by Michael Holland    

Can a leader be impoverished? Absolutely! Impoverished leaders detach themselves from their teams, and basically allow their teams to manage themselves. Often these leaders “Delegate and Disappear.” While delegation is a strong and effective way to manage, delegating without follow up, not providing adequate direction and not keeping track of an individual’s or team’s progress are very ineffective means of leadership. The impact is often that an individual or team feels ignored, resentful and disconnected from his/her manager. Make sure you keep connected, keep communicating and build the necessary relationships with your staff so they feel empowered and you do, too.

Think About It: With whom have you interacted in the last five days?  What projects or tasks may have been delegated, but have not received follow-up from you recently?

Take Action:  Write the first name of each of your staff.  Now, write the number of days – or weeks, months – since you last had a conversation regarding his or her workload.  Next, write down what actions you should take.

Now for the real question. . . What actions will you actually take?