The 2011 (ISC)2 Security Congress

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DELEGATION DONE RIGHT 16 INFOSECURITY PROFESSIONAL ISSUE NUMBER 16 Relinquishing control may be diffi cult at fi rst, but the benefi ts for management, staff, and the overall company can be worthwhile. BY COLLEEN FRYE WHILE HIS CO-FOUNDER (AND BEST FRIEND) WAS AWAY ON VACATION, “MANAGERS MANAGE THINGS; LEADERS DEVELOP PEOPLE.” —HEATHER ROSENFIELD PRESIDENT ROSEWOOD ASSOCIATES the co-founder of a server and storage company took the opportunity to delegate some purchasing responsibilities that his partner had refused to loosen the reins on. The employees charged with the tasks had proven purchasing experience. Their decisions saved the company eight percent, and their research surfaced a new vendor that delivered product more quickly. “I used that opportunity to delegate that authority to them in his absence, under the ruse that I couldn’t handle it,” says Pat Taylor, founder of Atypical Business, a channel sales and marketing consultancy in Dallas and author of Sales Savvy (2011). “� ey were fearful, but I made it clear I’d take full responsibility.” Taylor’s partner was not happy, of course, but after he reviewed what transpired, he never took back the purchasing responsibilities. Like Taylor’s partner, many people � nd giving up control di� cult. Yet when delegation is done right, the employees, management and company all bene� t. Future leaders are groomed, new ideas are surfaced and executive management is freed up to focus strategically. “Managers manage things; leaders develop people,” says Heather Rosen- � eld, president of Boston-based Rosewood Associates, a licensee of the Crestcom corporate training program. � ere are emotional barriers to delegating, PHOTO BY TIM FLACH
she explains, ranging “from lack of confidence or trust in lower-level employees, to fear of being called lazy, to lack of control.” for most, delegating is a learned skill, says Seth levenson, an independent executive coach in Brookline, Mass. “you went into your profession— whether it’s technology, finance, whatever—because you liked the specialty, not because you wanted to manage people in that specialty. But the more successful and higher up you go, the more you are required to delegate.” Success, he says, is not defined by what a leader personally accomplishes, “but what they can enable the organization to accomplish, and what they can help their people to do.” Many of what John Baldoni, leadership consultant, speaker, and author of Lead with Purpose (2011), calls “super achievers” are not predisposed to delegating responsibilities and grooming staff. “The perception is I should do it myself. When you’re an individual contributor, you’re recognized and compensated for that individual contribution. That doesn’t work in management. But if you’ve always been recognized for a lot of work individually, it’s hard to let go.” Finding the Right Level of Delegation So just how much should you let go? rosenfield says the level of delegation depends on the personnel and the team, how long an individual has been with a company, and how much experience that person has. for instance, she explains, you might ask your employee to be the information-gatherer, while you make the decisions. as the individual gains experience, you might add responsibility by asking them to provide options in addition to the research. Then at a higher level of responsibility, ask them to provide a recommendation based on their research. also, she adds, a leader “should delegate results that have to be achieved rather than a task that has to happen.” levenson agrees: “let them know what you want to accomplish, but not how.” Before that, though, levenson says When to be Hands-On One of the biggest barriers to delegation is micromanagement, according to executive coach Seth Levenson. That said, he tries to steer clear of that term, “because it has a pejorative meaning. I call it hands-on, which makes it neutral and appropriate in certain situations,” he says. There are typically three situations in which a hands-on style is both required and acceptable, according to Levenson: 1. You have an employee with a performance issue. 2. You’re a new manager and you want to better understand your role and the roles of your direct reports, so a hands-on style is appropriate—in the beginning. 3. If your company has the spotlight on a particular project or issue, “you would be foolish not to be all over it,” he advises. a leader should ask if the direct report feels ready to handle the responsibility, and what level of advice they want to receive. and at the outset, “agree on the communication during the completion of the task—is it daily, which on highly critical tasks with a lower skill person it may be, weekly, or when certain milestones are reached.” If the communication is ongoing, he says, “there should be no surprises.” once the responsibility is outlined and parameters defined, Baldoni says you need to let everyone else know, and that you expect them to give this person their full support. “It’s also important to define scope,” Baldoni says. “It’s easy to delegate on paper, but when projects take longer or grow in scope, if I’m supervisor do I need to become more involved?” He adds that the supervisor needs to let the employee know it’s oK to ask for help. rosenfield says that defining performance standards and using metrics and regular reports are key. She also adds, “follow up and follow through. If you give someone something and let them run with it, and they come back with something that’s nothing like you expected, then you haven’t inspected along the way and followed through with them.” Some Common Missteps There are wrong ways to delegate as well. “The most egregious error is to delegate without authority,” Baldoni says. other mistakes, he says, include giving someone a mandate but no resources to carry it out, giving someone a job but not telling their peers, or not giving someone decision-making authority but still holding them accountable if things go south. Still, if you’ve done delegation right and it’s just not working out, you may have to take action. But first, says levenson, try to understand what’s not working, and what your contribution to that may or may not be. “It’s easy to say another person can’t handle it,” he says. However, if you do need to take back responsibility, there are different ways to do so, levenson says. If the issue becomes an emergency all previous agreements are off, he says, or if you think it will never work vs. it’s just not working now, that may affect how you deal with the issue. other options are to decrease the level or scope of responsibility rather than remove it entirely, levenson says. or, he adds, “Maybe you spend more time with them, or maybe you have another direct report who’s more experienced be a peer advisor or coach to that person.” above all, says rosenfield, “you have to have balance. So many managers today are working managers. they’re not just managing people; they’re responsible for a job as well. you have to balance—my individual contribution with my team contribution.” Colleen Frye is a freelance technology editor and writer based in Massachusetts. ISSUE NUMBER 16 InfoSecurIty ProfeSSIonal 17
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