To The Rescue Always stepping in to save the day? Stop doing your employees' work before it's too late!

Do you love playing the part of office hero who alwaysintervenes to save the day when employees stumble? Good as it mayfeel, know that if you find yourself often falling into this role,you're heading not only toward personal inefficiency but towardthe possible collapse of your business.

"When you keep saying `I can do it! I'm theleader!' you're rushing into paralysis," says LauraBerman Fortgang, a Montclair, New Jersey, executive coach andauthor of Take Yourself to the Top (Warner Books).

By playing the hero, you fall victim to an epidemic workplacemalady: upward delegation. But how do you know if you're avictim? "Look at the work on your desk. How much of it hadoriginally been given to others but has now come back to you?"says Joyce Gioia, a Greensboro, North Carolina, certifiedmanagement consultant and co-author of Lean & Meaningful: ANew Culture for Corporate America (Oakhill Press). When yourto-do list is on hold because you're working nonstop doing jobsyou initially delegated, you're suffering from full-blownupward delegation.

It can, however, be hard to say no to employees seekinghelp--even when it requires you to take the project off their plateand put it on yours. Saying no is tough for two reasons. Numberone: It feels good to be the hero. Number two: Saying yes is humannature. "Bosses want to be seen as good people," saysGioia. "When a subordinate shows up at your desk and says `Ijust can't do this,' our impulse is to say `I'll takecare of it.'?

"A lot of this has to do with the old patriarchal model ofboss as father figure," adds Linda Ford, who holds a doctoratein human and organization systems, and is the owner of OptimaConsulting in Cupertino, California. Again, the attraction isplaying the hero. The problem is that in doing this, Ford warns,"You're burning your company at the roots."

The smoke turns frighteningly visible when you see theconsequences that follow in an organization where upward delegationis rampant. Here are some ramifications to consider:

• Your effectiveness plummets. "[Every day] it seems as ifyou're on a treadmill and can never get anything importantdone," says Fortgang.

• Worse still: "If you accept upward delegation, you wind updoing little of the most important work," says Peter Meyer, amanagement consultant in Scotts Valley, California. How can you dothe important work--the planning and decision-making that will growyour business--when you're bogged down with work you originallydelegated?

• By always stepping in and doing the tough tasks, you'recrippling your staff's growth, says Don Blohowiak, a PrincetonJunction, New Jersey, management consultant and author of YourPeople Are Your Product: How to Hire the Best (Chandler HousePress). When a worker consistently delegates upward, he or shefalls into "learned helplessness," says Blohowiak."The better your staff is, the freer you can be to pursuevalue-added tasks."

Robert McGarvey writes on business, psychology and managementtopics for several national publications. To reach him online withyour questions or comments, e-mail rjmcgarvey@aol.com

Passing the Buck

Why do subordinates delegate projects to you? Are they justshirkers who want to dodge their toughest tasks? Actually,that's rarely what underlies an epidemic of upward delegation."People doing upward delegation don't actually want to doit," maintains Ford. "They really would prefer to dotheir own work." Therefore, rather than looking to thefailings of your subordinates in order to identify why upwarddelegation is flourishing in your business, you should take acloser look at yourself.

Experts pinpoint two causes that underlie most cases of upwarddelegation. The first is that you habitually overturnemployees' decisions. When employees know that no matter howhard they work, you'll overturn everything they do, they losethe desire to do the job and will pass on as much as possible toyou.

Is your way the right way? Perhaps, but by constantly rejectingemployees' work, you ensure that they'll never develop theability to make independent decisions--and that will block not onlytheir growth, but your business's growth as well.

Are the costs of accepting your employees' decisions higherthan the costs involved in blocking their growth? When employeessee their decisions implemented, they're likely to take evermore care in their thought processes--meaning they'll make everbetter decisions.

The second big reason employees kick work back to you is thatsometimes they honestly don't know how to do the job you'vegiven them. What should you do then?

For many business owners, the instinctive response is to agreeto take the project back. Don't. The more shrewd step is totake the time to train the employee in what he or she needs to knowin order to accomplish the task. "Ask, `What do you think weshould do here?' If the employee says, `I don't know,'don't jump in with solutions. Instead, suggest to the employeethat he or she come back to you with, say, three options and arecommendation later in the day," advises Blohowiak.

If the employee comes back empty-handed, don't give up."Walk him or her through the process. And ask questionsdesigned to teach people how to solve their own problems,"says Fortgang. "This process may take longer than doing thework yourself, but if you do it yourself, you end up becoming anineffective leader."

Adds Blohowiak: "It's the old saw about teachingsomebody to fish vs. handing them a fish. Teach them, andyou've solved their problem for a lifetime. In business, it maytake time to accomplish this teaching, but it pays more dividends.You get to watch your people blossom, and you enable yourself toeventually be free to do more of the work you really should bedoing."

You're also building the foundation for a business that willachieve continued success, says Ford. "For an BIZ Experiences,the only sustainable competitive advantage is leadership. Andupward delegation is what most destroys it." But helpemployees grow, and you're creating leadership that will giveyour business a sustainable advantage. And that's thebottom-line reason why the next time an employee tries to push atask back on your plate, the only smart response is to just say no.Do that, and your company may start growing almost as quickly asyou can delegate.

Contact Sources

The Herman Group, (800) 227-3566, http://www.herman.net

InterCoach Inc., (888) 23-COACH,, http://www.intercoach.com

Lead Well, (888) LEAD-WELL, http://www.leadwell.com

The Meyer Group, (831) 439-9607, PeterEva@aol.com

Optima Consulting Inc., (408) 257-0500, http://www.optimaconsulting.com