"Roots and Wings, Mom!" And the Fine Balance of Delegating Work
In my home growing up, in small-town South Carolina, there was an embroidered piece of art on the wall. My mother made it. Somehow, she made this large detailed stitched thing, during the years she and my father were raising three small kids.
This framed artwork, with pride of place above the brown corduroy couch in “the den” (aka the small TV room, aka not the living room), held a folksy bit of parenting wisdom:
“There are only two lasting things we can give our children,” the navy-blue yarn intoned. “One is roots, the other wings.” The wise words were framed by faceless children in straw hats (not uncreepy), standing under a branching tree (roots!), while bird silhouettes that look like flattened letter M’s flapped above (wings!). It was a pretty piece of handicraft. It is a pretty piece of handicraft, I should say. It lives on, on a wall of my parents’ current home.
As we three kids grew up and moved away, this “roots and wings” business became a running joke. But a running joke with real poignancy.
When I moved to California after college, my mom would ask versions of the question: “Why did you move so far away?” and “Will you ever move back this way?”
“Roots and wings, Mom. Roots and wings,” my sister would respond for me, with a smirk.
“Oh, all right,” she would laugh along with us. “Y’all are making me regret that I ever made that thing.”
Oddly enough, I thought about the ole “roots and wings” aphorism recently in a work context. I was teaching that complicated skill of an effective manager, delegation.
To do delegation well is a balancing act. We have to provide the right amount of information and support (roots!) so the person knows what to do, while allowing people the freedom to do the thing the way they want to (wings!), instead of always doing it exactly the way the boss would.
Roots = Information to do the thing, and a shared understanding of what is expected (“What does done look like?” is a great question Brene Brown recommends.)
Wings = Freedom to do it their way, using their own ideas and experience. The opportunity to surprise the boss and the team with work that is even better than what the boss had in mind.
Too little of the roots stuff, and the task boomerangs right back to your lap (or gets done in a way that doesn’t work). Too little of the wings-freedom, and you are micromanaging and not allowing the person to use their own ideas and grow in the work.
Another way to think about it: The full-throated lyrics of the 80s rock and roll advice from .38 Special: “Hold on loosely/but don’t let go.”
The benefits of working toward the right balance of roots and wings are many:
You, the delegator, are required to stop and think about the goal of the work clearly. Defining the target is part of the “roots,” the context and the purpose. Often, we jump to the What to do but don’t think enough about the Why, what the task or the project need to achieve.
You, the delegator of the thing, don’t have to have all the answers. Save your mental energy. (For me, this helps with my personal journey as a recovering know-it-all.)
The “wings,” that freedom and responsibility to figure out the solution, helps the person assigned the work to grow and be smart in their role. To prove something to you, to themselves, and to everybody else.
“Wings” freedom says clearly, “I trust you to figure this out and get a good result.” That strengthens the relationship.
This works at all levels of delegation: one meeting, one written report, all the way to a whole new product or program, or even a whole new job role for a new hire or someone you promote.
How do you balance the “roots” and “wings” in your team? I’m always collecting stories and wisdoms.