# Drive Or Delegate Created On: 07-20-2023 02:51 pm Up:: [[The Leadership Library]] Tags:: #note/evergreen🌲 #note/public🌎 Topics:: [[Delegation (MOC)]] Related:: [[Empowerment]] --- ## Introduction Delegation is a critical skill as a leader but often it is one of the most challenging skills to develop. As servant leaders, we tend to want to shield our people from extra things so they can focus on their primary discipline. This, however, stunts their growth to develop new skills and it stunts our growth in developing our people (and leaders). Being accountable for something without doing it ourselves is uncomfortable. It requires trusting someone else to do the work for us and it takes our time to coach and guide along the way. There’s a sneaky voice that says “I can just do this”. Yet, the real question is “Should we?”, which can better inform the answer to the question “Should it be something that we delegate?” In most cases, the answer to that is “Yes, delegate”. Frequently a welcome side effect of delegating is having more time for where we should be focused, on the non-urgent, yet important things.  --- ## Delegation concepts - “Let your leaders lead.”  - Coach and delegate - Engineers are leaders too (tech lead roles, senior and above titles, etc.) - Scale your leadership - Replicate “First Team”.  - The culture we create will be the culture of the team. - Your team’s success is your success. - You build yourself by building others. - Your calendar is a reflection of your choices - You control your calendar, not the other way around - Techniques to shed your calendar: - Ask yourself, if I were out sick today what meetings would I need to reschedule? - Ask yourself, if I don’t attend this meeting can I get a digest from someone else? - Out-of-office blocks - Decline meetings and request to work async first - Create WIP limits as a team each week (encourages aligned prioritization trade-off discussions) - Are you prioritizing your calendar or calendaring your priorities?  - Your calendar should match your priorities. - Use the [[Eisenhower matrix]] to determine what should be your priorities and therefore on your calendar - With your first team being your first priority, your calendar should reflect time with your first team. --- ## When to drive vs delegate: questions to ask - Will I be going around (or over) someone else if I don’t delegate?  - Will it be a good opportunity for growth for someone else?  - Does it align with someone else’s goals?  - Will it overwhelm the person? Are they okay with it? Ask. - Is it an opportunity for me to advocate for someone by delegating? Will it give them broader exposure?  - Are they craving more responsibility? Ask. - Will it make the person feel special or valued if I ask for their help? - Does it match where I am supposed to be scoped (engineering/technology/Ibotta) or is it tactical?  - Is it someone else's role? i.e. senior engineers can tech lead and coordinate with others - Is it appropriate to delegate? Some things are not, like difficult conversations --- ## Techniques - Default to delegating everything possible - If you are accountable, delegate responsibility (RACI concepts) - Delegate responsibilities and outcomes.  - Delegate with the right level of support (see “Types of delegation”).  - Let the person make mistakes and learn from them - If a delegation fails, typically it’s not their fault, it’s the delegator’s for not setting them up for success. --- ## Types of delegation - **Stay close** - when the person has low confidence or competence. Provide the plan. Check-in often. You still make decisions. These are often tasks not responsibilities or outcomes. - **Coach** - when the person has some experience or exposure. Come up with a plan together. You make decisions based on their input.  - **Hands off** - when you are comfortable giving full autonomy. They are responsible for all decisions.