Servant Leadership Workplace-Delegating

5 Questions Servant-Leaders Ask Before Delegating

Servant-leaders are great at delegating.

Indeed, purposeful delegation is one of the three key practices of servant-leaders in the workplace.*

Here are 5 questions servant-leaders ask before delegating a project to a person or team.

  1. How does this project connect to our mission? Servant-leaders continuously connect their followers to organizational mission. When delegating, they can connect the dots between a project in the present and a vision of the future. And they can articulate that connection if needed.
  1. Is this project reasonable? Is it a priority? Is it sensible? Can we articulate an objective that is S.M.A.R.T – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound? Is it a good use of resources? Servant-leaders make decisions – including decisions involving delegation – with good stewardship.**
  1. Am I being fair? Bad delegating often involves acting partially – playing favorites or being punitive. Servant-leaders strive to be self-aware; that way, they can better know their own biases and put them aside when interacting with others at work.
  1. Am I being consistent? Servant-leaders avoid hypocrisy, double standards and duplicity. In my experience, servant-leaders never delegate a project they would be unwilling to do themselves.*** They make sure they “walk the talk” at all times.
  1. Can they do it? Does the team have the knowledge, skills, experience and resources it needs? In the workplace, there is little worse than being set up for failure. Servant-leaders at work make sure that never happens – they want results and they play to win!****

What do you think? Do you agree that a servant-leader would ask these 5 questions before delegating a project? What would you add?

Let us know.

As always, we appreciate your views.

Thanks!

And don’t forget to download our latest ebook, Servant Leadership in the Workplace: A Brief Introduction. It’s free!

___________________________

* Check out: “Servant Leadership – 3 Workplace Practices”  Plus more on purposeful delegation: “4 Distinctive Reasons Servant-Leaders Delegate”

** And here’s more on stewardship: “Servant-Leaders Steward 7 Things”

*** Two on consistency: “Servant-Leaders Don’t Eat Sugar” and “Servant-Leaders Lift Trees”

**** And finally, a word or two on achievement of results as a servant leadership priority: “Servant Leadership – 3 Workplace Priorities”