Thread by @jspujji

Leadership is hard.

One of the hardest parts is delegation.

How much guidance do you give? When do you do it yourself? When/How to track others to-dos?

As a young leader, I wish I had a cheat sheet for delegation.

So I wrote one.

Read this 🧵 to accelerate your career:

1/ First, the biggest delegation mistake I see leaders make: either 'abdicating' or 'micromanaging'

Abdicating is when you hand over a task/responsibility and disappear assuming it's getting done.

Micromanaging is directing every little thing your report does.

Which do you do?

2/ Probably both!

But that depends on:

1) The persons seniority
2) their level of skill for a given task
3) the situation at hand.

The two tools I use to help me do this well:

Ladder of Leadership (LL) and

Task Relevant Maturity (TRM)

Here's how they work:

3/ Consistently meeting your team where they are and helping them stretch is key.

It becomes easier when there is "common language" the whole team can use to signal this to each other.

The Ladder of Leadership solves this!

Here’s how it works:

4/ When a CEO meets their board, they tell them "here's what I've been doing" (a 7) and I'm about to (5).

When an entry level person starts as a waiter, they say "tell me what to do"

Everyone else sits on in between on "rungs" of the ladder.

For an IC or MM to get promoted:

5/ Look at your last 10 emails to peers or senior people.

Now jump up 2 rungs in your next 10 emails.

If you've been asking "what do I do?" start saying "I think I should,” instead of "I see" start saying "I recommend"

Watch your career soar, now let's flip to the manager:

6/ You're an expert twitter🧵 writer and starting a twitter agency. You are a 7.

You hire an entry level person and it’s not working out.

You've been managing them at the 5/6 level asking "what did you do?"

Instead, they need you at the 1/2 level: "do this."

Now..

7/ Ensure they consistently deliver what you tell them at "level 1."

I call this the 'triangle of success': do they deliver what you asked, on time and above the quality bar indicated?

Once they do, start to stretch them!

Ask what they think. Ask what they recommend!

8/ Inviting your reports to move up the ladder gives you leverage and helps them grow.

It’s the ultimate win win.

"But Jesse, I hired a VP and managed them at 5 and it didnt work!"

"I hired a new VA managed them at a 2 - they quit!"

We can take it to the next level with TRM

9/ It turns out very senior people can be total beginners for some tasks.

On the flip, junior people may be didn’t experts in specific tasks.

The key concept here is: Task Relevant Maturity

10/ TRM is a simple concept with a long name: how well does the person know how to do the task they've been given?

Every single person is at a different place in their development.

And that development level is unique for each and every skill!

11/ e.g.

I am an expert in growth marketing - I could easily fly at level 6/7 and just update people on what I've been doing.

I am a total beginner in setting up a 3PL - someone tell me what to do!

If someone senior or mid-level isn't delivering, ask them about their TRM!

12/ The key to making this work in a fluid way is to make talking about the LL and TRM a normal part of everyday work discussions.

Examples of what this will sound like:

"Jump up on the LL and make a recommendation!"

"I'm new to TikTok. Can you jump down the LL for me?"

13/ The last item on the list is "the situation"

At times, there's either an opportunity so meaningful that the leader wants to operate with total control.

This is rare and temporary (~1/year). Communicate it clearly to your team.

Then follow daily check-ins and be hands on.

14/ So to review the secrets of delegation:

+ Learn and study the LL and TRM
+ Make both normal vocab in your org
+ For any given task, discuss the persons TRM and agree on where you both want to be on the LL
+ Stretch people by jumping up 2 rungs
+ Make space to calibrate/grow

15/ If you enjoyed this thread, follow me @jspujji

I tweet advice and stories about entrepreneurship and leadership like this every week.

RT the whole thread to share to help others 10x their delegation skills!

16/ If you enjoyed this, subscribe to my newsletter 3-1-4. It comes up every other week with 3 links, 1 thought and 4 opportunities.
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17/ Sources
getlighthouse.com/blog/managemen…
medium.com/@ameet/task-re…
Ampush Leadership Ladder (Developed by L. David Marquet) drive.google.com/file/d/1VdUBGG…