Great leaders know how to delegate effectively and empower their people.

I'll never forget it. It was the end of March—the very last day of the first quarter. 

Any business leader that is either responsible for the entire P&L, or is leading the sales arm of the organization, knows how important the last day of the quarter is. And, if you have been doing this for a while, you know that the first quarter is REALLY important. If you meet or exceed your numbers in the first quarter, the next nine months just seem to go better – financially, with customer retention, with new sales, culturally, with the vibe in the office day to day, etc. Conversely, if you don't meet your numbers? Everything feels like you are playing catch-up. 

Back to the last day of the first quarter. It was 4:50 PM. The company's leadership hoped a few more deals would come through to help us get closer to making the quarterly projections. I walked out of my office to one of my sales directors, and he wasn't there. Where was he? I walked around the building, to the multiple breakrooms, into the different conference rooms. Nowhere. I couldn't find him.

I called his cell, and he answered. I asked, "Where are you?" He replied, "I'm on my way home." I inquired if he had heard back from the hot prospect we were hoping would sign a contract today. He said, "No, I tried calling her, but she didn't get back to me." Befuddled, I asked, "When was the last time you reached out to her?" He paused for a few seconds, probably gauging my response that was about to come from his response, and then said, "Earlier this morning."

I had a mild explosion. If you saw my face, it probably looked like hot liquid magma was coming out of my ears. I gave him a tongue-thrashing on the importance of the last day of the quarter, especially in the first quarter, because it sets the tone for the rest of the year. Just for the record, this was a tongue-lashing I was giving to a Sales Director that's been working in this industry for decades and is super sharp and capable. It was really quite belittling. 

Every leader needs to know that when it comes to delegation, you're either going to get it right or get it wrong. You are either going to get it right and give your people the correct amount of responsibility and authority so they can feel empowered, or you will do the opposite, and they will feel disempowered.

Okay, before any of you A-type and or Pioneer-type leaders read this and say, "Doug, you were totally justified in reaching out to your Sales Director when he hadn't fully exhausted his options to close the deal the last day of the quarter," let me tell you what had happened leading up to that scathing phone call. I had been trying to manage this Sales Director and his sales pipeline by checking in with him over and over. For the past two weeks, I had been interrogating him on each potential deal, asking what his activity was to move the needle to a signed contract. Then I would turn up the heat, looking for "more activity" from him as we marched closer and closer to the end of the month. I wasn't really helping him; I was just babysitting him. I wasn't empowering him; I was micromanaging him. I didn't let him have much authority even though he was a senior Sales Director with a proven track record in the organization (which led to disempowerment). He should have had the authority over how to handle his pipeline. Instead, I took away his authority by micromanaging those decisions for him.  I kept pushing him for more activity and didn't give him space to work. In other words, he had a decent amount of responsibility and I kept adding more to the pile (which equals disempowerment). 

Great leaders need to delegate a good balance of authority and responsibility.

Effective Delegation Tool Courtesy of GiANT

Of course, I'm the leader of the sales team, so there is more authority on my plate. But there needs to be a commensurate level of authority (and maybe the word is power) for the Sales Director to manage the pipeline how he needs to manage it. Instead of telling him what tasks to do to land the deals, I should be curious to learn what assistance and support he needs so that he feels more empowered to move the pipeline in the direction he wants. Loading him up with "tasks" is disempowering; giving him tools and then getting out of his way to execute is empowering. Removing obstacles and barriers that he can't clear on his own is empowering.

At the end of the day, those that aren't willing to dive in and fight for a good balance of authority and responsibility with the people they lead will likely come across as bulldozers and micromanagers. That's what I did to my Sales Director.

Years later, that Sales Director and I are great friends. In fact, he is in the circle of my closest friends. This is fun because we get to return to that story I just told you and have a good laugh.

But, being honest, I cringe a bit when I write about it. I didn't make this mistake just once. Rather, it was a habit of mine – for a long time.

Thankfully, through a lot of trial by fire, I have learned how to delegate effectively so the people below me feel they have (1) A challenging list of responsibilities, but not so many that they feel overwhelmed; and (2) Enough authority to run their lane without me micromanaging it. That avoids disempowerment and increases empowerment in the best of ways. 

We all have tendencies when it comes to delegating responsibilities and authority. Some of you might not give much responsibility because you fear that people would fail, or you can do the task better. Or you might tend to do what I did, give tons of responsibility but not necessarily give the authority that goes with it. Regardless of your tendency, learning how to calibrate authority and responsibility to delegate effectively is crucial for leading a successful team.