What my First Boss taught me about Delegating (thanks John Reader)

By Olwyn Merritt & Alyse Ashton

One of the most frequent challenges Expert Leaders face is how to delegate. They are smart people with a tremendous track record in their area of expertise. Because they are so good at what they do as experts, they often struggle to trust other people to do things on their behalf. My first boss, John Reader was a highly effective delegator. How John tackled delegation many years ago may help you now, particularly when someone is new to the art of delegation. I call his approach the Trinity because it involves taking three particular steps when approaching anything which you wish to delegate.

Step One: Prepare and Be Patient:

First, set up a session with your colleague and prepare systematically what you intend to delegate. Then, take the time to patiently set out exactly what you expect - the goals, the timeframes, the constraints and the outcomes. John was exceptional at being patient at this stage. I have seen many fast paced leaders rush through this step and not allow enough discussion and dialogue with the colleague to ensure that they fully understand in what is expected of them and can approach the task with confidence. It is crucial that you offer support and are available to answer any questions as they perform this task for the first time. Once you’ve done this, they can start the task you’ve given them.

Step Two: Probe the Finer Points:

The next time your team member needs to do this (or a similar task), you review the work and take time to acknowledge (with specific examples) what your team member has done well and talk through anything that needs finessing for the next time. In my experience people remember their own words and prefer not to be told, so it’s really useful to ask them to talk through what they feel went well and what they found most challenging.

Step Three: Give them Space:

Once your team member has built both skills and confidence you can give more space. Explain that you will be available for exceptions because they are well able to carry out the tasks. They know they have your support and are left in no doubt that they are responsible for delivering. They only need to come back to you if something new or particularly difficult arises. Then you need to demonstrate your confidence in their ability and leave them to it – if you meddle, you undermine them and your own hard work will be undone.       

Reflection Questions for You:
How clear are you in your instructions and agreements with your people when delegating?
When do you under instruct? When do you meddle? What are you prepared to do about it?

 

A recipe to avoid delegation breakdowns

By Olwyn Merritt & Alyse Ashton

One of my clients voiced his frustration that one of his team members hadn’t delivered something he expected.  He sighed “Surely it’s basic management  and I should have it under control?” In my view delegation isn’t basic. It is fundamental to leading teams. Over the years I’ve noticed to two particular derailers.   Firstly, you think you both share the same understanding of what is required, but you don’t.  Secondly, you’re not clear if things are progressing well and you start meddling.

So how can you set your team members up to succeed?

One way of tackling it is to use ‘Closed Loop Delegation’.

There are 3 ingredients: Set clear expectations, build shared understanding and communicate progress and performance.

1. Set Clear Expectations

Take time to share & clarify your expectations. This is a two-way conversation where both of you:

·         Clarify what success looks like.  What do you want to achieve?  Why is it important?  Are there any constraints (or non-negotiable aspects) that you need to share?

·         Agree how much detail the person needs – if they are experienced, just share the outcome and give them freedom to tackle the task. Someone less experienced will need more detailed task direction (see our previous post Trinity Rule).

 
2. Build Shared Understanding

Test that you have shared understanding of the outcomes you want and encourage them to share their ideas and thoughts e.g. What is your understanding of the result we need to achieve? What are your thoughts about how we want to tackle this?

3. Communicate Progress and Performance

Create a clear deal so that you can give them space to act.  Without this, you may find yourself checking up on them – a sure way to leave them feeling micro managed and distrusted.

• Ask yourself: what do you need in order to feel confident to leave them to get on with it?
• Explore: How shall we keep in touch on progress? Experienced, confident team members will enjoy taking ownership for keeping you updated. Others may look to you to suggest regular check-ins. 
• Give clear, timely feedback: people like to know what they’ve done well and value specific feedback about what to improve.

It sounds simple and there’s one last tricky ingredient in the mix …. You and your assumptions. The voice that says  “It has to be done my way”, “No one can do it as well as I can”, “I can do it so much more quickly“.

Do you think that’s true? It’s probably true that you can do it faster and maybe better. But, if you don’t delegate, your team won’t grow and you won’t have space to tackle the things that only a leader can tackle?  So what’s stopping you now? Where and with whom will you begin?