How should we delegate our responsibilities?

This week our family went to the Peak District for a few days hill walking. On Tuesday we climbed up beautiful Golden Clough above Edale village. The hill above, Kinder Scout is famous for its dramatic Gritstone rocks, sculpted by wind over millennia. It’s also notorious for the boggy moorland covering its flat top.

Our youngest son Ian has been walking with us since he was born. Now aged 17 he’s done a few Duke of Edinburgh expeditions and has some basic navigation skills. So it seemed a good opportunity to continue his training!

The perimeter of the Kinder plateau is nearly 20 miles long – a bit far in February’s limited daylight. Taking short cuts involves walking across a broken landscape of ‘peat hags’ and streams. The lack of landmarks is confusing, and the going is slow.

We handed the map and compass to Ian and showed him where we wanted to get to. He worked out where we were (the first test!) and took a bearing. Off we went, following him across the heather which was sparkling with haw-frost. Checking the GPS in my pocket would have eroded Ian’s confidence. Instead, I asked questions, such as ‘where are we now?’ and ‘what will we see next?’.

A while later we arrived at Kinder Downfall, its frozen waterfalls covered with icicles. We celebrated with some cake and enjoyed the view.

You may not want to follow a teenager across a featureless frozen landscape, but as your team grows you will need to delegate more. It can be hard to hand over responsibility, especially for something you’ve always done yourself. And even tougher if it’s critical for the whole team’s success. But better to start earlier and begin building confidence – yours in your team, and theirs in themselves. This is easier if you give them the right training and tools before they start.

If you’d like to discuss how to delegate your responsibilities, please get in touch!