Stewardship Delegation 101

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At some point you need to scale out, and that’s called delegation! Stewardship delegation is the form of delegation where the responsibility for the delegated task is transferred to the delegatee. Stewardship delegation requires upfront effort, but results in long-term effectiveness. For stewardship delegation, you need agreement on the following 5 things: The desired results, the operating parameters, the available resources, the measurement system, and the consequences of their stewardship.

Stewardship Delegation

Stewardship delegation is presented in 7 habits, first things first!

I strongly recommend the delegator spend significant time ensuring the delegatee understands these five concepts of stewardship delegation. Most of my failures to delegate are caused by the delegatee not understanding the concepts. Having the delegatee involved in defining the concepts, especially the accountability model and the consequences helps build their buy-in and tests the delegatee’s understanding.

The desired results is the outcome the delegator wishes to achieve. Desired results should be conveyed in terms of what is desired, not in terms of how results should be achieved. By specifying what, not how, the delegatee has the maximum freedom to achieve the desired results.

The operating parameters are the guardrails within which the desired results should be achieved. While the delegator should give as few as possible, they tend to have experience and prevent the delegatee from making obvious mistakes.

The resources available are what the delegatee may use to get the desired results accomplished. Because the delegator tends to have experience they can often suggest useful resources, however the delegatee should have the freedom to ignore the unneeded resources.

The accountability model defines how the delegatee will be measured. This includes the measurement function, the measurement frequency and the way the measurement will be reported.

The rewards and consequences define how the delegatee will be rewarded for their efforts. This includes both rewards for success and consequences for failure.

By using these delegation guidelines you should be able to kick off stewardship delegation. Even though it takes more time upfront, the overall return on investment is excellent.

By the way, I’m trying to leverage the stewardship delegation method with myself, by taking a desire I wish to achieve and going through the five delegation concepts. I expect I’ll find this method very effective.

Gopher Delegation

Unlike stewardship delegation, gopher delegation is a terrible way to delegate. It may “feel” efficient, but boy will it suck. Gopher delegation is when you say “Go for that, go for this”. When you use gopher delegation you may find the following:

GPT for the assist on the following

  1. Confused Gophers: Imagine a bunch of gophers running around with no clue what they’re doing. One’s fetching coffee, another’s trying to decode your scribble on a sticky note, and yet another is wondering why they’re in this mess in the first place. It’s chaos!

  2. Micro-Management Mayhem: You thought you were delegating, but guess what? You’re now a full-time babysitter. You’re constantly checking in, giving step-by-step instructions, and basically doing the task yourself in slow motion. Fun times, right?

  3. Unleashed Chaos: Remember those guardrails in stewardship delegation? Yeah, gopher delegation doesn’t have those. It’s like giving a toddler a marker and leaving them in your pristine white living room. Good luck cleaning that up.

  4. Resource Ransack: Your gophers are using resources like they’re in a supermarket sweep. Need that expensive software? Sure! Training that takes a week? Why not! Your budget will thank you later.

  5. Accountability Abyss: Who’s responsible for what? Nobody knows. It’s like playing hot potato with tasks. When things go wrong (and they will), everyone points fingers faster than a spaghetti western showdown.

  6. Reward Roulette: Rewards and consequences? More like random prizes at a carnival. “Congrats on completing that task! Here’s a goofy dog goldfish.” Or, “You messed up? No worries, just try not to do it again… maybe.”

What happens here

In summary, gopher delegation might feel fast and easy, but it’s like putting a band-aid on a sinking ship. Sure, it might stay afloat for a bit, but you’re definitely going down—eventually. Stick with stewardship delegation for a smoother, more effective ride.