Why bark if you have a good dog?

 A Company Commander – when asked if he wanted to address the troops – said, “why bark if you have a good dog?” He meant that he had good people supervising the soldiers. People, more than capable, who had been delegated the responsibility and the authority to lead.

So, he let them lead.

When one of my managers came to me and reluctantly admitted that a project I had given him went sideways, I could of done, and said, a lot of things. But instead of harshly reprimanding him, I told him I was happy it happened. Now that stunned him into silence!

I told him that I knew something was going to go wrong. I just didn’t know what or when. Once it happened we were able to move onward and upward. We debriefed. I provided him with support rather than expecting him to figure out how to pick up the pieces on his own. I set him back up for success.

Delegation does not mean abdication. Make no mistake about it, you are still responsible. But you need to give your people the chance to grow and take responsibility for work and projects that move the organization forward.

I was ultimately responsible for that project, not the manager in question, so I had to accept responsibility. This allowed my manager the chance to lick his wounds, get back on his feet and get back to work.