One of the biggest obstacles I have seen to a self-sustaining, performance-based culture is a manager (often a small business owner) being unable to delegate to his/her employees. The old saying “If you want something done right, you must do it yourself,” speaks to an antiquated way of seeing the world. If this is your view of the world, you will only serve as a bottleneck to your organization’s growth, particularly in the area of culture.
Effective leaders understand their own strengths and limitations. They learn to trust and delegate to others. Delegation empowers your people, teaches them that they are trusted employees, and helps develop both their skill, and their connection to each other, the organization, and its cause.
Strong leaders tend to follow the same pattern of behaviors when delegating:
1. Define the task
Confirm in your own mind that the task is suitable to be delegated.
2. Select the individual or team
What are your reasons for delegating to the specific person or team? What are they going to get out of it? What are you going to get out of it?
3. Assess ability and training needs
Is the other person or team of people capable of doing the task? Do they understand what needs to be done and the reason it needs to be done? If not, can they be educated as to what and why? If not, the task should not be delegated.
4. Explain the rationale
You must explain why the job or responsibility is being delegated. Ensure they understand why the person, group, or team has been chosen. What is the task important and/or relevant? Where does it fit in the big picture for them, the organization, and its cause?What is the end goal? What must be achieved? Clarify understanding by getting feedback from the other person, group, or team. How will success be measured objectively? Make sure everyone knows the criteria for the job being successfully completed.
6. Consider resources required
Discuss and reach agreement regarding what is required to get the job done. Consider people, location, premises, equipment, money, materials, other related activities and services.
7. Agree upon deadlines
When must the job be finished? If it will be an ongoing duty, when are the review dates? And if the task is complex and has parts or stages, what are the priorities?
Reach agreement not only on the deadlines for final completion but also for interim milestones or short range deadlines.
At this point you may need to confirm understanding with the other person, group, or team of the previous points. Use prompted reflection: “What is your understanding of what we have agreed upon?” This will ensure you are all on the same page. This will also ensure both that the job can be done and also helps to reinforce commitment.
Methods of monitoring progress and feedback must be agreed upon with the other person, group, or team. If monitoring progress is not agreed upon in advance, monitoring will likely be perceived as interference or lack of trust.
8. Support and communicate
Think about who else needs to be brought in the loop. Who else needs to know what’s going on? Inform them. Involve any other person who could benefit from being informed so they can participate and/or serve as a resource or support. Consider that if the person, group, or team is taking on a new role with greater authority, there may be others in the organization who may be envious. Ensure that the person’s, group’s, or team’s new responsibility and corresponding authority is communicated clearly. Do not allow others to serve as obstacles to the person, group, or team to whom you have delegated.
9. Feedback on results
It is essential to let the person, group, or team know how they are doing along the way and whether they have achieved their goals. If the person, group, or team begins to fall short on an interim goal, you must review with them why things are not going according to plan. Deal with the problems directly. Ensure the team does what is necessary to succeed. As a leader, you must bear the consequences of failure and share on the credit for success.
As you consider these points, prepare for Part 2. I will write more on powering your people on my Culture Trumps Blog next week.
