How To Delegate for Fun and Profit

Ah, the wretched pain of delegation. It comes easy to some people. But others ? you know who you are ? would rather undergo a double root canal than hand over a task and walk away from it.

The good news is that this is a disease you can recover from. And the better news is that when you choose to give up control you benefit along with the delegatee.

As with most things in my life this knowledge was hard come by for me. I had just received a huge promotion to a project which was mind-numbingly large. The first day on the job I asked the assistant of the woman I had replaced why he thought she had had difficulty. He said that she had been unable to delegate; had given him virtually nothing to do and had only emerged from under her staggering workload to complain about how overwhelmed she was. This was sobering news for me as this was also my M.O. at the time. I figured I needed to change ? and fast.

At that time I believed that if I wanted a thing done well I absolutely had to do it myself. Or micromanage it to death. Unfortunately events sometimes proved me right. This only encouraged me. Every once in a while I would loosen my death grip a little and delegate to someone who did a half-assed job. This just reinforced my belief system that I was the only one I could rely on. What I didn't realize was that by excluding my staff I was slowly diminishing the possibility that I would ever get any quality assistance

I didn't think I was arrogant. That would have been bad. I thought I was a perfectionist. Which is good, right? Well. Yes and no. I've now come around to the idea that perfectionists are not God's gift to business. Except in their own alternative universe.

I didn't think that I mistrusted other people - only that I had great intuition about them.

And I didn't realize that my constantly telling myself that I was the only one who could be trusted to do a good job was fueling my view of an untrustworthy Universe.

It wasn't the case that I couldn't trust my staff to do work well. It was the case that I didn't trust them to do well. My problem ? not theirs.

Eventually I came to love delegating. I relished the free time it gave me. My staff thrived on the added responsibility and appreciated my faith in them. After a while they were bugging me for more work; asking what else they could do and how could they help me.

Here's how it can work for you.

First. Drop the attitude. Your staff knows you're a control freak and they know you don't trust them to do a good job. You may think you're in the closet on this. You're the only one who thinks it's a secret.

Get familiar with Chunking. Don't start by delegating an entire project. Certain psychologists believe that anyone can learn to do anything by Chunking. Chunking is when you break down a large task into smaller pieces which are more easily mastered and remembered. Chunking also has psychological advantages. Instead of focusing on the larger outcome ,which might be far away and overwhelming, you are focused on the more immediate goal. So don't delegate an entire task. Delegate a part of it which is within the skills and time constraints of your employees. Better to have several people working on different parts of a project and have one of them get into trouble than have one person dealing with everything and self-destructing.

Delegate according to strengths. Everybody is good at something. If not ? then why are they working for you in the first place? Take some time to find your employee's competencies. For example if you need a customer service follow-up choose someone on your staff with a personable phone manner. Preferably someone who is well-liked by your customers. For research - choose an employee who has a good eye for detail and who always needs to know the reasoning behind your decisions.

Give clear instructions and structure. Set your staff up to succeed. Never give an open-ended task and tell them to bring it back when it's done. Give them a time frame so that they can pace themselves and their other tasks accordingly. If they have a clear idea of when they need to be completed they will get an early heads-up if they're not running to schedule. Set a date and a time when they will report to you on their progress. If you are particularly control-challenged or if the task is really important you can even make it a daily progress report. For Heaven's sakes leave them alone in between reports. Don't ask them how it's going. Try and put yourself in your dad's position. Remember when you would be in the back seat on family vacations whining "Are we there yet" every few miles. Ever wonder why he blew up? Don't hover. Make it clear, though, that you or someone else is always available for questions in between reports.

Give them the tools to succeed. Give them checklists, punch lists, computer time, sample reports or forms to copy. Ask them if there is anything they would need or like in order to organize the task their way. Let them organize the tasks their way. People learn and work differently. Some are visual; some are intuitive; some need daily "to do" lists. Concentrate on the outcome and not the process. If you give free reign over the process - chances are good you will get the outcome you want.

If possible delegate tasks to the same people on a consistent basis. In a work situation familiarity often breeds confidence. It also facilitates ownership and pride.

I once had several different janitors on my staff who cleaned a very large multi-story building every day. There was no organization or structure to their work. They just showed up and all started at the same place at the same time and went on cleaning whatever was in their path until they were done. I can think of nothing more draining than doing a good job cleaning the same bathrooms and floors and elevators each day only to have them messed up overnight and have to come back and clean them all over again the next day. I felt bad for them and wanted to make their job a little more bearable ? but who likes cleaning?

