Delegation through Tai Chi

Open up Google.com and type in "define:tai chi" without the quotes in its search box and the first definition to crop up is this:

Tai Chi: A traditional Chinese mind-body relaxation exercise consisting of 108 intricate exercise sequences performed in a slow relaxed manner over a 30 minute period

Now, type in "define:delegation" without the quotes in Google's search box and the second definition (because this definition suits the context of this article) to appear is this:

Delegation: The assignment to others of the authority for particular functions, tasks, and decisions.

There is a connection between the two, as can clearly be seen from my above title, "Delegation through Tai Chi". Now, delegating tasks is a perfectly natural behavior for leaders. Leaders lead, and an effective leader delegates tasks to their subordinates. The effective leader is there to supervise, to guide, and to encourage. A good leader leads and instills discipline, hope, inspiration, and motivation to their subordinates. A good leader also keeps an open mind. A good leader isn't afraid to help when needed by subordinates, doesn't whine when workloads become unbearable, doesn't complain when they need to get their hands dirty.

Yes, a good leader has all those qualities, and perhaps more. I'm not a leader so I cannot profess or pretend to know about leading and what makes a good leader. I'm merely a follower, so I follow where my leader leads me. Yes, I know that a leader's job is tough and I may be so myopic so as not to see or feel or empathize or sympathize or whatever the fucking hell you call it, with the leader's job and stresses.

Yes, I may be all that but one thing I do know is, leaders have to be responsible. No matter what kind of a leader you are, a good one, a bad one, a fucking horrible one, as a leader, you have to be responsible. Only people with a strong sense of responsibility can be leaders. If a leader is not responsible for his or her own work, then what kind of a stupid motherfucking leader is (s)he?

Let me come back to delegating tasks to subordinates. Of course, one of the skills of being a leader is the innate ability to delegate tasks suited to different skill levels of subordinates. Part of being a successful and well-loved leader is being able to delegate tasks to ensure that the whole project meshes together beautifully in the end.

Again, I don't make a good leader because I suck at delegating tasks. First of all, I have a heavy sense of responsibility (if I do say so myself), so much so that for everything, every little fucking detail, every little fucking thing, I'll take it upon myself that I must do them myself. It's here that I both flounder and flourish. Flounder because I suck at delegating, thus I don't have an important criterion to become a leader. Flourish because although I don't have the skills to delegate, I have a strong sense of responsibility, which is also one of the important criteria to become a good leader.

Of course, too much of a good thing is not such a good thing after all. Let me elaborate.

There was once a leader (by rank and title) who led a team of subordinates in a world-renowned firm. Now, this leader (who shall remain nameless and shall be referred to as Ms. C from here on end) had just been promoted and shoulders the responsibility of leading a team of subordinates. She had excellent delegating skills, so much so that her delegating skills have become legendary in a short time.

In the eyes of higher management, she is efficient, because although she's inundated by work, she seems to always be able to stay on top and be in control of everything. But the truth is, she's so good in delegating tasks that she even has free time all the time to do the thing she loves: chatting on the phone, loitering around, being a bitch, etc. In the end, her subordinates do all the things. She, in turn, just hands up the work to higher management.

Re-read the last line of the preceding paragraph. Now, as mentioned before, a good leader is responsible. Ms. C however, is not responsible. She doesn't even bother to review her subordinates' work, and hands it over to higher management and gets all the credit when it is a job well done but passes the rap down to her subordinates when it is a job poorly done.

As a leader, she was once non-approachable, bossy, demanding, and did not guide her subordinates well. After some pep talk by higher management, she seemed to be more approachable than before, still very bossy and demanding, and is starting to guide her subordinates more. At least there's improvement, but her folly...

her folly...

her folly of delegating tasks is still there. She delegates tasks so that she herself won't have to get her hands dirty. She is smart, too, in that she picks subordinates whom she thinks is capable enough to handle the job given and who'll stay up late to rush for her, while she herself often takes early leave to go home and, I dunno, maybe fuck her fiance.

She's irresponsible in the sense that she delegates too much. We have a term for this in Chinese, it's called tai chi. No, it's not the exercise in this context, but it might as well be. Assigning blame to others is also a form of tai chi. Re-read the definition above. Tai chi has 108 intricate exercise sequences, so you can imagine how large her arsenal of tai chi moves is.

And tai chi is performed in a slow and relaxing manner; that's why she has so much time on her hands, so much so that when a subordinate asks for her help, she deftly tai chis that particular subordinate's request by saying, "Oh, sorry, I have to guide another subordinate" when in actual fact, she just lazes around doing absolutely nothing of substantial importance.

TO BE CONTINUED