I recall in my last position I wrote a press release because it was just easier for me to do it.

How wrong I was. Yes, the release was written and distributed quickly, but I didn’t allow someone on my team whose job was PR to handle it. And this person easily could have.

I need to provide opportunities for individuals on my team to perform their jobs and to grow in them.

I see this happen all too often with committees, too. You volunteer to help but the committee organizer ends up doing all the work. It’s not always because committee members can’t do the work, it’s often because the chairman thinks it will be easier to do the work himself. Invariably, the chairman gets frustrated because he’s doing all the work, and the members get frustrated because they aren’t contributing.

The challenge in both situations is that the person isn’t able to develop. Instead, it’s best to provide the guidelines and let the person do the job for which they signed on. It may not be exactly the way you would have done it, but it’s still done. And if it was done poorly, step back and see if your parameters were clear enough.

As one of my former bosses used to say, “At the end of the day I just want to get to 5. I don’t care if you do that by 2+3 or 4+1, just get us to 5.”

Giving people the flexibility to complete an assignment their way is sound advice no matter how you add it.