“This is a no brainer,” is not something you want to say to a team member as you delegate a task to him.  However, one hears managers using this line, along with other lines and modes of behaviour that do not serve the delegation nor the relationship between the manager and the employee.

One reason behind such flaws is that a manager is thinking, in this case, of his own needs rather than those of the employee. A manager who is too worried about getting the job done and that the employee may mess it up, is bound to get into troubles.

But in fact, when the manager says to the employee, this is a “no brainer,” he is not trying to tell him that he is stupid. The manager is actually focusing on the task and saying it is simple, just to convince the employee that it is indeed a simple task that can be done quickly, without complaining, taking too much time, or holding it over the manager’s head. 

The manager is simply telling the employee not to make a big deal out of it. Nevertheless, this kind of attitude towards delegated tasks is counterproductive. The team member becomes demotivated.  He is in a “no-win” situation.  If he does the task right, he is not going to get the appreciation he deserves, as the boss already said this is a simple task.  However, if he messes it up, he will come out as someone who is very incompetent.

While getting the work done is important, keeping employees motivated is also key to success. It is the best way to ensure work gets done right.  A manager must make the team member feel that the work being delegated to him is important, instead of trying to convince him that it is trivial and easy.  People get more motivated when they see how they are contributing and that their contribution is making a difference.

When demotivated, the employee will begin to make mistakes because he feels that  he cannot win in this situation, at least in the eyes of his manager. 

Another delegation demoralizer occurs when a manager brings his employees into his office and tells them exactly what he wants them to do.  They even say words like, “pay attention and do exactly as I tell you.”  Here, the manager is actually saying “I cannot afford for you to mess this up, and I know how to do it so well, but I do not have the time to do it myself.  So, you do it, but in the same way I would do it, because if you do it in any other way, you may mess it up.”  In this kind of setup, the employee may not mind the lack of flexibility he is stuck with.  At the end of the day, if he does what the boss said, exactly to the letter, and it does not work, he can blame it back on the boss: “I did as you said, but it did not work.”  The employee now has no interest to go against the boss’s request and be creative at all.  The boss clearly said that he does not want his employee to even think. This way, the employee will not even bother thinking about work and will begin to think of other things that he is responsible for outside work. 

One more put-downer managers use: “Don’t mess up the report by making any grammatical or spelling mistakes.”  This line is given by a manager who is so worried that the employee will not do the job right. However, instead of being extra careful, the employee may actually lose confidence and even make the exact mistake the boss warned him about. Most probably, the employee will be so worried about making the mistake that he will do the report half-heartedly and make more mistakes than if he has not been warned. 

These oversights on the part of managers are usually well-intentioned and are done in an attempt to ensure that the work gets done properly and in a timely manner.  However, in reality, these old fashioned ways of delegating do not work.  For delegation to work a manager needs to keep an eye on the work while the other eye should be kept at the person doing the work. Team members need room to be creative in taking care of the work assigned to them.  A manager should not try to interfere in how the work is to be done rather focus on the desired outcomes he is shooting for.