Abdication

Abdication is when you tell other people to do a job, without telling them how to do it or to what standard.  For example, you let a manager run a department for years and they do it their way, and increasingly their way, until the standards or culture in their department doesn’t match the rest of the company or what you had hoped for.

Maybe you were so busy with running the department you were best at, that you just told someone to “run this” out of desperation. 

In my early days, I abdicated responsibility for a key department because I didn’t know how things should be done and I assumed someone else did – so I let them do it and do it their way.  I was taking the short-term easy way out because I was ignorant, hopeful, or had no choice.

Over time you realize the person you abdicated to may create a negative subculture in their department, or you realize they do not know what they are doing and their department becomes a weak part of your company.

It’s true, once in a while I have been lucky.  I abdicated and it worked out.  To avoid problems from turning over an important position to someone and having problems you can –

• Discuss your vision for the position and mission at the outset.
• Have regular meetings to discuss progress.
• Measure the right KPIs and put up scoreboards.
• Hire the right people for that manager’s department rather than the manager hiring all their friends.

The idea is you can’t let every manager do it their way when they really don’t know what they are doing, and everyone is doing it differently.  You want talented managers who are bringing out the best in their people while accomplishing the goals of the organization – and all operating off the same sheet of music that you wrote on purpose.

In the end, the leader is responsible.  Building a great team of managers to run the important departments in your company is necessary for your company to grow to its potential.