Do You Need to Delegate More? Tools To Strengthen Your Ability To Delegate.
If you ask a group of leaders what skills they need to improve, the skill of delegating will rank somewhere in the top 3 for most people.
Delegating is an instrumental part of a leader’s job, yet, the skill itself is very hard to cultivate. It requires that a leader can assess their staff’s strengths and weaknesses, understand their skills and readiness levels, and ensure that the staff has the tools and resources they need to complete the request successfully.
When a leader doesn’t delegate effectively or when they all together resist delegating because it takes too much time or because it is easier to do it themselves they run the risk of stunting their staff’s development. They also run the risk of creating environments where employees become “codependent” meaning that they wait around to be told exactly what to do because they have not been trained or trusted.
In addition, when employees are not being invested in the following things happen as a consequence: employees feel trapped and decide to look for a new role or, they feel bored (complacent) and start to either check out or act out. Acting out can come in the form of gossiping, complaining, or being uncollaborative. This can happen for all levels of employees including ones that are in the senior ranks.
For most leaders, there are some roadblocks to delegating. How to communicate the delegation of the request effectively is one of them (more on that later). Other things that come up or better yet get in the way of delegating include the leader:
Doing the task themselves because they like doing it, are used to doing it, or want to do it because it allows them to hide behind a task they know they are good at versus taking on higher level work. (I used to do this all the time!)
Wanting to micro-manage/ or being afraid that the staff will fail and it will cause the team/leader’s reputation to be impacted.
Resisting training or devising creative ways to develop employees.
Not knowing how to assess employees’ skills and not being connected to their employees enough to assess their readiness and willingness. (This can be especially challenging in remote or hybrid environments.)
Addressing these roadblocks for delegation is paramount for a leader’s success. When a leader delegates effectively, not only are they contributing to the growth of their staff and thereby retaining talent for their organization they are also creating avenues for their personal growth.
But when leaders don’t delegate either because they a resisting it, or are, simply put, scared to do so for one reason or another they end up:
Doing more work than they should.
Creating silos and bottlenecks.
Running the risk of seeming overwhelmed by their role and /or burning out.
So what is the solution?
Well, the first piece is to identify what is getting in the way of delegating.
Resistance? Fear? Know-how?
Be honest! If it is resistance or fear ask a mentor, coach, or colleague to help you reframe your relationship with delegation. If it is know-how, consider the following approach.
Take the time to understand each of your employee’s strengths and weaknesses. I recommend setting aside time in your one on ones to ask questions like: “Where do you think you are excelling?” “Where do you need support?” And, “What would you like to learn or do more of?”
Make training and exposure a priority. Deadlines and fire drills cause training sessions to fall by the wayside. So make them a priority and be smart about it. Schedule team training sessions during slow periods, buddy people up to learn from each other, mandate your team to attend company-sponsored training regularly, and use group meetings as opportunities to develop your staff.
Lastly, leverage shadowing. Shadowing requires a minimal lift and is an effective way to introduce staff to new people, information, and tools.
Learn about Situational Leadership. Situational Leadership is an approach to leadership created by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. The fundamental principle of situational leadership is that there is no single “best” style of leadership for anyone person — it is all situational meaning that effective leadership and delegation is task/function and skills/willingness relevant.
Last but certainly not least!
Learn how to communicate what you want to delegate effectively. If you have ever delegated and thought: “This is not what I wanted! What happened? I explained it, didn’t I? How did they not understand?!” You are not alone. Almost every leader has this experience. Through my own trial and error, (and there have been many errors) I have come to understand that in order to communicate what we want to delegate effectively we must follow 3 steps.
1.Provide Context. Repeat after me: I must provide context. Many times when leaders are delegating they forget that their staff (even more senior ones) are not privy to the same information, conversations, and general sense of what is going on. Providing context allows the leader to share the larger “why” along with important information that the person will need to execute the task.
Context is important so people understand the bigger picture but it is especially handy when the inevitable obstacles come up during the execution of the task.
I remember once a boss of mine asked me to call a client about a billing issue. When I called, the client did not answer so I left a voicemail letting them know that we were going to resend the invoice and charge their credit card.
When I told my boss about the voicemail she was livid. At first, I was taken aback — I thought I had done a good job by leaving the voicemail, after all, it was a Friday and the end of the month, so I wanted to make sure we could close out our books with the revenue and that client was not surprised by the charge.
So why was my boss livid?
Well, this client, in particular, had billing issues before, the client never listened to their voicemail and they could get very, let’s just say “sensitive” when it came to billing — all things my boss failed to tell me. When she delegated the task she was going fast, trying to get things off her list and me off the phone so she can start her weekend. If she had provided a bit more “insider info” I would have managed the situation differently and we both wouldn’t be annoyed at 6 pm on a Friday.
Context is powerful. It allows people to understand the situation, what the true expectations are, and how to best problem-solve. For the success of your employee, never skimp on context. Provide as much relevant information as you can. And… take your time. When it comes to delegating you have a choice: you can have it go fast or you can have it go far.
2. Check for Understanding. Sounds simple enough, yet misunderstandings are a frequent cause of frustration in the workplace. In addition, people process information at different speeds and we interpret things in different ways. To minimize double work and headaches, pause to ask “does what I am saying make sense?” Or, request that the person repeat back what they heard you say.
When I tell my clients to do this, I get eye-rolls. Yes, this is annoying to do but it is less annoying than getting back something you don’t want.
Another concern clients have with checking for understanding is that it could be infantilizing their staff or colleagues. When a client voices this concern my response is: how you say something is as important as what you say. If you check for understanding with judgment or annoyance of course people will feel slighted but, if you ask it with genuine care and curiosity as in: Does this makes sense? I want to make sure you understand so that we are on the same page. And, I want to make sure I am being clear with the direction I gave you. People will appreciate it.
3. Be explicit and re-confirm Deliverables, Check-ins, and Deadlines. Little details make a big difference. When delegating (and even when someone is delegating to you) be explicit and reconfirm everything.
Unless someone knows exactly what you want and by when you want it they are going to do what they feel is best. So, if you want something laid out a certain way, or you expect a certain style, be explicit; letting people figure it out on their own is a waste of resources.
If you require check-ins or want a specific type of follow-up, lay the foundation for these things at the onset of the task being delegated. Don’t wait until you feel out of the loop or as if there is not enough progress being made to ask for status updates.
Lastly, if you want something done by end of the day and you know that to you that means 5 pm be clear about it. Someone could interpret the end of the day as 6, 7, or midnight. The more you can do to set yourself and others up for success the fewer frustrations and more return you will get on your investment in the delegation.
Putting it into practice.
Whether you are running a senior leadership team or a brand new to management, feeling confident in your ability to delegate and incorporating the steps for communicating what you need to be delegated takes practice. As with anything that is new or underdeveloped, at first, it may be awkward but over time you will find your way.
Oh, and post-its notes are always a good idea! I ask my clients to put a note by their desks to remind them of the 3 steps for communicating what needs to be delegated. I find it is a handy tool for when delegating needs to happen on zoom calls, or via email.
Lastly, ask how you are doing. A humble leader is always respected. Check-in with your staff regularly to get a progress report on yourself.