Abdication Versus Delegation

So many times when we work with clients in our coaching programs, we start to move the owner to a higher level of management - getting them away from all the day to day issues. This means more and more decision making and responsibility gets shifted to the team. This works great every time, except when we start to ask the newly time-rich owner details about where things are at. It normally starts to sound like this - "So how are sales this week?" "I'm not sure, I don't generate the sales reports anymore." "How are your largest two accounts and their project launch dates?" "I am not sure, I haven't heard back from the team."

You get the idea that instantly, through leveraging your management team, your distribution of responsibility and decision making can be lost. It is key to delegate those responsibilities and roles but still retain a feedback loop so you are in the know. Delegation ensures there is reporting and updates regularly so you know what is happening - without having to do it. Abdication is the hand-off of responsibility without any feedback or response - someone else now handles it and you don't know what is happening.

So often the next step of business owners and managers that abdicate is to realize they have lost all information flow and to take it all back. All the decisions, all the responsibility and all the long hours. Don't do it! Delegate everything you can to others with strong training and a regular reporting method so you know what is happening but don't need to be doing it.