I hit on the idea of assigning one floor to each janitor so that now they had their own territories. Because they had the same area each day they had pride in their floor. They also got to know the people on that floor so the element of relationship became a factor in their day. They even grew to be competitive with each other as to whose floor was the cleanest. This system also helped me. I could tell right away when I walked off each elevator who was slacking off and who was working.

Don't forget to say thank you. Say thank you when they give you the work back and then go back later and pick out one particular detail which you appreciated. Maybe it was the way the work was organized or laid out; the fact that it was turned in early etc. Let your employee know that you noticed and appreciated it.

Finally, remember that martyrdom is not an attractive quality. You didn't list it as an attribute on your resume and you wouldn't hire anyone who did.

Mary Rosendale is a Coach who specializes in Life Design. Her background is Business and Buddhist psychology and she uses this to design and construct daily structures and action plans for her clients to enable them to make decisions in line with their core values.She is a writer and speaker and can be found on the web at http://www.TheConstructedLife.com where you can sign up for her free newsletter or check out her funky blog http:theconstructedlife.blogs.com

---

Bye-Bye Boring Meetings! Make Yours Remarkable!

It's the middle of the night. You've woken up with... Read More

Increasing the Return on Your Training Investment

Insightful leaders and organizations recognize that training is a valuable... Read More

Auditing Improves Effective Planning

Speak of operations assessment, and we'll hear its significant value.... Read More

Work Priorities: Where Can You Spend Your Time Most Effectively?

Understanding where you can spend time most effectively requires concentration... Read More

Want to Manage Your Time? Get Real!

You know the drill - the ridiculous deadlines, the relentless... Read More

Print Buying Consultant

Ten Money Saving Tips for Print ManagersDespite their stated desire... Read More

Seven Cs to Avoid Procedure Writing Errors

You do your best to make sure your organization is... Read More

Hiring a Book Keeping Service

Whether you choose to do your own books and accounting... Read More

Are Your Meetings Smart?

Soon after I finished a brief seminar on how to... Read More

One Simple Idea to Grow Your Business

Perhaps the most common theme I've heard in working with... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About How to Become An Effective Executive

In his book, The Effective Executive, Peter Drucker pointed out... Read More

Instantly Uncover Your Corporate Culture

Best Definition of "Corporate Culture"If you ask 10 people to... Read More

Difficult Employees-Poor Performance - 10 Tips for Dealing with it in the Workplace

I personally struggle with the term 'managing people' - because... Read More

Climb out of the Box - How to Hold Effective Meetings

Out of the box thinking is a popular fad today.... Read More

Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness

Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness. Having a poor understanding... Read More

Blame Culture Blues - How the Language of Blame Manifests Organisational Underperformance

If you have ever worked within a large organisation then... Read More

An Original Perspective on Waging Conflict as a Way to Promote and Restore Self-dignity

Conflict is a fact of life for all of us,... Read More

Preparation: Your Companys Best Defense in Case of Catastrophe

You've hung out your shingle and are ready for business.... Read More

Can Your Business Run Without You?

If you are a business owner or a business owner... Read More

Time Management Tips for Managers

Late last year I was presenting a workshop for the... Read More

Talent Recruitment Challenges of High Technology Companies

As a result of the dot com meltdown and the... Read More

Paretos Law- Your Formula For Success

A 'dirt-world' retail business I used to manage had a... Read More

Well-Defined Processes ? How to Create

Interested in learning how to reduce development time, save money... Read More

Managers? Biggest Blunders

Nobody's perfect, including the boss. Managers, we polled recently, acknowledged... Read More

Managing Change in the Workplace

Change is exhilarating. Change is terrifying. Change is badly needed... Read More

Million Dollar Support System For You and For Your Business

Whether you are a consultant, coach, business owner, doctor, professional,... Read More

The Permissive Environment is the Suspect

The permissive and participatory conduct which most employees take for... Read More

Is Your Employee Newsletter Management Propaganda?

It should not be. If it is an effective newsletter,... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Money Doesnt Do It

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Communicating with Case Studies

A few weeks ago, a couple of colleagues and I... Read More

Effective Meetings by Phone - Part 2, How to Hold a Teleconference

Even a well-planned teleconference can go poorly. Some people treat... Read More

Basic Management Skills

Recent studies have shown that industrial supervisors are working at... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Senior Management and Directional Change

This article relates to the Senior/Top Level management of an... Read More