Are you still on vacation? Good. Let’s talk more about managing from a distance.

As you know, you can delegate authority, but you cannot delegate responsibility. In other words, you may give a subordinate the necessary power to act, but you will still be held responsible for the consequences.

Here’s the rub. The fear of being held responsible stops many managers from delegating effectively. And thus from having a decent vacation.

Come on! Have some faith. When you go on vacation, hand over your authority and your keys. In one of my incarnations I had to physically move into my boss’ office whenever he was away. That way everyone understood that I was in charge and accountable.

Now that’s delegating.

Actually, it was succession planning. My boss knew that if he could not go on vacation without fear, then neither could he be promoted.

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.