Sometimes it’s best to hint at things implicitly so others can interpret as they see best. Sometimes it’s best to explain things explicitly so others can follow precise directions. And sometimes you have to translate the implicit to the explicit. One good way is to have someone with implicit knowledge walk you through what they do step-by-step.
Often those at the height of their craft have a hard time explaining it to others. They’ll tell another actor to “dial up the connection.” But the other actor doesn’t know how. What they needed to say or demonstrate is explicit steps like 1) look into the person’s eyes, 2) tweak your smile to show empathy, 3) reach out as if to touch them gently.
The baked ziti approach
In trying to understand consumers of Italian cheese, I asked one lady to walk me through her steps in making baked ziti with ricotta. The twist was that she couldn’t touch anything. I was her hands, doing what she told me to do.
“Fill a pot with water.”
I picked up a small pot.
“No, a big pot.”
“Why?”
“So, the water has room to boil.”
I turned on the hot water tap.
“Start with cold water.”
“Why?”
“That’s the way my mother taught me.”
“Why does it matter?”
She didn’t know.
Do you?
It tastes better. Cold water comes straight from the water source to the tap. Hot water gets heated in a water heater and sits there until needed, taking on all the stuff sitting in the water heater.
The point is that this lady knew how to make ziti. She knew all the steps implicitly. This was a way for her to walk me through the steps explicitly.
Another young man’s grandmother was teaching him to make cup cakes. When asked how much flour was needed, her answer was “Up to the dent in the bowl.”
I’m the boss. That’s why.
My first boss asked me to do something.
“Why?”
“Because I’m the boss.”
“If I don’t understand why I’m doing something, all I can do is exactly what you tell me to do. If you explain why it’s important, I might figure out an even better way to get done what you need me to get done.”
How many times has a way of doing things been handed down through the generations, either mother to daughter or boss to subordinate, to the point at which no one remembers why they’re doing what they’re doing?
Explicit hand off
When I took over as head of a sales unit, I chose to hand off responsibility for the headquarters of our top four grocery accounts to the top four sales representatives. They were already calling on the stores. This way, they could see the whole picture.
I knew I needed to help them understand how it worked in detail. So, I embarked on a multi-step, multi-month program.
Month one they came with me to the headquarters each week, did nothing and remained silent.
Month two they came with me, placed the orders after the call and still remained silent.
Month three they prepared the presentations – which I gave while they remained silent. (Getting sales people to remain silent is no mean trick by the way.)
Month four they prepared and gave the presentations and then went back to being silent while I answered the questions.
Month five they prepared and gave the presentations and answered the questions with me in the room.
Month six they took me through the presentations and we gamed questions and answers before they went in to the buyer’s office by themselves while I waited outside. Then they debriefed the meeting with me immediately after it was complete.
The next month I took a one-week vacation and went to a one-week sales management meeting. When I got back, the four accounts were at 150% of the month’s quota two weeks into the month. The four representatives owned the accounts and were off to the races.
Application
The basics of delegation always apply: inspiring direction, enabling resources, empowering authority, and credible accountability. The point here is for you to make each of those explicit, going into a little more detail than you might think you should to spell out:
- Inspiring Direction: Objectives/desired results/context/intent – what and why
- Enabling Resources: Financial, information, technical or operational, people, time
- Empowering Authority to make mission tactical decisions within cultural, strategic, and operational boundaries/guidelines/intent
- Credible Accountability and consequences: standards of performance, time expectations, positive and negative consequences of success and failure
