Do your employees say yes to their chores? – The secret of effective delegation

Many leaders primarily delegate tasks and requirements sounding like orders. Consequently, they are often perceived as micromanagers. "I am not allowed to do anything", "I am not expected to think" or "That actually was part of my decision?" Truely competency-based leadership does provide room for learning and ensures the opportunity to be proud of what is being achieved. Here are the three categories that define the minimum requirement for effective and real delegation:

• T - Task: skills – actions, content, specific requirements, behavior and abilities to be demonstrated
• C - Competence: licence – degrees of freedom, scope for decision-making, accepted creativity within the set framework
• R - Responsibility: results – goals and results to be achieved, deadlines and quality criteria

Delegation will only be motivating and work if employees have all three areas clear and the leader has fully transferred all three aspects. Then, the last step it takes is motivation. As a leader, you get this by asking the important question: "Are you motivated?" If you want an employees to say yes, the task should be meaningful, activating, responsible, and relevant. In short: Your job as a leader is to lead, not to implement the tasks or to be your best employee. The implementation of the topics should be the responsibility of the employees.

Find more effective principles of leadership, for example, in Paschen, Michael & Dihsmaier, Erich (2011): Psychology of leadership (German), Berlin: Springer.