In this chat I talk about how to become more effective at delegating.
First I talk about barriers to delegating.
- Not enough time to teach or train on how to perform the task
- Feeling of loss of control
- Feeling that you may lose credit
- Enjoying the task being delegated
- Feeling you can do this better
- Feeling you may be delegating yourself out of a job
- Lack of confidence in the team
- Team may say they don’t have the time
- Team member may have a fear of failure
- What else?
Next I talk about the benefits to delegating
- To the organization
- To you
- To your team
- To the individuals
I talk about part of your job as a leader being to
- Create capacity and capability
- Making sure work gets done at the right level
I make a case for building capability and capacity on your team
I explore what it looks like when work is getting done at the right level and when it is not
I close with several tips to delegating
Spend the time up front to clarify and align on
- The problem that needs to be solved
- The objective and the scope of what needs to be achieved
- The vision of success (the outcome)
- How success will be measured
Delegate the right level task/objective for each team member’s skill set
- Work with team member’s strength
Allow time for learning and growth
- Delegate important things, but consider carefully when needing to delegate urgent things
Create lists of questions or a template
- Share how you think about the task or the project
Set up a good cadence of accountability
- Set more frequent outcomes that together lead to the goal
- Check-in in a timely manner such that if the task/project is off track, there is time to have the team member get it back on track.
Be patient and supportive
- Mistakes will happen. Adopt a growth mindset and help your team to learn from the mistakes. Encourage them to keep learning and growing.
Resist the urge to “tell” or jump in and take over.
- Use the “Problem Ask” or “Solution Ask” technique when coaching
Do not abdicate accountability
- Ultimately, you are accountable. Own that accountability. You are responsible for the team’s success.
Recognize and celebrate success
Don’t give up. Developing your team and learning to delegate takes time.
