What is a Delegating Leadership Style?
With good reason, delegating is also frequently referred to as empowering. It is a style of leadership where the formal leader cedes the stage to those doing the work and intentionally stays out of their way while they work their magic.
Delegation can be traced back to the historic Ohio State studies in the 1950s. At the time, researchers sought to identify which leadership approach was “best.” Would it be autocratic …or … democratic? They identified two parameters of evaluation:
- Success – did the leaders being studied deliver results?
- Effectiveness – did the followers like working for those leaders?
Much to their surprise, the researchers found there was no preferred approach! Autocratic and democratic leaders were both successful and effective! So too were a number of leaders that didn’t fall into either camp. They were termed at the time as laissez-faire leaders primarily because their style was a low task and low relationship behavior approach (by comparison … they didn’t do too much of anything!). That approach was found to align with followers who were both confident and competent to perform on their own.
What A Delegating Leadership Style Looks Like
The purpose of a delegating style is to allow those high performers the autonomy they have earned. This comparatively “hands off” approach is the highest form of recognition a strong and consistent performer can receive. In essence, delegation provides those with high motivation and proven, consistent performance at a sustained and acceptable level to control a good part of their own work-related destiny, solve their own problems and pursue continued mastery of their craft. Here is an example of when the delegating style would be appropriate, and what a manager using it might say:
- A tenured employee with a remarkable track record of high performance has identified an operational problem that (left unaddressed) could have a significant impact (negative) on the department achieving their quarterly goal. This problem is unprecedented (i.e., no protocol identified and no history of similar events):
- “I’m going to get busy letting others know about this unfortunate development. In the meantime, and as far as I can tell, no one would be better suited to dive into the particulars of this challenge than you. Let me know what you think the best course of action is moving forward and how I and others in the department can best support your efforts.”
From that point forward the role of the delegating/empowering leader is to:
- Monitor Progress – “Low” relationship behavior does not mean “no” relationship behavior! The leader needs to keep an eye on movement, progress and potential pitfalls
- Reinforce Results – Along the same lines, the leader needs to periodically let the follower know they appreciate their efforts and the outcomes those efforts produce
- Remain Accessible – Sometimes high performers need someone to bounce ideas off and validate their instincts
The Situational Leadership® Model and Delegating/Empowering
At The Center for Leadership Studies, we believe that a leader needs to adapt their approach based on the current performance of the person they are trying to influence. Situational Leaders routinely shift between one of four styles (S1 – Telling; S2 – Selling; S3 – Participating; and S4 – Delegating) with each person they influence on a task-by-task basis.
As previously mentioned, the S4 delegating style of leadership is typically a high probability with followers that consistently demonstrate ability (task specific knowledge, experience and skill) and willingness (task specific confidence, commitment and motivation). Those indicators usually present themselves with followers that have mastered their skill set relative to the task in question. Here are a few examples:
- Employee can consistently perform a task at a high standard
- Employee can operate autonomously
- Employee is committed to and enjoys performing a task
- Employee keeps key stakeholders informed of progress with task
- Employee is comfortable sharing both good and bad news
- Employee is well aware of their task-related competency and skill
Delegating/Empowering Leadership Training
Understanding the benefits of style S4 (low task and low relationship behavior) is relatively straightforward. Knowing both how and when to employ that approach is significantly more difficult! In that context, the real job of any leader is to identify what style of leadership a follower needs for a given situation. Consider the Situational Leadership® framework as a timing mechanism that helps leaders determine when to do what in that regard. Also consider that effective leadership that delivers results and enhances engagement is more important now than ever before!
