“My mother taught me that if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself,” proclaimed Judith, repeating the sage advice she had learned in her youth.

“Interesting,” I replied. We had been discussing her reluctance to delegate. “Why do you think your mother said that?”

“Well, people just never do things the way we expect them to be done.” I wholeheartedly agreed. But, what causes this underperformance?

Most often, the goal of the delegation is never communicated to the team member in terms of a performance standard. They receive some vague request, “Can you take care of this task or that task?” but the exact expectation is seldom spelled out. They are told what to do, but not how well or by when.

So, spell it out. It is the responsibility of the manager to describe the specific performance standard. With a clear picture, there is a higher probability of it being done right, and the possibility that your mother was wrong. -TF