领导艺术：分权失败5宗罪

    把任务委派给那些经验较丰富的下属的确比较容易，即便这些人可能从任务中学习不到太多东西。更具有挑战性的则是把任务分配给那些从来没有从事过这类任务的人。这就是“开发他人”的核心所在。他们都是有优秀教育背景、有天赋、有才华、有进取心的人，只是缺乏经验而已。

    因此，在委派一项任务的时候，最好假设他们并没有真正理解这项任务的重要性，也不明白它对业务的全局有什么意义。高明的经理人经常在委派任务时首先会向下属解释为什么要完成这项任务，把它当作委派工作的第一步。

    • 为什么要完成这项任务

    • 为什么说它对我们的业务很重要

    • 为什么说它对你们的职业很重要

    • 谁能从这项任务中获益

    • 其他事项

    如果在委派任务之前没有向下属解释全局，没有把“所有的点都联系起来”，如果是一位新人，他可能会理解不了他所做的事有什么重要意义。因此如果你想要的是一个有积极性的学习者，就要确保他们理解为什么说这项工作具有重要性。这样他们才会感觉到自己在全局工作中的重要性，从而主动开展工作，而不是被动地像一架机器一样按部就班地干活。

    4.只委派无足轻重的任务。“情境领导理论”认为，把较大的项目委派给那些已经在工作中证明了自身能力的下属相对而言比较容易。但是，他们是不是能一直这样胜任？有些时候，上级领导选择在这些人身上冒冒险，把一个大项目或重大责任委托给他们，而且他们也的确取得了成功。可能他们的上级也密切参与了这项任务，并且积极主动地参与了解决问题的过程，给予了咨询和指导。

    可有的时候也并非如此。有时，这些下属可能只能依赖自己的智慧，独力搞定一项任务。这种情况在西方叫做“泳池的深水区”。早年间我曾在“深水区”里待过很长时间，我向你保证，在这个地方游泳非常痛苦。当时在我急需要支持和指导的时候，我的那些经理们在这方面却做得十分不到位。当然，他们也不认为开发别人是他们的职责。

    我对那些有进取心的经理人的建议是：与下属建立紧密的关系，把多数重大职责分配给他们，然后在执行任务的过程中与他们保持紧密的沟通。那么你的职业之路即可确保无虞，同时你开发的下属也会与你一起上升。如果你只让下属做些小事，他们就不会成长，你的业务也不会有大的起色。最糟糕的是，你雇佣的人才会用脚投票，带着自己的才华另谋高就，而这是一个需要注意的迹象。

    It’s always nice to delegate to those with deep experience, even though these people aren’t going to learn much from the task. More challenging is the ability to delegate to people who have never done this type of work before. That is the real nature of developing people. They are well educated, talented, intelligent and willing…they simply lack experience.

    Therefore it is best to assume that they don’t really understand the relevance of the task at hand and how it connects to the Big Picture of the business. The wise manager always takes the time to explain the “why” of a task as the first step of delegating:

    • Why we need this done

    • Why it is important to our business

    • Why it matters to their career

    • Who will benefit

    • Etc

    Failing to clarify the Big Picture, to “connect the dots” for a beginner is not only demotivating, it makes it very hard for them to feel that what they are doing is significant and meaningful. If you want a motivated learner, make sure they understand “why” the task is important. That way they will be able to sense their own importance in the larger scheme of things: they will feel actively engaged in the business instead of feeling like a robot.

    4. Delegating Only Small, Trivial Tasks. Again, the principle of “situational leadership” applies: it is easier to delegate large projects to people who have already proven themselves competent. But…were they always so competent? At some point, their superiors took a risk on them and trusted them to take on a large chunk or responsibility…and they succeeded. Most likely, their supervisor was closely involved, checking-in regularly for trouble-shooting, counseling, encouraging, etc.

    Or perhaps not. Perhaps they had to rely only on their own wits and figure it all out by themselves. That is known in the West as “the deep end of the pool.” I spent a lot of time at the deep end in my early days and I assure you it is a very painful place to swim! My managers were simply incompetent to provide the kind of support and coaching I desperately needed and wanted. Of course, they didn’t think their job was to develop people either.

    My advice to aspiring managers: develop close relationships with your people, delegate BIG chunks of responsibility and stay closely connected with them along the way. Your career path is assured, together with the person you developed. If you only ask people to do the small stuff, they aren’t going to grow and neither is the business. Worst of all, the talented people you hired are going to vote with their feet and take their talents elsewhere. And that is going to be noticed.