Business Management:
The 12 rules of successful delegation
Follow these rules for grerater operational effectiveness
by Richard Lannon
Delegation is one of the most important managerial skills. It saves time and money, builds people and team skills, grooms successors and motivates teams.
Ask any employee who has been a victim of poor delegation. It causes frustration, demotivates employees and confuses people and teams. To be successful, business leaders, managers and executives need to develop proper delegation skills. These 12 rules of delegation should help you out.
1. Delegation: a two-way street
Delegation is meant to develop you and the people with whom you work. Consider what you are delegating and why you are delegating it. Are you delegating to build people, get rid of work you don’t like to do, or to develop your team?
2. To succeed, you must let go
You can’t control everything, so let go and trust your fellow workers. Hand over tasks that are stopping you from reaching your full potential to other people.
3. Create a delegation plan
Build a delegation matrix that shows your people and the main tasks that must get done. Build the grid to show who will do what and what skills are needed to accomplish those tasks. This will help your people better understand your expectations.
Make sure that the task can be delegated and is suitable to be delegated. Some things you have to do, while others can be completed by others.
4. Define the tasks
Be clear on what the task is and is not. People like clarity when being delegated tasks, so make sure your directions are clear. If you are not clear, workers will not be clear about their tasks and everyone will end up being disappointed. Worst of all, your staff will feel like failures.
5. Assign the tasks
Be clear on your reasons for delegating a task to that person or team. Be honest with yourself. Make sure you answer, “What are they going to get out of it and what am I going to get out of it?” Think of it as listening to the radio station WII-FM (what’s in it for them). It’s a good motivator.
6. Consider ability and training needs
The importance of the task may need to be defined. Can the people or team you have in mind do the task? Do they understand what needs to be done? If not, you can’t delegate it to them. If resources are an issue, work with your team and move things around, or develop a mentoring/support program that enables your people to acquire the skills they need.
7. Clearly explain why the job or task must be done
Discuss why the job is being delegated and how it fits into the scheme of things. Don’t be afraid to negotiate points that are discussed when appropriate. Don’t say that the job is to be done “Because I said so,” or, “Because we are told to do it.” For your staff members to own the task, you must first own the task. Reframe and rephrase it so all have ownership.
8. State the required outcomes and results
Answer questions, like what must be achieved and what will be measured. Clarify how you intend to decide if the task was completed successfully.
9. Consider resource availabilities when delegating
Common challenges arise with every person and team. Logistics of people, location, time, equipment, materials and money can challenge any plan. These are important concerns and should be discussed and solved creatively.
10. Agree on a timeline and deadlines
Include a status reporting feature to ensure things are getting done. When is the job to be completed? What are the ongoing operational duties? What is the status report date and how will it be supplied or reviewed?
Ask for a summary in their own words and look for reassurance that the task can be done. Address any gaps and reinforce your belief in the individual’s or team’s ability. They need to know you trust them.
11. The two-way street can be a multi-directional intersection
Look around, support and communicate. Speak to those people who need to know what is going on. Check your stakeholder list and make sure they are informed of the responsibilities you have delegated. Do not leave it up to the individual or team to keep them in the loop. Keep politics, the task profile and task importance in mind.
12. Provide/receive feedback
It is important that you let people know how they are doing and if they are achieving their aim. Don’t get into blame storming. You must absorb the consequences of failure, create
an environment where failure is an opportunity to grow and pass on the credit for success. Pay it forward if you can.
Delegation should be used as a tool to develop you and your people. The better you are at delegation, the better the people around you and your teams will be. The difference between success and failure is often a matter of letting go and delegating.
Richard Lannon of BraveWorld Inc. is a business strategist, conference speaker, trainer, coach, author, blogger, podcaster and cheerleader. Learn more at http://braveworld.ca/.
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