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Over the last few weeks I have been doing some research for a series of presentations I am giving to new managers on managing people. I began to review some material on delegation just to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything.
If you’ve managed people for a while (or done any kind of leadership course), you likely wont find any surprises here, but I thought it might be a useful reminder for thinking about your approach to delegation.
- Pick the right person for the job – This isn’t always easy. Often we don’t have a big team to choose from. And sometimes our people don’t have all the requisite skills to get it done. Striking the balance between efficient completion and development of individual team members is an important choice when delegating.
- Give a whole task – have you ever found yourself running down the corridor, talking a mile a minute and verbally “throwing” a task at one of your team? I know I have! Sounds silly when you read it, doesn’t it? Good delegation is about spending the time to fully brief your team including context (“the why”), key milestones and deadlines, and expected outcomes.
- Give authority – don’t forget that the requirement to complete a task or project should be accompanied by the authority to make the decisions needed to get it done. This can be tough in large organisations with complex decision-making processes – but at the very least, you should be able to specify the boundaries or limitations of decision-making authority.
- Share your view of success – it will really help your team if you are able to articulate your vision of success for the task or project. It will give them specific goals for their work – without telling them how to achieve it. And they also need to know how that success will be measured.
- Provide support – can you remember being given a new project and feeling like you’ve jumped into a life raft and floated away from the mother ship? It’s not a nice feeling so remember to reassure your team about when and how you will support them with the work. Talk about what updates you need from them along the way, for example for regular steering committee meeting or your one-one with your boss. And give them feedback so they know how they’re doing. Don’t forget to reward and recognize their contribution in a way that is meaningful for them and for the project.
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