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Looking back on the early years of my career, I have begun to feel bad about all of my former managers who were too insecure to challenge me.
Many of them shared the common misconception that being a manager is about solving problems and fixing things. They didn’t know that a manager of a business is no different than the coach of a sports team. Both must get things done efficiency and effectively through others.
A hockey coach must be good at delegating because he cannot step on the ice and take over for a player. In business, it’s easier for the manager to “step on the ice” and take over. And managers often do it for one of a number of reasons. It could be that they can do a task better, that the person the manager reports to will value them more, perhaps they are helping out a fellow team member, or there just isn’t time and the manager can do it faster.
The true manager, who we call the “manacoach,” like an experienced parent knows this: the only way for a person to become independent is to reject his or her dependence. Children will breast feed until they are embarrassed to bring friends home from college unless at some point in their path their mother rejects their dependence.
As a manager, when a team member approaches with a question or a problem, you have a choice. You can solve it, or you can reject the dependence. If you solve it, or take control, no growth will take place.
The manacoach only answers questions or takes over as an exception to the rule. It’s an exception because, in most cases, the manacoach’s response will be, “What would you do if I weren’t here?” If the team member responds, “I don’t know,” the manacoach will reply with something along the lines of, “We don’t pay you for me to think. Never approach me for help unless you have a proposed solution.”
This is called “weaning.”
The number one function for the manacoach is to grow his or her team members. This is impossible if dependence is not continuously rejected. What would you do if I weren’t here is the manacoach’s automatic response to any request for help. The manacoach knows that by asking this question, you learn how your teammates think, you learn their level of innovation and gaps in their skill sets where you need to provide coaching, and you get them to use their talents. Provide the solution and you are the one being managed.
Are you managing your team or are they managing you?
I can recall a number of managers in my past who were managed by their teams. My co-workers and I would routinely bring a problem or assignment to their attention and, as expected, they would take control. We were leaving at 5:00pm and they were stuck working to all hours of the evening. We were managing our manager and, frankly, it was a lot of fun.
When you, as a manager, step in and take over problems, instead of asking, “What would you do if I weren’t here,” no growth can occur. If you do this on a regular basis, it is you, the manager, who needs to be replaced. You are not acting in the best interest of the company, as you are limiting the scalability and effectiveness of your team.
What is your time worth? What are you costing the organization by not delegating?
It often feels good to help out your teammates by solving problems for them, but doing so makes you a manager who doesn’t understand the number one task at hand: getting things done efficiently and effectively through others. Accomplishing this task requires rejecting the dependence of your teammates so that you can focus on eliminating obstacles in order to create a high performance team set up for success.
Learn more about delegating and dependence by watching our short video.
