Stewardship Delegation
A delegation approach focused on desired results and boundaries rather than prescribing specific methods.
Also known as: Results-Based Delegation, Covey Delegation
Category: Techniques
Tags: management, leadership, productivity, empowerment, habits
Explanation
Stewardship Delegation is a concept from Stephen Covey's *The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People* that contrasts with 'gofer delegation' (where you tell someone exactly what to do and how to do it). In stewardship delegation, you focus on results rather than methods, trusting the delegate to determine the best approach.
**The five elements of stewardship delegation:**
1. **Desired results** - Clearly describe what needs to be accomplished (the 'what' and 'why,' not the 'how'). Create a shared understanding of success.
2. **Guidelines** - Identify relevant constraints, boundaries, and potential pitfalls. Share lessons learned and known failure paths without dictating specific methods.
3. **Resources** - Clarify what human, financial, technical, or organizational resources are available to support the work.
4. **Accountability** - Establish performance standards, reporting timelines, and evaluation criteria. Agree on when and how progress will be reviewed.
5. **Consequences** - Define what happens based on results—both positive (recognition, advancement, new opportunities) and negative (reassignment, additional training).
**Why it works:**
- Respects the delegate's intelligence and creativity
- Allows for innovation and personal growth
- Scales better than prescriptive delegation
- Builds trust and ownership
- Produces better results because the person closest to the work chooses the method
**Stewardship vs. Gofer delegation:**
| Gofer | Stewardship |
|-------|-------------|
| Prescribes methods | Defines results |
| Tight control | Trust with accountability |
| Manager thinks | Delegate thinks |
| Dependency | Growth and autonomy |
| One-to-one scaling | Multiplied effectiveness |
Stewardship delegation requires more upfront investment in establishing clarity about results and boundaries, but it produces far greater returns in team development, scalability, and outcome quality.
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