The Secret to Effective Management

Words of wisdom:

Trust but verify

Now you are extremely busy and have a new task. Perhaps you negotiated with your manager for help from other people. Unfortunately, those people are clueless. They're not going to do it right, which is to say, they're not going to do it the way you would. What do you do?

You delegate ownership of significant portions of the request—not tiny disconnected work items—ownership of significant portions. You say, "You own this piece. Here are the requirements. Here are the boundaries. Here are the people involved. Here's the results I expect and when I expect them. Any questions?"

The bottom line is that people will not do things the way you would, so let go. Give them ownership. Let them discover the right way for them. It will be better than your way for them. That's how you delegate. You trust people. Seriously.

Naturally, you want to regularly check people's progress and results. Trust but verify. That's the key to delegation and management in general. Trust your people, verify their work.

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