Delegation and empowerment are essential skills for executive coaches, but they can also be challenging to master. In this article, we will explore some common delegation mistakes and how to avoid them, as well as some tips on how to empower your coachees to achieve their goals.
Delegation and empowerment are not only beneficial for your coachees, but also for yourself as a coach. By delegating tasks and responsibilities, you can free up your time and energy to focus on more strategic and creative aspects of coaching. By empowering your coachees, you can help them develop their confidence, autonomy, and ownership of their results. Delegation and empowerment can also foster a culture of trust, collaboration, and innovation in your coaching relationship.
Don't get delegation confused with laziness though. I have seen many leaders "delegate" tasks while they do nothing. Do not delegate things if you are available to do the task yourself. In my opinion, if you have more strategic and creative aspects that you need to focus on, don't lead the project. Step out of the way and let somebody lead that is available.
I would add it's important to delegate both authority and responsibility, else the equation is one-sided. Micromanaging after delegating is a sign of insecure leadership style and speaks of distribution of work not delegation.
Delegation is not only about assigning tasks to your coachees and expecting them to do them. It is a process that requires clear communication, alignment, and feedback. To delegate effectively, you should first identify the tasks and outcomes that you can delegate and that are in line with your coachees' skills, interests, and development needs. Then, explain the purpose, expectations, and deadlines of the delegated tasks to your coachees and ensure they understand and agree. Additionally, provide the necessary resources, support, and guidance to your coachees without micromanaging or interfering with their work. Lastly, monitor the progress and quality of the delegated tasks and outcomes, while also providing constructive feedback and recognition to your coachees.
Even with the best intentions, delegation can go wrong if you don't take the right steps. To avoid this, it's important to find the right balance between delegating too much or too little based on your coachees' capabilities and readiness. Additionally, ensure that you give your coachees the authority and accountability to make decisions and take actions. Furthermore, provide regular, specific, and timely feedback and recognition to your coachees and celebrate their achievements. This will help foster motivation, performance, and learning.
Allow coachees’ to come up with how they want to complete the assignment as long as they understand what the results/goal is. Too many managers want direct reports to do a task the exact way the manager would do it. That is micromanaging and not allowing free thought.
Clarity matters. Conditions of satisfaction give a little basic structure to what’s delegated: what, by when, and by whom? What help do you need? What does good look like in this context? Ambiguous delegation is usually worse than none. Clarity gets the specifics right so people know how to succeed.
Empowerment is not only giving your coachees tasks and outcomes, but also enabling them to discover and leverage their strengths, values, and potential. To do this, you should ask open-ended, powerful, and reflective questions that challenge your coachees to think critically, creatively, and positively about their goals, options, and actions. Additionally, listen actively and empathically to your coachees' thoughts, feelings, and perspectives while acknowledging their contributions and insights. Furthermore, encourage your coachees to experiment and learn from their successes and failures while supporting them in overcoming obstacles and fears. Finally, inspire your coachees to pursue their passions, purpose, and vision while helping them align their actions with their values and beliefs.
Delegation and empowerment can have numerous advantages for your coachees, yourself, and your coaching relationship. Coachees can gain confidence, competence, commitment, autonomy, creativity, and innovation in their work, as well as satisfaction, engagement, and retention in their roles and organizations. As a coach, you can save time and energy to focus on more strategic and creative aspects of coaching, improve your effectiveness and efficiency, reduce stress and burnout, and increase your impact. Furthermore, delegation and empowerment can strengthen the trust between you and your coachees, foster a culture of learning and growth in your coaching relationship, and enrich the value of your coaching relationship.