Habit 3 - Delegation

I put my 7 habits blog on hold for several days, focusing on stuff that was important (but not urgent!). One of the things that I’ve been doing is working out a system of self-organization. I went to look at the Franklin-Covey planners, and they do look excellent. However I’m going to work out my own system. I’ve got a few good ideas that I’ll probably share once I get them in a printable form.

Anyhow, back to the discussion of Habit 3, as discussed by Steven Covey in his audio version of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:

In this short section Covey discusses the other part of organization besides self-organization: Delegation.

Covey draws a key distinction between Gopher delegation, and Stewardship delegation. Gopher delegation I think we are all familiar with. It’s delegating by giving commands, without really imparting any sense of the larger goals being pursued or involving them thinking about what the mission is. It’s saying “go do this, and when you’re done come back and I’ll give you something else to do.” ‘Micromanagement” is the word that comes to mind for me.

Stewardship delegation on the other hand is agreeing upon a result that should be achieved, but leaving the methods open to the person who has been delegated to. The person becomes a steward, and is responsible for choosing the methods they employ to achieve their goals. Ideally, they have even been involved in the decision about what they have stewardship over. Involvement encourages commitment.

Covey suggest that we should always strive to set up stewardships, and gives an example from his family. Rather than telling his son to water the lawn and pick up the trash, he delegates responsibility to his son. His mission becomes ‘keep the yard green and clean’. If his son fulfills this mission, Covey no longer has to manage or delegate anything. His son has now become the steward of the yard.