Failure is downright scary at higher levels; with more responsibility and more access, more can go wrong. Limiting a junior administrator to a couple of organizational units in Active Directory or a single department's set of computers to , on the other hand, allows for freedom to expand, learn, and fill out holes in knowledge and experience. Plus, what's the worst that can happen--your upgrade is delayed by a couple of days and you need to reimage 50 machines you were already imaging anyway? Let people fall into a trampoline of sorts that bounces them back up to where they were with the knowledge and experience they gained on the way down.

Remember the old adage: Give people just enough rope to hang themselves and see what happens. Your juniors will appreciate that they're able to deal real tasks with real impact--and they'll know you're right behind them to course-correct when necessary, but also to allow them to develop their potential as administrators in their own right.

Explain the Reasoning Behind Decisions and, Ultimately, Processes.

In our busy lives and the fast-paced corporate world, it's easy to resort to giving commands and barking orders and expecting your deputies and lieutenants to simply follow through.

Make no mistake--in some cases, that is a valid way to get things done, particularly when problems arise and crises must be resolved. In other instances, though, demonstrating a careful, prudent thought process and walking junior administrators and other direct reports through alternatives to an issue, weighing potential solutions and deciding on a final outcome can be very advantageous. There are two reasons for this.