I've done a bit of it, and I don't particularly care for it. I can do it, but I'd rather have my own responsibilities that I can do on my own. It just seems to work out better that way... I wasn't originally like this, but over the years I've turned into a "if you want it done right, do it yourself" person. I've had numerous BAD experiences where I've been assigned "help" that was anything but.
Apart from those ad hoc events, I'm currently supervising one person and a handful of contractors. I think I struggle most with delegating. I have way too much work and can't do it all myself, but it's hard to hand over things I know would take me less than an hour to someone who will spend several days and still get it wrong.
I'm in pretty much this exact position (sorry, Bluebell, it sucks
![Frown :( :(](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
). I've (rather guiltily) assigned a relatively simple task to someone to keep them busy, knowing that I'll probably have to go through and fix it, but that while they're working on it I'll have some (relatively) uninterrupted time to try to get some of the larger part done. I'm really not proud of that... the person in question tries hard, cares, and wants to help/learn (and I DO honestly try to help/teach - I'm always available for questions, etc.) - but it's literally an "I could do this in an hour - and you've spent three days on it and aren't even close" sort of situation (and it's not the first time I've encountered that with this person).
Part of it's my boss. He's one of those people who assumes that anyone who's even trivially exposed to something is capable of doing anything related. I'm constantly getting into arguments with him where he says "Why don't you have person X do that?", and I say "I don't think that person X can do that - I'd rather do that part of it myself" (normally my position comes from direct evidence - like Person X saying "I don't know how to do that") - followed by him instantly getting angry and condescending about it, saying things like "You always say that, and we have to get this done fast. No - I'm telling you, Person X IS doing that - end of discussion." So I tell person X to do it, then spend twice the time I'd have taken to do it answering questions and redoing things.
![Ranting :ranting: :ranting:](/data/vbsmilies/ranting.gif)
Enough about that.
I don't know. I've been lucky over the last 7 or 8 years in that most of my job's NOT been involved in leadership sorts of things - nobody's told me how to do my job, and I've not had to rely on people to do much for me (unfortunately, all of this is getting worse, in pretty much every way, over the last year or so). I tell myself that I could be a good leader... and in the right situation it's certainly possible... but I may just be wrong. I'd much rather be building/fixing things than dealing with the red tape and blame-avoidance that seems to be part and parcel of leadership in the office. "Give me a project, then shut up and leave me alone so that I can get it done" isn't a work-friendly sort of attitude, but it's what I'm thinking quite often these days. Maybe my answer is "no, I'm not a good leader - but in a perfect situation, I could be one - just like anyone could."