How Delegation Does Double Duty as a Development Tool

We’ve all heard the phrases, the excuses, and the sarcastic remarks surrounding articles and people who tout the reasons for and benefits of delegation….and how many times did you roll your eyes! Ask any parent, administrative assistant, professional, entrepreneur, or manager at any level about the dilemma entertaining delegation can cause. Why is this?

The Reasons (Excuses) We Don’t Delegate

Maybe it has to do with our puritan work ethic. If our boss assigns a task to us, we do it. Maybe we believe that it is wrong to burden others with our problems, projects, or tasks. Other excuses, are, I can do it better myself, it takes too long to teach someone else, I just want my children to be kids, I don’t have anyone to delegate to, I’m not a teacher, my staff already has too much work to do, or I’ll look weak delegating my work, etc., etc., etc. These excuses enjoy the same status as the excuses we use surrounding time and money. Everyone understands them and they are difficult to formulate an argument against.

The Importance of Delegation

When we fail to delegate to our children, we are failing to create responsible citizens. Growing up as a foster, welfare child, (did you just roll your eyes again?), people would bring me into their homes and along with the abuse, I was also doing a lot of the house cleaning. This was true even when my aunt took me out of the system to raise me. Unfortunately, none of these homes, including my aunt, while using me as the “cleaning lady,” would bother to teach me social skills, budgeting, career pursuits, the importance of education, how to think for myself, or self-worth. How does this equate to business?

How can a business create its own responsible citizens? How can your organization build a culture of learning, understanding, accountability, innovation, development, and collaboration without implementing the art and science of delegation? The answer is two words, it can’t. At higher levels of the organization, delegation frees up time for strategic thinking, planning, and leadership. These are tasks that are not delegable. At every level, delegation offers the opportunity for growth and development. Appropriate and effective delegation is how leaders build high performing teams, strong careers for their staff, and the organization’s leadership of tomorrow. All of these pave the way to greater profitability. We might call this the science behind delegation, where does the art come in?

Effective Delegation is Key

First, ensure that delegation is part of training programs and your career path program. The process to teach is the why, when, and how of delating. Here’s a look at each of these.

The why is the reasons from “The Importance of Delegation” section in this article. The benefits of delegating create clear pathways for developing the type of citizens or staff to fit the culture good business demands. In doing this, we can begin to delete the bad name that delegating has in business and in life. We also help eliminate the false personas of martyrdom, imposter syndrome, and egotistical eggheads. In addition, we burn up burn out.

One of the mysteries surrounding delegation is when to do it. If you wait until you are overwhelmed, the delegation will not be well thought out and you may delegate the wrong task to the wrong person for the wrong reason. This will only create chaos and resentment. Here are some ideas around when it’s most effective to delegate.

1. When a task is no longer intellectually challenging for you but might be a good challenge and a growth opportunity for another team member.
2. When a task has become redundant. In other words, two people are performing the same task. A good example of this is a meeting that a subordinate could take over, especially if you have both been attending and your presence is not a requirement. If you don’t have a subordinate, you could split attendance with a teammate or attend less frequently.
3. If you are not good at a task, but a subordinate is better at it and enjoys it, this can create another opportunity for delegation. An example might be a report you have to produce quarterly. You don’t like doing the graphics. The subordinate does the graphics for you on a quarterly basis and after the quarter, gets a half-day off, or a gift card, or gets to leave early the next Friday. Plus, be sure to give them full credit in the report. You impress your boss, whoever reads the report finds it easy to understand, and your employee gains some visibility and confidence. This is a win-win all the way around.
4. People stay longer at a job when they feel they have some authority. Delegating tasks and projects can provide this authority. Just be clear on what decision(s) can and cannot be made by the individual.
5. Let’s say a subordinate is experiencing low morale due to a recent promotion rejection or was in an embarrassing situation around performance. Now is the time to demonstrate your trust and confidence in the individual by delegating a project to them you know they can gain confidence with upon its completion.

We can consider the “how to delegate” portion the artistic piece of delegating as it involves design, strategic thinking, and creativity. Establish strategic planning sessions with yourself. These are separate from any organizational strategic planning sessions, but they may complement one another. Make these sacred, they can be annually, biannually, or quarterly. Quarterly is probably best in today’s ever-changing environment. Let’s take a deeper dive into this strategic planning idea.

Know your team. Laying a foundation for delegation begins with knowing your staff. What are each person’s competencies, attributes, and capacities? What motivates them and do they have a balanced view of themselves and the world? A person’s self and world view are important because if they have a stigmatism one way or the other, there will be issues around why you are selecting them for delegation. There is an assessment that can give you precisely this type of information. Scientifically backed assessments are worth the small investment. Of course, one-on-one meetings with questions about what the employee has on their plate, what they feel they can take one, and what they want are a good idea as well, even when using assessments.

Next, view the projects on your own plate without bias. Think about the charges you face in fulfilling the strategic plan and vison for the organization. Do all your tasks fit? Are there redundant tasks? Could there be tasks that will prove to be unproductive? Unchallenging for you, but a growth opportunity for a subordinate? Compiling this information will give you a greater understanding of what to delegate and who to delegate to. When you assign a project be sure to set up check in dates with the person who is accountable for the project. This is not micromanaging; this is good management. Be sure you and the other person have a full understanding of deliverables and when each is due.

Further, delegating in this manner provides you the ability to delegate equally. This is important because when team members understand they will be treated fairly, everyone is given challenging tasks, and you have their best interests in mind, this is how dedicated, loyal, and high performing teams are built.

Creating a system of conducting a strategic methodology for delegation, your developmental path is more effective, your succession planning becomes almost a no brainer, employees experience higher engagement, retention increases, and your job becomes easier.

When There’s No One to Delegate To

Be sure your time management skills are working or better yet, that you are managing projects on your plate in an efficient manner. Trying to be a martyr in taking on too much, doesn’t help anyone. Discuss with your boss when you are experiencing feelings of overwhelm. If there is a true disconnect between you and your boss and you feel a frank and open discussion isn’t going to work, be sure you understand appeal paths such as HR, a coach, or an intermediary to help examine workarounds or project reassignments.

There are some things you can do up front when first assigned a task.

1. Ask key questions about the project up front.
2. What are the priorities surrounding this project? Could it be pushed back if necessary while you complete another project? Is it the right time for this project to begin?
3. Perhaps you have information surrounding this project your boss does not have. Would your department taking on this task be an infringement on another department’s authority?
4. Who are the end users of the project? What contributions could they make to the satisfactory completion of the job at hand?
5. Look for tasks that you might delegate to a coworker, new hire, or intern.
6. Another department may be seasonal, and someone could fill in until their workload picks up again.
7. Always try to incorporate technology to make tasks easier.
8. See if the budget would allow you to hire a virtual assistant on a project basis.
9. Ask for more or better resources. Be sure to demonstrate how everyone
   benefits from the upgrade(s).

Summary

These ideas around delegation may open eyes for some about how what may be new ways of thinking about delegation, how to do it, and that delegating does not have to be painful, guilt producing, or a continuous unbalanced unleashing of work on high performers. Rather, it has always been a time saving tool, but now to see delegating also has value to do double duty as a development tool.

Thank you for reading this blog. If you would like more information on using delegation as developmental tool, Let’s Get Started!

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