From my experience, when talking about delegation and managers, things are more complex than they look.

As a good leader, you should understand the level of delegation, support and communication you need to provide to your employees.

A common pitfall is failing to set up a clear authority transfer and the associated boundaries. Remember that delegation is not abdication.

The risk is to become one of the following type of managers:

1.    The “control everything” manager: this is the classical micromanagement scenario. The manager is afraid of losing control, therefore he will keep his team in the childhood mood forever. The organization will not be able to grow and the employees will generally be obedient and not taking risks or being able to navigate changes or dynamic periods easily.

2.    The “I know better” manager: ruled by insecurity, most of the time this type of manager will be represented by people afraid of losing their position if their team “outsmart” them. Therefore, the intent will be to keep the team in shadow, not allowing ideas, not hiring people with strong expertise or skillset.

3.    The “hands off” manager: on the opposite, this type of toxic management is visible in managers that wants to get rid of the riskier areas of their job, therefore they abdicate from their duties, leaving the team solely responsible for the end-result. So that, in case something goes wrong, they will not take the fall.

4.    The “free style” manager: is generally pleasant and casual with the employees but doesn’t involve in actually help the team by setting direction, goals, boundaries and keeping a proper level of communication. This type of manager creates confusion inside the team most of the times and acts somewhat childish, by focusing on those tasks that he / she enjoys not on those that need his / her attention.