Your formula for time-efficient, risk-free delegation

You’re ready to delegate (whoop whoop!).?

You know the benefits and that delegating is going to free you up to focus on the impactful activities that will make the difference in your company’s growth. ????

But being ready and actually doing it are two very different things.

After all, we’ve all had our hands burnt from delegating at some point in the past...?

It just didn’t work! The results weren’t there and it took you longer to explain, review, and then fix the other person’s work...?

In the end, you should have just done it yourself - (which is what you ended up doing anyway!!).

But just because it happened before, what makes you think it has to happen that way again?

Going forward, let’s make sure you’re CONFIDENT in the process, knowing that this is going to support you in taking your business to the next level!

Picture this:You hand something off and immediately feel at ease.?

The item is off your mind, you have 100% trust that it’s in good hands (maybe even better hands now) and you have a clear head to focus on company-level priorities, strategic decision-making, long-term growth, and getting that next big client win!?

Why so calm??

Because you know that your team member has taken on full ownership of delivering the desired outcome of the item; they have taken on full responsibility for success; their approach combines their expertise with your insights; and you have check-points in place to ensure deadlines are met.?

The business impact?

1. Progress on strategic, needle-moving initiatives that you’ve not had time for.

2. Improved efficiency and productivity.

3. High-performing, empowered & motivated people delivering on the company’s goals.?

The dream, right?!

So, how do you achieve that?

?? By delegating responsibilities, not tasks.??

When you delegate tasks, you still hold the ownership of those tasks.?

A responsibility is bigger than that.?

If they are responsible for something, they’ve got to be responsible for it ALL - the outcome, the success, the impact, the communication, addressing any issues that come up…

The only way your team can TAKE full responsibility is if you GIVE them full responsibility.

Here's how you can delegate responsibility in a time-efficient, risk-managed way!:

?? Delegate the Responsibility?

Instead of assigning tasks, e.g.?

“Mel - I need you to open File A, go through each row, and update column G. It shouldn’t take more than 2 hours.”

… Delegate the responsibility by focusing on outcomes, e.g.?

“Hey, Mel - I’d like you to take responsibility for ensuring that our client data is up-to-date.”

By sharing:

- importance (“... 90% of our clients gave us feedback that data is the primary reason they chose us over our competitors, but they've noticed it’s been weeks out of date lately. We are going to make this a major part of our Sales so it’s critical the data is up to date.”)

- success measures (“We know that 70% of clients look at the data on Tuesdays so success looks like the financial, insights, and commentary data being up to date every Monday EOD.”)

- deadlines (“This is a priority so we need to start this coming Monday.”)

- communications (“My expectation is that you’re responsible for getting the updates done, as well as communicating any issues or errors as soon as they occur.”)

?? Support them in accepting the Responsibility

Instead of seeing your role as telling them the best way to take on the responsibility, focus on supporting them to accept, own, and take the most effective approach.?

Ask questions to help them with their thinking, e.g.?

- “How are you thinking of approaching this?”

- “What issues do you think may come up?”

- “I know you have other items prioritised. How do you see this fitting in, given your capacity?”?

?? Give feedback on the Responsibility

Instead of judging their work vs. how you would have done it, give feedback on the Responsibility:

- “You made the deadline, but the insights aren’t to the standards our clients would expect. Take me through your approach again. What challenges did you find?”

- “I would have expected you to reach out to me or get some additional support

- what stopped you from doing that?”

- “What are you going to do differently going forward?”

?? ?Let go

Trust your people and go focus on your strategic initiatives.

You can still check-in with them along the way, but resist that urge to micromanage - remember, they are responsible for communications, so support them in taking ownership of that, too!

?? What responsibility can you delegate today? Decide and then follow the process above…

Warmest regards,

Yewande

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