Delegate effectively and build trust and credibility

I’m delivering an in-house time management course for managers in a large social care company.?

The course participants have been asked to firstly identify their job objectives and to write on postits the activities required to achieve the objectives. They have then been asked to place the post-its on a prioritising quadrant to identify the activities that the person must focus on, the high importance tasks that they are best equipped/qualified to deal with, and the low importance tasks that should be delegated.

We’ve discussed why delegation is essential as it’s

1. An effective use of the organisation’s resources
2. A way of developing and upskilling staff.

Despite knowing this and having a process to identify tasks that need to be delegated, there is considerable reluctance to do so.

One attendee says ‘I feel guilty when I delegate. We’re all so busy; it doesn’t seem fair to give more work to other people’. ?There are nods of agreement from other participants.

This situation happens often. Managers feeling guilty about delegating, so they don’t. ?This results in the increased risk of overload and burn out, and the inefficient use of the organisations resources.

Facts

• Delegation is a key management skill.
• Delegation is an essential management behaviour
• Delegation is a way to build trust and personal credibility

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?Five strategies to ensure you delegate effectively

1.??????Use delegation as an integral part of your time management ?strategy

Delegation is part of an overall time management strategy. This involves identifying goals and objectives, planning, prioritising and performing. Activities to be delegated will be identified as part of this strategy.

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2.??????Delegate with notice

One issue with delegation is when delegation is carried out. Countless people have complained on workshops of their manager delegating without notice. The person is working to capacity and suddenly they are given another (usually urgent) task to do.?

The reason could be due to the manager realising that they have an important task to do, or an unexpected one. So they delegate the lesser important one (an effective time management strategy) but with no notice (an ineffective time management strategy).?Or it could be that the manager delays delegating through fear or guilt.

Whatever the reason for it, delegating without notice is never good practice. The greater the notice you can give of a delegated task, the more time the delegatee has to deal with it and plan and prioritise the activity into their work schedule. Less urgency = less stress and more likely that the task will be done correctly.

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3.??????Use a delegation process

Groups on Delegation Skills programmes I deliver are asked to identify a process of delegation. One group’s process has 26 stages. Most tasks to be delegated will not require 26 stages; virtually all will require more stages than one.

Deciding to delegate an activity to someone and giving it without any notice, without clear details of what is required, and without clarifying the responsibility and authority involved is not effective delegation.

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4.??????Delegate based on skill not enjoyment levels

One of the reasons delegation has a bad reputation is that managers ‘cherry pick’ the tasks they delegate.

Every activity has a level of skill linked to it. The skill levels can be assessed as high, medium or low. High skill activities are ones that should be undertaken by the person most suited to it, who has the knowledge and experience to perform most effectively. Usually these activities are not appropriate to be delegated as they require the capabilities of the person doing the role.

Medium and low skill activities are ones that could/should be delegated, as they are more likely to be within the skill set and capabilities of the person being delegated to.?

?The main complaint about managers and delegation I hear is that managers are able and very willing to delegate the low and medium low skill, low enjoyment tasks, but not so keen to delegate the low and medium skill, high enjoyment tasks. ?

Spending time on low skill, high enjoyment tasks is not an effective use of a manager’s time, is an ineffective use of the organisations resources, and it gets noticed.

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5.??????Delegate both authority and responsibility ?

Delegation means giving both responsibility and appropriate authority for the task. The delegatee has the task to do, and has authority to make decisions about it. Often the person delegating chooses to keep all the authority – the power – rather than giving it to the delegate. This is dumping, not delegation.

Delegating effectively means giving as much authority as is appropriate. Every task delegated will have different levels of authority over it that can be given to the delegatee. ?A task could

-?????????Be completely in the control of the delegatee, they have all the authority over the task and how it is carried out.

-?????????require the delegator to have a great deal of involvement, so the delegatees authority is restricted and ring-fenced

-?????????Be split into parts with the delegatee having complete authority over some parts, none over others.

What is essential is that as well as responsibility, authority is also given to the delegatee.

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Delegating effectively will demonstrate you are a capable manager

• This will contribute to you having a positive reputation
• This will build trust with your team members and colleagues

?Both will build your personal credibility in the organisation.

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?Questions to consider

• What gets in the way of you delegating effectively?
• What is the impact of not delegating effectively – on the organisation, on your team, on you?
• What would be the benefits of delegating – to the organisation, to your team, to you?
• How can you delegate more activities that can be delegated?