Accompany Delegated Problems with Guiding Principles

Recently I ran across a situation that reminded me of leaders needing to delegate responsibility while remaining engaged with what the team is doing.  At one of my former employers we had a particularly thorny issue which required multiple groups to work together to address.  It was important that I delegate resolution of the issue to the team, but it was also important that the team had a glimpse into some of my thinking on the issue.  When I delegated the issue to one of my managers for resolution, I also articulated some guiding principles that the team needed to keep in mind while resolving the issue.  What this allowed me to do was not only provide some considerations for the team to noodle over while coming up with a resolution to the issue but also empower the team to make the decision as to what to do about the issue.

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This approach works out great for a few reasons:  

1. The leader gets to set some direction on the resolution without dictating the resolution
   
2. The team is empowered to make decisions while understanding the leader's point-of-view on the issue
   
3. The team is more likely to come up with a resolution which won't have to be reworked because it falls outside of the leader's expectations
   

As a leader, make sure you empower your team to solve problems and make decisions; just don't be hesitant to express some guiding principles or points of view that the team needs to consider in making the decision.

Lonnie Pacelli
Keynote Speaker | Board Director | Autism Advocate | Author | Project Management Expert | Microsoft/Accenture Veteran 
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