
Rob Artigo: Part of this is accountability and maintaining high quality once you’ve handed off that responsibility. You touched on some of these areas already, so without being sounding repetitive here, it’s important. How do we maintain accountability and high quality once we’ve let it go? And give the responsibility to the team and the team leader?
Ray Zinn: Well, if you don’t give the employee a chance or the situation a chance, whether it be at home or your children or your spouse, if you don’t give them a chance, then they’re going to not respond. They’re going to procrastinate. They’re going to say, “Oh, well, dad or mom’s going to take care of it.” And so they rely too heavily on you jumping in and solving the problem. You do want them to struggle a bit. You want them to have to learn by experience.
The key here is, is just be aware when they’re about to fall off the edge as you would. It’s a balancing act. You don’t want to overly step in or you don’t want to underly step in as they say, wait too long. Be cognizant. Be aware. Is that return report principle where you give them the assignment, but then you check up. You see how they’re doing. You can tell that by, if you ask for reports on a regular basis, you can tell by the reports that they’re giving, whether they’re on top of the project or not.
Rob Artigo: Yeah. The essential leader doesn’t do more, they enable more. And like you said, you’re a coach, you’re a mentor. Giving people a chance, especially in situations where they can take a little longer or maybe if they fail a little bit, you can get them in line and coach them into the right direction. But let them learn from their little mistakes. And also learn to trust themselves to make good decisions, right?
Ray Zinn: Well, is failure good or bad? Well, it depends. Failure is bad if you never recover. Failure is good is if you learn from that experience. So there’s that, again, that yin and yang of failure. We all learn through our mistakes. But if it’s a permanent mistake, if we wait too long so it’s not recoverable, then that’s a bad mistake, a bad failure. It’s the yin and yang of failure. We shouldn’t be afraid of failure, but also we want to resolve failure so that the outcome is good.
Rob Artigo: Delegation done right multiplies your impact and develops good leaders at the same time, future leaders. Join the conversation at toughthingsfirst.com. Your questions and comments are always welcome. Follow Ray on X, Facebook and LinkedIn, and of course pick up Ray’s books. Tough Things First, The Essential Leader: 10 Skills, Attributes, and Fundamentals That Make Up the Essential Leader. And as you know, the Zen of Zin series one, two, and three. It now includes Ray’s new book, Zen of Zen Daily. Thanks, Ray.
Ray Zinn: Thanks, Rob.
