I embrace a challenge and love to dive into a project that has a lot of weight behind it. Weight such as impact, complexity, unknown factors, and of course stress. I have a tendency to take on the lion’s share of the work behind any project, but I continue to actively force myself to recognize that the time frame of the project does not allow for completion without accurate, appropriate delegation of tasks.
Half of the managers struggle with their employees saying that they cannot produce quality work and that most task delegation forces them to micromanage their associates. The reason they struggle is that these managers have the wrong approach. If you take the time to adjust to each of your team members and provide clear direction and instruction, tasks will come back exactly as you expected them! Follow these steps when assigning something:
1. Prep to assign. If you don’t know how this activity fits in with the rest of the initiative and you don’t have you facts and you don’t know who is best suited for the assignment, you will end up scrambling and looking scattered…because you are! Get your story and then you can tell it with poise, calm and clarity.
2. Completely define the task. Arm the person by offering background info, explaining “why” (I refuse to do something unless I receive an answer to my “why” questions, your people should be asking the same of you) and have the person repeat back to you what they heard. Communication=Sender + Channel + Receiver. Simple – yes. Room for misunderstanding – enormous. Make sure you 1) heard and 2) understood one another.
3. Define the time frame for delivery. Do you need this for next week, or is the client hemorrhaging while waiting for a response? You know, but make sure you share that info when delegating. You look like an absolute buffoon when you come back with a ‘drive by’ for a status update and the person has not even started.
4. Grant Authority. Should your team member research and only recommend? Inform of findings and proceed, or do they have the full permission to run and blaze without stopping? Unless clearly stated there can be some repercussions, hopefully just ones that make you blush, but they can be of the ‘legal’ variety as well.
5. Create checkpoints. If this is a large assignment, make it easy for both of you to stay on the same page. You won’t be fretting about when it is most appropriate to confirm on the status and you won’t be sweating as to the quality since you can intervene early on. If check-ins are inappropriate since you’re working with an ace who has mastered the task, don’t create extra steps in the process. Simplicity is always preferred.
6. Debrief for lessons learned. Don’t make it painful – conduct the debrief standing up if needed. What did the associate see as smooth sailing, what were the bumps and how do you want to approach the assignment the next time. It’s money in the bank for when you come back to step 1. That’s it.
The musts: prepare to delegate, don’t scramble with last minute assignments. Think about it, assignments given as either haiku poems or auctioneer chants undermine your credibility with your team in case your judgment faltered and you chose the wrong direction. Arm the person with the background to complete the task. Repeat back. Set or negotiate a deadline. Give the reigns the appropriate slack and set the time for you to poke in your nose mid process.
Be fair! It is unfair for you to expect something if you did not take the time to request it.