Effective Delegation: Planting Workplace Trees of Success!

Recently I posted a six part series on effective delegation. Often discussed in leadership, supervisory, and management circles as an elusive competency this six part series bundles together six steps to help you achieve effective delegation. Effective delegation has many benefits and may serve as a catalyst for the growth of aspiring leaders.

Effective delegation can be easily accomplished by utilizing the following six steps:

1. Give the whole task. When we give the whole task the person feels a sense of ownership and responsibility.
2. Clearly define the expectations. Effective delegation includes a clear and concise definition of the expectations.
3. Share and clarify the big picture. Employees who know and understand the mission of the organization will be better positioned to tackle projects, assignments, and day-to-day job duties.
4. Establish meaningful timelines and milestones. Delegation efforts that include the use of meaningful timelines and milestones also provide the opportunity to ensure accountability.
5. Establish metrics and measurements. Effective delegators will consider what is measurable and achievable; and what will be the most important to demonstrate in the future.
6. Give thanks and reward. Post delegation efforts and evaluation of the outcomes, we need to be sure we are giving appreciation to those who have made it a success.

Effective delegation will not only make you more efficient and effective it will serve as a catalyst for growth of those around you. We know that planting a tree requires great care, but once the roots are established and the tree starts to develop it isn’t long until it will stand tall amongst the others in the forest.

6 Steps to Effective Delegation (Part 6 of 6)

6. Give Thanks and Reward.

Morale is often of great concern for organizations. When we bring people together and form teams, pursue common goals, and share a vision – we want to maintain forward momentum. Post delegation efforts and evaluation of the outcomes, we need to be sure we are giving appreciation to those who have made it a success.

Appreciation and reward systems can quickly lead us into a very challenging and complex discussion. After all, who do we reward, when do we do it, and do we reward everyone or just the individual efforts? Indeed there are a lot of considerations.

Keeping it simple consider the following as part of an effective delegation process:

      1. People want to be appreciated – give thanks
      2. People want to succeed – show them they are doing it
      3. People like feeling motivated – give them a reason to reach for more

Effective delegation can not only make you a better leader, but it can feed starving workplace teams and grow a motivated and positive culture. Leading is not about doing it all, in part it is about trusting, caring, and delegating effectively. Delegation is an appropriate balance of the leader managing and maintaining projects, but also sharing the efforts, risks, and rewards. Effective delegation like most leadership performance criteria is a delicate balance of doing enough but not too much. Excessive delegation can be as damaging as under delegating. Team leaders, supervisors, and managers should self-assess on their delegation skills and confidently develop the right balance.

6 Steps to Effective Delegation (Part 5 of 6)

5. Establish Metrics and Measurements.

How do we know if the project or task has been successful? What are the metrics or measurements that we will use for comparison?

Similar to timelines and milestones the metrics should be established at the beginning of the project or assigned task. Metrics typically provide some accountability data. We often think in terms of how much, how many, and in what timeframe. However, what determines those thresholds? We need something to compare to, here are three possibilities:

      - Past performance
      - Benchmark data
      - Management expectations

Effective delegators will consider what is measurable and achievable; and what will be the most important to demonstrate in the future? Gathering some data on past performance, industry or sector benchmarks, and management expectations are all useful for comparison. Benchmark and past performance data tend to be objective and are highly recommended for inclusion in your evaluation toolbox. Often projects are evaluated based on management expectations alone which could be considered subjective in nature. As long as those (management) expectations are well communicated and reasonably achievable they can provide a viable and valuable comparison.

Metrics and measurement choices may vary considerably depending on the type of project or task, and its significance to the organization or performance contributions. Effective delegation will produce results, for those achieving those results remember to give thanks and reward!

6 Steps to Effective Delegation (Part 1 of 6)

1. Give the Whole Task

Supervisors and employees alike often cringe at the thought of the word - delegation. I believe it ranks second in leadership bingo to the word “change.” What is so difficult about delegation? Many would quickly reply that it has something to do with trust. Trust that it will be completed timely and without errors or problems, not only because it has to be, but also because the supervisor needs to feel confident that the employees are competent. Trust, accuracy, confidence, and competence - the point that I am making here is that there are many difficulties, many of them emotional in nature, that prevent otherwise great supervisors (read leaders) from being effective delegators.

The first and perhaps most important step in delegation is - giving the whole task. When we give the whole task the person feels a sense of ownership and responsibility. Once given (read delegated) that responsibility we have sent a message that says “I trust you to do this work.” In healthy organizations this motivates and energizes the employee. It then becomes the responsibility of the employee to fulfill the job duties. Lack of fulfilling their job duties would of course indicate that they are not a fully performing employee – they are something less.

How do we know if they are fully performing? Have you clearly defined the expectations?