Focus on Results

Not process

When we delegate to our team, we should help them focus on the results, not the process. We want to grow them as capable professionals, not cogs in a machine.

Grow your people to take ownership of their work, even if that ownership is of something small. For example, if you ask your direct report to please confirm all of the vendors for an event, you want them to, you know, confirm the vendors for the event.

You don’t want to hear: “I have the first two, but the third never called me back.” with the assumption that they have completed the job you gave them. That’s a focus on process, not on results. Their mindset might be: “I made the calls—if they didn’t respond, that’s not my problem.”

If the third vendor is not responsive, WE have a problem. Help them think of solutions. Do we have other contact info on file for them? Did they do a Google search? If that vendor is not responding or reachable, have they contacted other vendors of the same service to check prices and availability?

Grow your people to solve problems, and you will grow a more effective team.

(Photo by Mike Hindle on Unsplash)