Stephen R. Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Eff People pdf

Gofer Delegation
There are basically two kinds of delegation: "gofer delegation" and "stewardship 
delegation." Gofer delegation means "Go for this, go for that, do this, do that, and tell me 
when it's done." Most people who are producers have a gofer delegation paradigm. 
Remember the machete wielders in the jungle? They are the producers. They roll up their 
sleeves and get the job done. If they are given a position of supervision or management, 
they still think like producers. They don't know how to set up a full delegation so that 
another person is committed to achieve results. Because they are focused on methods, 
they become responsible for the results.
I was involved in a gofer delegation once when our family went water skiing. My son, 
who is an excellent skier, was in the water being pulled and I was driving the boat. I 
handed the camera to Sandra and asked her to take some pictures.
At first, I told her to be selective in her picture taking because we didn't have much film 
left. Then I realized she was unfamiliar with the camera, so I became a little more specific. 
I told her to be sure to wait until the sun was ahead of the boat and until our son was 
jumping the wake or making a turn and touching his elbow.
But the more I thought about our limited footage and her inexperience with the camera, 
the more concerned I became. I finally said, "Look, Sandra, just push the button when I 
tell you. Okay? And I spent the next few minutes yelling, "Take it! -- Take it! -- Don't take 
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it! -- Don't take it!" I was afraid that if I didn't direct her every move every second, it 
wouldn't be done right.
That was true gofer delegation, one-on-one supervision of methods. Many people 
consistently delegate that way. But how much does it really accomplish? And how many 
people is it possible to supervise or manage when you have to be involved in every move 
they make?
There's a much better way, a more effective way to delegate to other people. And it's 
based on a paradigm of appreciation of the self-awareness, the imagination, the 
conscience, and the free will of other people.