Page 170 - Becoming a Successful Manager

Delegating Effectively and Empowering Employees to Take Risks 161

When the day of embarkation arrived, Susan slid behind the
wheel, Larry’s wife sat in the front passenger’s seat, and Larry
settled into the backseat with a newspaper. Susan started the car,
and they were on their way.
Larry made a big show of reading the newspaper as though
he weren’t watching where they were going. In time, he noticed
that Susan was going a bit too fast and was in the wrong lane to
exit onto another road. It was obvious to him that she was going
to miss the turnoff.
Larry had a dilemma. Should he tell her and prevent her mak-
ing a mistake, or should he bite his tongue and let her commit the
error? He had delegated planning the trip to her. If he were to
jump in and correct her, he would be removing the delegation and
communicating a message that she was incapable of executing her
task. If, on the other hand, he remained quiet, she would miss the
turn, and that would add to the length of the trip.
It was a test of his mettle for Larry to sit quietly and watch as
Susan sailed past the exit. In about 15 minutes (it seemed hours
to him) she announced, “Something is wrong.”
“Oh?” said Larry. “What?”
She pulled over to the side of the road, stopped, and unfolded
the map. “I missed the turnoff,” she said, “but we can turn around
right up the road and get back to the exit in a fl ash.” And that’s
what she did.
The lesson is clear. Larry let Susan take a reasonable risk.
Sure, she made a mistake, but they ended up where they planned
to go. It took a little longer, but that was of no real importance
because Susan gained some knowledge that day.
Larry acknowledged afterward that his composure during the
incident required courage. “Perhaps it also required a risk on my
part,” he said. “But I was just being a good father. I helped her to
grow a little.”