4 Common Delegation Maladies To Avoid (Delegation Series 4/4)

November 15, 2019 Regina Zafonte

When delegation is done right, it is a glorious occurrence. You can feel proud in supporting your teammate to be successful while also advancing the goals of your organization and spending time doing your most important work. When it is done wrong, it can leave you embittered and reluctant from parting with important future tasks. Let’s look at some ways delegation can go sideways.

1. Reverse delegation. This is when people try to give you back part of the work. They may come to you and say they cannot find the information and expect you to jump in and rescue the day. Instead of completing the work for them, you can point them in the right direction. They need to navigate their hiccups so they can develop problem-solving skills. Ask the question – what do you think we should do in this situation, and watch their creativity come alive.

2. Over delegation. Giving your team member a task that far outweighs their capacity would translate into more of a frustration than a learning opportunity. To decide if the job is right for the person, you can ask these questions:

1. Did I provide the necessary resources?

2. Was I clear in outlining success?

3. Did I ask for feedback and consider input?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then it may be a case of over delegation.

3. Too hands-off. Some managers delegate a task and then walk away. It is important to stay involved while letting the employee lead the way. Carol Walker, President of Prepared to Lead offers, “While you don’t want to tell people how to do the job, you must be in a position to evaluate their performance and development.” Clearly, delegation is not the same as abdication so be sure to guide their success.

4. Lack of clarity. You may feel that once you have shared your assignment to be done that the person heard it in the exact way that you intended. Brene Brown, in her book Dare to Lead, suggests an effective method for reaching a meeting of the minds by using the simple phrase, “Paint done for me.” This prompts the person to be specific in their expectations and clear in their intentions. She says, “it gives the people who are charged with the task tons of color and context and fosters curiosity, learning, collaboration, reality-checking, and ultimately success.” I recommend using this language in the co-creation phase, which was outlined in the second blog of this delegation series.

Quote of the day: “The inability to delegate is one of the biggest problems I see with managers at all levels.” – Eli Broad, entrepreneur

Q: What is one delegation challenge you faced in working with a teammate? How would you tackle that same challenge next time? Comment and share with us, we would love to hear from you!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to help them delegate more effectively, contact me to explore this topic further.

5 Common Delegation Misconceptions (Delegation Series 3/4)

November 2, 2019 Regina Zafonte

While some managers are aware that it is practically impossible to do everything effectively on their own, they may still choose not to delegate because they hold overpowering preconceived notions. Shattering these limiting beliefs can be the first step to being a master delegator.

Let’s jump into top delegation misconceptions:

1. No Time. Many people feel that it is more efficient for them to do it themselves instead of taking the time to delegate, but while there is an initial time investment at the upfront, the long term-term savings can be substantial. Sure, it may take you an hour to delegate something effectively that could take you 20 minutes to complete, but if it is an ongoing task that they can now do several times a month, how much time have you saved yourself? When you set up systems and structures, it allows for quicker execution for the current project and a general template that you can use for the future. Jenny Black, Author of Pivot shares how delegation allowed her to triple her income in 2013 and helped her learn even more about her business in the process.

2. Incompetent Team. When you allow people to tap into their capacities, they may pleasantly surprise you. Churchill said, “if you should influence another, impute a quality to him that he does not have and he will do everything to prove you are right.” Investing in their development and connecting the new skills to their career advancement could be just the impetus needed to get them to engage and level up.

3. You are the only one who can do the best job. Managers who have high standards find it difficult to let other people do their jobs. They feel if they have to spend time reviewing the quality, it may be easier to do it themselves. This type of thinking can set a bad tone because it can cause resentment and distrust and even enable delegates to be less diligent if they know their work will be triple checked, and that their boss will intervene at every step. The better approach is to support the employee in developing their skillset and raising their quality. If somebody else can do the assignment 70-80% as well as you, delegate it so you can free yourself up to do those few tasks that only you can do and so you can advance your skills. It is also a way to break from some possible perfectionist tendencies and move more toward a pragmatic and efficient approach. There is only so much time in one day, ask yourself, where do you want to put your energy? If relinquishing control is a challenge, you can start with the tasks that are simple, routine, and which you have already mastered.

4. You do not want to feel dispensable. Sometimes there is a need to take on too much to maintain a feeling of importance. Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Pfeffer calls this self-enhancement bias, which is about believing that passing on work will detract from your importance. For others, it can manifest in a lack of self-confidence and the fear of being upstaged by subordinates. However, supporting people to be their best would not only look great for you as a leader, but it is simply the right thing to do. Imagine if you are the leader who is known for consistently getting others promoted?

Accepting that you cannot do everything yourself is a critical first step to delegating. While there can be some risks in deciding to delegate, the payoffs for your team, your organization, and yourself can be far more rewarding. It could end up being the decision in which you are proudest.

Quote of the Day: “If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.”– John C. Maxwell, Author

Q: What is your biggest concern you have when it comes to delegation? Comment and share your thoughts, we would love to hear from you!

The next blog in this series 4/4 will focus on 4 common delegation maladies to avoid.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to help them delegate more effectively, contact me to explore this topic further.

Top 3 Reasons To Delegate (Delegation Series 1/4)

October 1, 2019 Regina Zafonte

As a star performer, you have just been promoted to a managerial role and might be feeling tempted to continue to follow your usual routine of doing excellent work, while also trying to motivate the team to get results. You start to notice that you have a pervasive feeling of being buried with assignments and keeping up feels like your biggest challenge. The best skill you can foster to address this challenge is to learn how to be a master delegator.

Surprisingly, most managers do not delegate. A 2007 study on time management found that close to half of the 332 companies surveyed were concerned about their employees’ delegation skills. At the same time, only 28% of those companies offered any training on the topic. It is also quite possible that as a high achiever, you may not even be aware that you are unnecessarily hoarding work; after all, you are used to handling everything and getting results.

A great way to learn if you are under-delegating is to keep a journal on how you are spending your time and look for patterns of low energy activities. The most glaring sign that you may be insufficiently delegating is if you are always working long hours and having the feeling of being indispensable.

Top 3 Reasons To Delegate:

1. Maximize your contribution. There are jobs that only you can do in your senior role so when you can spend more time doing just that and less time on work that can be done by others, you are advancing yourself and your company. Richard Branson said, “managers should delegate so they can put themselves out of business for that job and be free to think bigger.” Proper delegation allows you to multiply your output and increase your high-value work.

2. Develop your people. One of the most rewarding and important parts of your job as a manager is to grow your people. A great way to do this is to motivate them to take ownership of the task, give them autonomy to experiment, learn from their mistakes, and have chances to flourish. It is advantageous to give the entire job and support them in the process so they can experience control and success. Brian Tracy says that the average person works about 50-60% of their capacity, but the best managers know how to tap into their team’s potential to yield as high as 90 -100%. Through effective delegation, managers can elicit the highest quality performance and build capabilities and confidence in their team.

3. Grow Your Abilities. Effective delegation requires you to be a tremendous teacher, communicator, listener, and more. Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford said, “Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the world doesn’t go to hell if you take a day off.” The more you can achieve outcomes through others, the more you are able to rise in your leadership journey and take on even more challenges and opportunities in your organization. Indeed, great leadership involves putting in place a successful system that supersedes your influence.

Quote of the day: “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” – Jessica Jackley, Co-Founder of Kiva

Q: What was the last thing you decided to delegate so you could have more time to do something else that was even more important to you? Comment and share your thoughts with us; we would love to hear from you!

The next blog in this series 2/4 will focus on setting up the delegation process

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to help them delegate more effectively, contact me to explore this topic further.