One exercise in teamwork I do at a company retreat is to put the group in a circle. At one particular retreat, there were eight people in the circle, and I slowly handed tennis balls to one person to start throwing around the circle. If N equals the number of people in the circle, then the maximum number of balls you can have in motion is N minus 1. Why? Because it’s almost impossible to throw and catch at the same time. The purpose of the exercise is to demonstrate the importance of an individual’s action. People are much more concerned about catching the ball than throwing it. What this demonstrates is that it’s equally important to the success of the exercise that the person you’re throwing to catches the ball as that you are able to catch the ball. If you’re less concerned about how you deliver information than with how you receive it, you’ll ultimately fail at delegation. You have to be equally skilled at both.

* delegation: 위임