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Do any one of these statements sound familiar?
“Everyone on the team is busy. I can’t ask anyone to do more.”
“It takes longer to explain how to do it than to just do it myself.”
“I don’t trust that they will get it done the way I want it.”
“What if they say no?”
These are all the things I used to say to myself when the notion of delegating work to my team was needed. My leadership career has ranged from being a Supervisor, managing just four front-line associates, to an Operations Chief responsible for the work of 100 employees and 17 direct reports, some at the Director level. Delegation was one of the hardest skills for me to employ as a leader.
Reflecting back on that time I had two obstacles holding me back from delegating:
The rate at which we learn and grow, is directly related to our confidence and skill. This week we build on both by providing three tips for delegating better.
Examine and Reframe Your Assumptions
What is holding you back from delegating? What is in your head or what story do you tell yourself about delegating? Consider any other thoughts you have that are in addition to the four at top of the page.
These are mental barriers and the more they are repeated in your head, the less likely you are to do what you want to do. It makes sense. If I say to myself “I don’t trust others to get it done.”, then I am giving myself permission to not trust others. Same for thinking about the notion of asking for help and the person saying no. If I continue to consider that being rejected is the most likely response I will receive, I give myself permission to avoid delegating.
Once you have brought to light your assumptions, reframe them, or create a statement that adjusts your perspective into one that is focused on options. For example, if everyone on the team is busy and you can’t ask, then reframe to “I’m a leader and delegating is a part of my job. What can I do to help the team (and myself) shift priorities?” If my barrier about is someone saying no, then the reframe is “What if they say yes? The answer is always no if I don’t ask.”
Sometimes, you just have to problem-solve the barrier. If you feel it takes more time to train than do it yourself, put pencil to paper and tally it up. How much time do you spend in a week or a month completing the task versus how much time it will take to train someone else? For example, one of my clients wanted to delegate responsibility for a project but would get impatient thinking about how to transfer the work. It was easier (in the short term) to do it himself. Until he tallied up the time. He spent 10-12 hours per month on that project, almost 3hrs per week. Training someone else would take about the same amount of time, 10-12hrs over the course of the month but then he was done with responsibility. He had 10-12hrs/month freed up for something else.
Know Your Team
Some time ago I worked with a leader who had one wall of her office covered by an immense spreadsheet. It listed the name of each member of her team, their strengths, their interests, committees or work groups, as well as spaces to write in projects or assignments. I remember asking her about it:
“The team calls it the ‘Master Mind’ but I use it to manage workload. I track who is doing what. When projects come up or I need to delegate, I select the person who is the best fit for the work based on strengths, interests, and current workload. The best part is the team can look at it whenever they want to see what is on everyone’s plate.”
This leader had developed a practice of consistent and fair assignment of work. It took the questions (and emotion) out of the act of delegating. The transparency of making the information public increases the team’s trust in her as well as each other. In today’s remote environment, this kind of spreadsheet may not work, but an Excel file saved in a public share folder would be equally as effective.
Let Go
Control and lack of trust are the biggest obstacles to delegation. Sometimes, you just have to let go. Let go of perfection, certainty, and “…but I can do it better or faster myself.” Getting results through others (i.e. leadership) requires letting go, a lot.
When you have something to delegate, be clear on the desired result. For example, if you are delegating market research to a member of your staff, what is the result? Do you want a memo, email, or report? How long and what information do you expect? How will that market research be used and what decisions will be made? Get specific about your expectations and set a deadline. Then, let go of the process that person takes to complete the task. They likely won’t do it your way and will certainly think about it differently. That’s good. Set the expectation for the result, let them employ their own method.
The same goes for timing too. If the deadline for the market research is Friday and you see them procrastinate until Thursday night, then so be it. Again, focus on results, not process.
For perfectionists, envision what “perfect” is for the project or task you want to delegate. This represents 100%. Now, consider what you have envisioned and knock it back to 80%. This is the expectation for the person to whom you have delegated. Don’t expect perfection out of others.
Finally, sometimes letting go isn’t realistic because the task or project is high-profile or risky. At the point when you are explaining what you need done, also discuss how you would like to be updated and kept informed throughout their process. Be candid that you would like to stay close to the work and reassure that it isn’t due to lack of trust. Rather, it is because of the circumstances of the project.
To quote Steve Jobs “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” The best part about delegating is that it gets easier the more you do it. Frequency builds both confidence and skills.
This article was originally published on the Growth Partners Consulting blog.
