Anything You Want

Delegate, but don't abdicate

Delegation doesn't come natural y to any of us. But I was trying real y hard to be

good at it. I knew how important it was to get into the delegation mindset. I was

trying to empower my employees—to let them know they could make decisions

on their own, without me.

---

When they asked, “How should we organize al the rooms in the new office?” I

said, “Any way you want to do it is fine.”

When  they  asked,  “Which  health-care  plan  should  we  go  with?”  I  said,  “You

guys choose. Take a vote. Whichever one you choose, I'l pay for.”

When they asked, “Which profit-sharing plan should we go with?” I said, “You

guys choose. Whatever you think is best.”

A local magazine voted CD Baby “Best Place to Work” in the state of Oregon.

Six months later, my accountant cal ed me and said, “Did you know that your

employees set up a profit-sharing program?”

I said, “Yeah. Why?”

He said, “Did you know that they're giving al of the profits of the company back

to themselves?”

Oops.

When I cancel ed the profit-sharing program, I became a very unpopular guy. In

our  weekly  company  meetings,  the  general  message  from  the  employees  was,

“We need to get Derek out of here, so he stops tel ing us what to do. We don't

need to answer to him! He needs to answer to us!”

Then I realized that there's such a thing as over-delegation. I had empowered my

employees  so  much  that  I  gave  them  al  the  power.  After  a  complete

communication breakdown, it was eight-five people (my employees) against one

(me). I became the scapegoat for al of their dissatisfactions.

I thought of trying to repair relationships with each of the eight-five employees,

over hundreds of hours of talking. But if you've ever had a romance break up,

you know that sometimes it's beyond repair.

So I considered firing everyone and hiring a whole new crew. I also considered

shutting down the company entirely, since I wasn't enjoying this anymore. I even

considered a Wil y Wonka move, where I'd put five golden tickets into five CDs

and then give the whole company to some lucky finder.

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In the end, I did what was best for my clients and me: I retreated into solitude,

staying  at  a  friend's  house  in  London,  and  focused  entirely  on  programming

some major new software features for CD Baby.

I never saw or spoke to my employees again. Never saw the office again.

I  learned  an  important  word:  abdicate.  To  abdicate  means  to  surrender  or

relinquish  power  or  responsibility;  this  word  is  usual  y  used  when  a  king

abdicates the throne or crown.

Lesson learned too late: Delegate, but don't abdicate.