Page 177 - Becoming a Successful Manager

168 BUILDING ON YOUR FOUNDATION

The Role of Exemplars

If employees feel as strongly about the department and the goal
as you do, they will feel comfortable and will rise to the challenge
you set. You cultivate that feeling through your own performance.
You must delegate because you can’t do it all. Let others assume
responsibilities they can handle, and give them the space to fi gure
out how to fulfi ll them. Of course, they won’t do everything right
all of the time, but neither would you. When you and they join
forces, you’ll build a bond of trust and respect within the depart-
ment. When someone makes a mistake, you should acknowledge
it, but you don’t have to support it. Your employees can learn to

live with a flub, but they need the encouragement and freedom to
seek better solutions, and they will if you model that behavior for
them.
Use the example of your own best manager as your model
of how to delegate and engender risk taking. Think about what
impressed you the most in working for this person, and record
your conclusions in your journal to remind you as time goes by. It’s
most likely your best manager practiced the principles advocated
in this chapter. Learn from the people you rate as the best, and you
just might avoid some of the trial and error that led them to their
designation as successful managers.
This new behavior on your part is going to require practice.
The accompanying two-part Discovery Lesson will help you
understand the behavior changes needed for you to become com-
fortable with the approach and then put it to the test.
Managing is all about getting others to carry out respon-
sibilities. Your application of the formulas and experiences
covered in this chapter will aid you in accomplishing the dual
obligation of effectively delegating work to others and providing