By Antoni
TO DELEGATE IS AN ART
The manager was stressed. She ran past John on her way to a meeting and waved at him as she went. “I’m double booked. You get to take care of our Chinese colleagues who are visiting. They will come at one o’clock.”
John tried to ask what the purpose of the meeting was and what he was going to say, but the manager only replied: “You can handle that. Just tell us about us. By the way…” she said, looking at Sara. “You’, go with him.” Then she was gone…
John took his laptop and did what so many do; he looked for PowerPoint slides on his computer and on the intranet. He found some slides with organizational charts on them. John went to the meeting, plugged in his computer, and started showing standard slides.
He kept going. One pointless slide after another caused the guests’ eyes to become emptier by the second. At first, they asked some questions but they soon stopped and stared with zombie eyes at the screen. The atmosphere was uncomfortable.
Luckily, John wasn’t sitting there alone. Sara had come along and asked to speak. “Okay, now you’ve seen how we’re organized, but you could just as easily read that on our intranet. How about you tell us what you would like to get out of the rest of the meeting?” The colleagues from China lit up.
Finally, they could focus on things they really needed to know. When the meeting was over, the atmosphere was much better than when John sat there without a clue and with rising panic.
A stressed person does not think clearly. The manager may have thought she was great at delegating in her haste, but she forgot important parameters namely to provide the right context, purpose, and goals.
John wasn’t thinking clearly either. He had a hard time catching the manager’s attention and he certainly didn’t want to appear incapable of the task. Either way, it didn’t turn out well.
How is it at your workplace? Do you and your managerial colleagues stomp forward at high speed and hand out orders left and right? Do you look down at your mobile phone in the morning or do you greet your colleagues? Everything you do communicates. All the time!
Delegating is good – if you do it well. Help your employees grow with the help of high empathy, positive energy, and high clarity in Communication . Then they will face challenges in a much better way than John was able to do.
Thanks for reading my mind
// Antoni
Team Antoni Explains
The manager was stressed. She ran past John on her way to a meeting and waved at him as she went. “I’m double booked. You get to take care of our Chinese colleagues who are visiting. They will come at one o’clock.”
John tried to ask what the purpose of the meeting was and what he was going to say, but the manager only replied: “You can handle that. Just tell us about us. By the way…” she said, looking at Sara. “You’, go with him.” Then she was gone…
John took his laptop and did what so many do; he looked for PowerPoint slides on his computer and on the intranet. He found some slides with organizational charts on them. John went to the meeting, plugged in his computer, and started showing standard slides.
He kept going. One pointless slide after another caused the guests’ eyes to become emptier by the second. At first, they asked some questions but they soon stopped and stared with zombie eyes at the screen. The atmosphere was uncomfortable.
Luckily, John wasn’t sitting there alone. Sara had come along and asked to speak. “Okay, now you’ve seen how we’re organized, but you could just as easily read that on our intranet. How about you tell us what you would like to get out of the rest of the meeting?”
The colleagues from China lit up. Finally, they could focus on things they really needed to know. When the meeting was over, the atmosphere was much better than when John sat there without a clue and with rising panic.
A stressed person does not think clearly. The manager may have thought she was great at delegating in her haste, but she forgot important parameters namely to provide the right context, purpose, and goals.
John wasn’t thinking clearly either. He had a hard time catching the manager’s attention and he certainly didn’t want to appear incapable of the task. Either way, it didn’t turn out well.
How is it at your workplace? Do you and your managerial colleagues stomp forward at high speed and hand out orders left and right? Do you look down at your mobile phone in the morning or do you greet your colleagues? Everything you do communicates. All the time!
Delegating is good – if you do it well. Help your employees grow with the help of high empathy, positive energy, and high clarity. Then they will face challenges in a much better way than John was able to do.
