????隨著我們在一個組織內部獲得提拔，我們看待事物的視角也開始發生變化，有時甚至會讓你自己覺得不自在。大多數人進入一個組織之后首先承擔的是某個技術領域的角色，而且他們基本上確實能夠根據自己的能力貢獻出組織所需要的成果。

????在我的職業生涯早年，我曾經是一名公關專員，擅長拓展媒體關系、撰寫新聞通稿、組織活動和新聞發布會等工作。當然，這些工作也需要你具備與別人合作的技能，但當時我并用不為別人的表現負責。不過，隨著我的技能擴展到咨詢和銷售等領域，我開始在公司里獲得提拔，最終當上了公司的總經理。

????這時候，我遭遇了職業的“撞墻期”。突然間，我發現我遇到了似乎力所不逮的問題。當時我真的不知道如何“管理”別人，如何把職責有效地“委派”給其他人。那么，我是怎樣做的？我把大多數職責包攬在自己身上，繼續親歷親為，從事需要我的專業技能的工作，只是偶爾把一些“任務”委派給別人。不用說，當時我作為一位經理吃了不少苦頭，后來才在這些苦頭中領悟到（就像當時我的導師對我說的那樣）：“你得找到新的方法來體現自己的重要性?！?/p>

????所謂“體現自身重要性的新方法”就是當好領導、當好指揮者、當好委派者的藝術。也就是說，你要開發別人的潛能，而不是自己去充當一名技術專家；通過其他人開展工作，而不是把所有工作都包攬在自己身上。一名交響樂指揮家不可能一個人演奏所有樂器，但是很多新走馬上任的經理人都在犯這個錯誤，而這并不是一個非常有效的方式。

????許多新任的經理人沒有充分發揮出他們自己的潛能，因為他們不能有效地給下屬委派工作，而且他們也不明白委派工作的意義。委派工作對于領導者來說極為重要，它甚至成了很多有理想、有抱負的經理人的“阿喀琉斯之踵”，可能成就、也可能毀掉一個經理人的事業。下面讓我們看看很多經理人沒能有效委派工作的五大主要原因。

????1.第一個壞消息：委派者的主要角色是“開發”別人。這是一個大多數經理人并不了解的基本事實……或者他們根本也不想了解。因為“開發”別人并不屬于讓這些經理人獲得提拔的技能之一。

????許多經理人覺得開發別人、幫助別人成長并且取得成績并不在自身能力的“安全地帶”里，因此，他們常常會抵觸這個角色。但事實上，向下屬委派工作，給予經常性的指導，目的是為了把下屬培養成像自己一樣強、甚至超過自己的人。而開發別人的好處則是，你開發出來的人才可以取代你的職位，這樣你自己才能被提拔到更高的職位上。因此，開發別人的技能以及委派職責的能力為我們提供了一個不斷上升的渠道。另外，你給別人委派職責，并不是給別人帶去了“負擔”，而是在給他們一個成長的機會。

????2.不是“委派”而是“甩派”。英語的“委派”一詞來自拉丁文單詞“delegare”，原意是“松綁”。所以從字面上看，“委派”就是要讓你從大量職責中“松綁”，把它們派給別人。但是許多經理人似乎認為，委派就是簡單地把責任“甩”給另一個人，自己當甩手掌柜。這對于一個經理人來說是最沒有技術含量的事，這樣做就像留下了一個定時炸彈，遲早肯定會在自己面前爆炸。

????高明的委派也包含把某項任務交付給其他人完成，但它也意味著委派者本人在任務的整個過程中都與被委派者保持溝通，而且還要提供反饋、建議、輔導或者任何其他接受委派的人所需要的東西。同時，你還要著眼于確保成功的目的，對被委派人保持主動的關注。它也意味著委派人和被委派人雙方都被“綁”在了一個項目的成敗上，必須以合作精神來共同努力。你過去是否有“甩派”責任的經歷？或者你是否曾經把某件事“甩”給其他人？如果是這樣的話，那么你留給其他人的肯定不是一種通力合作的印象。

