A Game-changer....The Gentle Art of Delegation
A great and highly recommended book
that I point my clients in the direction of is Extreme Ownership by Jocko
Willink and Leif Babin. Having read it clients tend to take a good look at
their own leadership skills in the metaphorical mirror, some also feel the need
to upgrade their delegation skills. It’s interesting to note that those that
take the effort to improve their delegation skills also report that their
businesses are just that little bit easier to run.
Are you good at delegating?
A great many business owners,
executives and managers struggle with delegation. The most common excuse I get
for not delegating is people feel it takes more time to delegate and quality of
work isn’t as good so they might as well do it themselves. Yet delegation when
carried out correctly is an extremely valuable tool and has two major benefits
for you the business owner, executive or manager:
·
It will free up your time so that you
can focus on the tasks that add the most value to your business and not those
that are well below your pay grade.
· By empowering others and helping them
to grow you are developing future leaders.
A useful distinction here is to note
the difference between delegation and abdication. Abdication is giving someone
a task without any direction and hoping they get it right. Delegation on the
other hand is giving someone a task whilst you still retain responsibility for
the outcome of the task.
Delegation is not a waste of time it is an investment in time.
Make a list of the tasks that you are
carrying out on a day to day basis. Now mark each task on a scale of 1-10 how
much do you enjoy doing this task (10 = Love it) then mark again on a scale of
1-10 how much skill does it take to do the task (10 = high level of skill)
Now pick one task that has scored low
on both the skill and enjoyment scale and ask yourself “Why am I holding onto
this task” at some level you have a resistance to handing it over.
Make a list of your reasons for not
delegating the task.
Now make a list of the reasons that
you should delegate the task. What would be different in your world if someone
else could effectively do the task? If
this view of the future excites you it will be worth your while moving forward
with the delegation process and follow these four steps:
1.
You watch me doing
First you need to identify someone
with the correct knowledge, skillset, attitudes and ability to learn and is
willing to take on the task. Failure to identify the right person will
inevitably lead to the cry of “I might as well do it myself”. Once you have identified the right person
have them watch you carry out the task. This will take no extra time because
you are doing the task anyway. A really useful exercise is to get this person
to document the steps as you go through them this will then form the basis for
the future systemisation of your business.
2.
Now you help me do it
Now repeat the task whilst the other
person helps you whilst at the same time reviewing, updating and adding to
their original notes. This step may take a little longer but is so worthwhile
and it is always good to remind yourself of the benefits of delegating the task
that you identified above.
3.
I help you whilst you carry out the task
It’s time to take a step back and
observe your delegatee carrying out the task whilst following their own notes.
At times, you may have to step in and assist them. Look for the bottlenecks in
their process and learning, ask questions to help them deepen the learning
whilst also identifying any future training needs.
4.
You complete the task whilst I observe
Now have the person carry out the
task using their notes whilst you observe. You may have to overcome the urge to
step in and help them just to speed things up. The key to this step is to get
them to think for themselves, so if they ask you a question use the ‘hedgehog’
technique and fire a question back at them with the aim of getting them think. For instance, “Looking at your
notes – what do you think you should do?”
When I suggest delegating tasks to
the people I work with the main kick back I get is ‘the process takes too much
time’. The challenge with this approach is, you will have to use your time to
do the task anyway, and these tasks are holding you back from focusing on your
true value to business. So ask yourself “What is the true cost to the business if
I hold onto this task and how long am I prepared to put up with that?”
Learning the art of delegation has to
be one of the biggest opportunities open to you to find the time you need to
actively work ON your business.
I would be interested in your
comments and to learn if you have a different/better system for delegation that
is working for you?
