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Would You Say A Standard Middle Manager Understands “Delegation?”
We’ve been working in the standard white-collar way since probably the 1950s, and admittedly a lot has changed. Tech is the big thing. Business models are the other. A lot of the basic shit, though, is the same. You still need to communicate. People still need to set priority. There needs to be defined job roles and some degree of clarity.
None of those things have changed that much since 1955, and yet we’re still awful at almost all of them. That’s probably why so many people are disengaged by work, but I guess it really doesn’t matter so long as these companies are making money and these people are getting paid salaries. Right? Right.
One of the other concepts in this bucket — stuff that hasn’t changed but we’re still not good at — is delegation. We know from research that being a good delegator can make you more money, but most managers are pretty shitty at what “delegation” actually is.
To wit, via Art Markman:
Managers need to stop thinking of passing off responsibilities as delegating — period. If you do, then you will only assign your employees high-level tasks when you don’t have time…
