Delegating well (speccing the task, sharing your overall intent, context and resources) is a vital skill.
But the hardest most elusive, and most important part* is finding out what will make a person care enough to do something consistently well – or even to do it at all.
Things like:
- They think it’s important too (because they already did)
- They think it’s important because you’ve explained why you think it is
- They have a sense of ownership – that is, not only do they think it’s important, but they think that they are the one who should do it
- They like you / their colleagues and don’t want to let you down
- They respect you and don’t want to let you down
- They trust you and your judgement
- They trust the process that’s brought them here
- They fear the consequences (for them or others) if they don’t do it (this is a way of thinking something is important)
- They find it intrinsically fun
- The task has the right balance of challenge, autonomy and purpose that they get pleasure from it, even if the task itself isn’t pleasurable as such
- They like the primary outcome of the task (something good happens)
- They like the secondary outcomes from the task (e.g. they get paid)
What have I missed?
*With an enormous hat-tip to John G