What's Cake got to do with delegation?

The Art of Delegating?

Don't be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or you, delegate it. Force responsibility down and out. Find problem areas, add structure and delegate. The pressure is to do the reverse. Resist it.

Donald Rumsfeld

Having military DNA, delegation has never proved difficult, quite the opposite, it’s fundamental in the success of any operation or task being undertaken. All too often during my engagement with business owners, CEO’s and Executives I find they have no time, are the busiest, run off their feet because they do everything. They deal with the team, the clients and the business. They are the default setting for every decision and question from the team and customers. Does that, maybe, sound familiar? Do your clients insist on speaking to you, do you have to tell your team what to do? In one easy step you can increase your efficiencies 10 fold…….’STOP IT’.

Delegation essentially is the art of getting more done in less time, empowering your internal and external team. Giving responsibility to your internal team, those directly within the business. Likewise your external team, your accountant, marketing consultant, coach etc. Throughout my military career delegation was essential. When on operations and under time pressure you had no choice but to be as efficient as possible and we used CAKE.

• ?Concurrent activity. Having a list of actions/activities which needed to take place the aim would always be to engender multiple tasks underway concurrently when they weren’t mutually reliant.
• Anticipation at every level. Not waiting to be asked but to have a team who anticipate activity or indeed get underway without having to be told.
• Knowledge of the organisation. Put simply who does what within the business? Does your team have an understanding and are intimate with who does what and what the levels of responsibility are. A source of great efficiencies when you start to look at the methodology of touch it once and lean management.
• Efficiencies at every level. Here doing the tasks as efficiently as possible, understanding the value of time and the impact of delating the process.

The key to success here within the military depended on everyone understanding the power of delegation and the principles of CAKE in execution and completion of the task in hand. Now there’s an understanding as to why you need to delegate, first lets deal with the ‘head trash’, why you are currently a poor delegator. Whilst I can’t speak for everyone, many people are reluctant or afraid to delegate.

• ?Nobody can do this work as well as I can.
• If I delegate this work, there’s no guarantee that it’ll get done properly.
• If someone else does this better than I do, I’m in trouble.
• But I haven’t got time to teach someone else how to do it.
• But I want to be seen as a nice guy, not a slave driver.
• But I’m paid the most, surely I should do more.
• I don't trust anyone else

You’re Part of a Team

Here’s the thing, when we try to help each other out, it’s called teamwork. ?In a well-run organisation, everyone works together as a team and more importantly they understand and embrace the teamwork. Together Everyone Achieves More. ?Different jobs are performed by different members, and there are various levels of authority and responsibility.

But the team was formed for one purpose: to get the job done successfully and help everybody become a winner. ?When you think of yourself as part of a team, you’ll have a lot less trouble with the concept of delegating. In fact, you'll soon discover that your team want to be delegated too.

Here are some tips about how to approach delegating to save your time and get you the help you need:

• ?Ask for help, don’t demand it.
• Make sure the person has a clear picture of the purpose of any delegated work and knows what kind of results you expect.
• Take the time to talk it through, explaining specifically what you’re looking for, any constraints and limitations need to be clearly highlighted.
• Encourage questions.
• Give the person all the information and other resources they’ll need to complete the project.
• Set a realistic deadline that’s agreeable and workable for both of you.
• Keep yourself available for questions, and when necessary ask for periodic progress reports.
• Don’t assume a person will be able to complete a delegated task without any additional help or assistance from you.
• Never give a person a task you yourself aren’t familiar with. ?(and, don’t toss a pile of papers on somebody’s desk at 5 P.M. and say, “I want this done by tomorrow morning.”…it can be grounds for a revolt).
• Give the person the opportunity to be imaginative and take the initiative.
• If you feel the job is being done poorly or incorrectly, pitch in and help.
• Take the time to teach the person how to do it the correct way.
• When the project has been completed, give lots of praise and credit for a job well done.

Keep Track Of Delegated Work

Delegating a job to someone else doesn’t mean you can forget about it.?Put the person’s initials next to the item on your things to-do list and enter the deadline you’ve both agreed upon on your calendar. Don’t cross that job off your list until it’s been successfully completed.

If you’re delegating a part of a larger project, you need to make doubly sure that the work is completed on time; otherwise, the whole project may be delayed. Delegating is a confidence builder, for both the delegate and the delegator. ?With practice you’ll gain confidence in your own ability to delegate and in your colleague's ability to complete the work.

Your colleagues will become surer of their ability to handle the job. ?And you will both feel the satisfaction of making an important contribution to your team - and to the success of your company.

The ability to delegate effectively has a double payoff. ?You’ll save time, which you can spend on other important projects, and you’ll send a signal to the organisation that you embrace team engagement and empowerment. Organisations with effective delegations are by virtue healthy and will be highly efficient and what's more a great place to work.

Now that’s worth thinking about.

About the Author

Steve Gaskell the 'Challenge Coach' is a High-Performance Business Coach who unlocks the high-performance potential in those he coaches. The author of 'Business Shouldn't be this Tough' is also a keynote speaker with a focus on high-performance outcomes through coaching and also creating extreme ownership within the boardroom. A former Army Officer Steve understands the challenge and interFEARence faced by business owners, CEOs, directors and executives in leadership and confronts them head-on to focus on unleashing true potential.

If you would like to unlock the potential within your organisation, board, leadership, team or yourself just ask. For more information on the topic of this newsletter, you can message Steve via his profile, call on 01392 927997 or email?[email protected]