????3.沒有從全局角度進行闡釋。如果你上過商學院的話，你可能學過“情境領導理論”。它意味著一個領導要根據下屬的專業技能程度把責任委派給他們，然后對于那些經驗較欠缺的下屬，要更加密切地與他們溝通；對于那些事實證明技能比較純熟的下屬，對他們的督促可以相應放松一些。

????As we move upwards in an organization, our perspective begins to change, sometimes in ways that can feel uncomfortable. Most people begin working in some technical skill area where they can reliably produce desired outcomes based largely on their own performance.

????In my career, I was a public relations practitioner, skilled at media relations, drafting news releases, organizing events and news conferences, etc. Of course that also required the skill of collaborating with others, but I wasn’t responsible for their performance. However, as my mastery of public relations increased into the areas of consulting and selling, I started moving up the ladder until eventually I was the general manager of the organization.

????That’s when I hit the wall! Suddenly, I realized I had been catapulted beyond my area of competence. I really had no idea how to “manage” others and how to “delegate” responsibility effectively to other players. So what did I do? I sucked most of the responsibility up to myself, continuing to work on things that demanded my technical expertise, while occasionally handing out a few “tasks” to others. Needless to say I suffered hugely as a manager until I learned the difficult lesson that (as my coach at the time said to me) “You need to find new ways of being important.”

????The new role, the “new way of being important” that I learned was the role of leader, orchestrator, delegator. The new role of developing others instead of simply being a technical expert.The new role of working through others, not doing all the work myself. Imagine a symphony orchestra conductor trying to play all the instruments. That is what many new managers find themselves trying to do and its not a highly effective approach, to say the least!

????Many new managers fail to achieve their potential because they don’t delegate effectively and they don’t really understand what delegation is all about. Delegating is so critically important that for many aspiring managers it literally becomes their “Achilles Heel”—their fatal weak spot that can make or break their careers. So let’s examine six major reasons that managers fail to delegate effectively.

????1. Bad News First: The Primary Role of a Delegator is to DEVELOP Others. This is a fundamental reality that the majority of managers don’t understand…or perhaps don’t want to understand. Because “developing others” is not one of the technical skills that got them promoted to a manager in the first place.

????Developing others, helping them grow and achieve puts them outside their Comfort Zone and so this role is often actively resisted. Delegation, plus ongoing coaching is the way to develop others to become as strong as, or even stronger than oneself. And the benefit of developing others is that it assures they can take over your job so you can be promoted to an even more senior role. Thus, the skill of developing others, and the skill of delegating responsibility to others provides the pathway to ongoing advancement. And, you are not bringing others a ‘burden’---you are in fact bringing them a growth opportunity.

????2. Instead of Delegating they “Dump-legate.” The word delegate in English comes from the Latin verb delegare, which means to “un-tie.” So literally, to delegate is to “un-tie” yourself from a chunk of responsibility, entrusting it to another instead. But many managers seem to believe that the way to delegate is to simply “dump” the responsibility on another person, wash their hands and walk away. That is the most unskillful thing any manager could do and, like a time bomb, sooner or later it is guaranteed to blow up in their face.

????Skillful delegation does involve entrusting a task to another, and, it also implies that the delegator stays connected to the other person throughout the process, being available for feedback, advice, coaching and whatever assistance is required. It means maintaining an active interest in the person with the goal of ensuring their success. It means that both parties are “tied” to the success of the project, in a committed spirit of partnership. Have you been “dumped” on in the past? Or have you dumped something on others? If so, I bet it didn’t feel like you were in a partnership.

????3. Failing to Explain the Big Picture. If you have been to business school you have probably studied “Situational Leadership.” This means that one learns to entrust responsibility to others based on their degree of expertise, staying more closely connected to those with little experience, and learning to be more relaxed around those with proven expertise.