Whether you're a leader at your company, or you help develop them, the practice of delegating to others successfully is both an art and a science. And the upside to your organization is huge: Effective delegation can empower and engage employees, fuel initiatives, and spur energy and creativity. What's more, delegation clears a leader's crowded plate of things that someone else can do, so you can focus on the things you must do. When a leader excels at delegating, ownership and accountability take off, too.
 

Andrew Carnegie was on to something when he said, "No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself."

All managers, at times, feel stressed and overloaded. If you work on your own, there’s a limited amount that you can do, however hard you try. After all, there are only so many hours in the day, and only one “you.” If you’re a new manager, you may even be used to working by yourself.

The Matrix is back. Leaders at the helm of many companies know that it's not another movie sequel to the edgy thriller staring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. Matrix management, that once-popular organizational structure, has many leaders facing a common challenge: How to make the matrix work?

First: How Did We Get Here?
Matrix management was widely embraced in the 70's and early 80's by companies looking to improve business decisions by convening cross-functional expertise to create better solutions.

If you were to survey almost any professional group and ask who is working in a formal or informal matrix organization, chances are you'd see most hands in the air. Even if their companies have a formal organization structure aligned to market segments, products, or functional groups, most people have to contend with satisfying competing needs from multiple constituencies. All too often, the result is finding the "least worst" option rather than building agreements and reconciling the differences to serve all parties' needs and interests.