Conventional management thinking says, "Delegate, delegate, delegate!"
This implies that managers can fall into a dangerous trap if they continue to perform tasks they love from a previous role. And it says that to not let go is to give into a controlling tendency that robs staff of development opportunities. But not everyone agrees.
Today's increasingly knowledge-driven, cost-competitive work world is changing the way management gets done. More and more, people in management roles are becoming can-do leaders who must continue to practice their specialty while managing and developing the skills of others.
Effective managers understand that focusing on delegating tasks, rather than doing these tasks, is necessary if they are going to get things done and develop their staff along the way. That said, there are times when getting things done properly and developing your staff can be better achieved by doing some tasks yourself rather than delegating all of them.
Occasionally, doing tasks you are still good at highlights your personal commitment to achieving a high performance standard. It also gives you the opportunity to demonstrate strategies and techniques that are useful for excelling at these tasks.
In BECOMING A CAN-DO LEADER, Frank Satterthwaite and Jamie Millard share their strategies to transform "too busy" player-managers into highly employable leaders in their fields as can-do champions.
Source: Frank Satterthwaite: Becoming a Can-Do Leader: A Guide for the Busy Manager