Learning to Delegate
Jackie Simon
Unlock Your Leadership Potential: Empowering Emerging Leaders and Executives to Close Performance Gaps | Executive & Leadership Coach | 1,000+ Leaders Coached | Tips for Elevating Your Impact and Growing Your Team
Through coaching hundreds?of?leaders, I've observed?the?reasons individuals refrain?from?delegating falls into four key categories:
Sometimes, I'll find a leader doesn't delegate?for?one?of?the?above reasons or?for?more than one reason ("I don't have experience delegating, and it really doesn't matter because I don't have anyone to delegate to!") It can be...complicated.
In this article, we'll reflect on?the?first reason: "New to delegating / lack?of?previous experience delegating." If you've never delegated before, you can start?by:
1. Identifying someone to help you?with?a task. It could be a colleague who reports to you, a peer you work closely with, or even an external resource. You don't have to have direct reports to delegate work...finding a peer to partner with can be a low risk way to practice delegating. You can support each other in the process.
2. Describe what work is needed and what each person is responsible?for. Foster a sense of buy-in and clarity on the work each person will do.
3. Describe?the?outcome?of?what you'd like to see when?the?task is completed.
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4. Provide necessary resources, depending on?the?work to be completed.
5. Agree?with?the?individual completing?the?task when you'll regroup to talk about progress. Set a date and time that works for both of you - too soon may cause the individual you're working with to feel micromanaged, while setting the date too far out may cause friction if the work is late.
6. Encourage?the individual you're working with to be creative and complete?the?work?the?way they feel is best. This is an important step toward respecting what the individual brings to the table (and a determinate as to whether they'll help you in the future).
7. Provide motivation and most importantly, get?the?heck out?of?their way so they can do?the?work!
8. Allow?the?pieces to fall into place and handle?the?wins (and misses) as they come.
If you're new to delegating and want to take?that?first step, try it?this?week using?the?above framework.?I'd love to hear?from?you: how did it go?