As a leader, letting go of control is one of the hardest management processes that most of find ways to procrastinate on, or see-saw from giving and then taking back delegated tasks. We all know the value to delegating, the benefit of growing our team around us, the importance in improving someone’s sense of self-worth, their job satisfaction, and even confidence. And we realise that in return we will have more time to get on with the strategic part of our role.
Yet, so many managers still struggle with letting to. For those of you familiar with the work of David Marquett (author of Turn the Ship Around), he suggests starting by letting go of control on yourself first to build up the letting go muscle at work. Doing things like taking the waiter’s recommendation on your meal order, having someone choose what kind of coffee you’ll have. By building up incrementally you’ll remind yourself that not all decisions, answers, ways forward need to come from you.
Letting go comes in all guises. Last week, I took my daughter up to Skye to take part as an extra in a film. I had two days in a foreign landscape, with plenty of time on my hands. My first day I had a plan of where and what I wanted to do, but the second, I wasn’t sure what the weather would entice me to do.
After a day of early starts and late finishes, coupled with car dramas (no sat nav, funny car noises, and driving into a ditch in the pitch black of night!) I realised that my second day of exploration needed to be tied with what mentally and physically I was up for. When a friendly local shop owner asked what my plans were for the day, I asked what he would suggest (bearing in mind I didn’t want to drive or walk too far). He gave a suggestion of visiting Torabhaig Distillery, and even though I’m not a whisky drinker I took his advice.
It was a perfectly acceptable tourism visit, not too long, not too far away, and not something you needed a partner to enjoy it with. But the real lesson, was that whilst it wouldn’t have been my go-to destination, it was still something I enjoyed doing.
David Marquet, author of Turn the Ship Around, talks of the 3 Pillars for giving up control – being able to give up control first, and then making sure that clarity and competence are there to support letting go. We’ve all been in a situation when someone does a task not to our liking or even plainly wrong, only to find out that we’ve not been clear on what we’ve asked them to do or the importance of the task. Equally, many of us have asked someone to do something believing they could do it, but we’ve not taught them how or assume it’s ‘simple’ without remembering that simple for us, may not be for them.
Here at Kapow Coaching, we’ve recognised that there are other strands to letting go that need to be considered in today’s world – commitment, confidence and culture. Letting go isn’t easy for leaders, but is something we can do more of, starting with ourselves.
Get in touch with us to find out more.