Delegation is one of the most essential, yet often difficult skills every leader must master.\u00a0 Delegation done well taps into the collective talent of the team, spreads the workload and builds a stronger team in the process.\u00a0 Delegation that is not done well can cause frustration, confusion, inefficiencies and discouragement.\u00a0 If you can learn to let go, you can grow and empower your team and develop a strong team of leaders under your care.<\/p>\n

A great tool for communicating delegation is to take into account the four questions that every follower asks.\u00a0 Answering these questions is at the heart of successful delegation:<\/p>\n

\n
1. What am I supposed to do?<\/li>\n
2. Will you let me do it?<\/li>\n
3. Will you help me when I need it?<\/li>\n
4. Will you let me know how I am doing?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/p>\n

   \n
   1. What am I supposed to do?<\/strong> Your people need to know what your expectations are.\u00a0 Never assume that they know.\u00a0 This requires clear instructions and expectations in terms of cost, time, concept, and decision making.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
      1. Will you let me do it?<\/strong> In other words, will you give me the authority with the responsibility, or will you be looking over my shoulder micromanaging me?\u00a0 Beyond that, will you trust me to make this my own?\u00a0 Your people want to be given responsibility; clearly tell them what needs to be done and then let them have it.\u00a0 People are much more motivated if they have ownership.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
         \n
         1. Will you help me when I need it?<\/strong> Become a resource to your people and not a control freak.\u00a0 Take the opportunity to mentor and coach them.\u00a0 If someone on your team comes to you with a problem with a project you have delegated, never say, \u201cI\u2019ll take care of it.\u201d\u00a0 You just undermined delegation and took back the authority and the responsibility.\u00a0 Most of the time your people just want to be assured.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want you to take it back; they just need some guidance and feedback.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
            1. Will you let me know how I\u2019m doing?<\/strong> Be sure you have established a platform for feedback and check-ins.\u00a0 In the book The Three Signs of a Miserable Job<\/em>, Patrick Lencioni points to the problem with the last two questions not getting answered.\u00a0 When you are stuck in a miserable job, you feel invisible (nobody sees me), you feel insignificant (I\u2019m not making a difference), and you feel like an island (I don\u2019t get any feedback).\u00a0 Giving good feedback makes people feel they have a great job and a great boss.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

               Although leaders know instinctively that they need to delegate, many struggle with delegating well<\/strong>.\u00a0 If that is you, perhaps one or more of these might be true for you:<\/p>\n

               \n
               • Fear of losing authority<\/li>\n
               • Fear of work being done poorly<\/li>\n
               • Fear of work being done better<\/li>\n
               • Unwillingness to take the necessary time to delegate<\/li>\n
               • Fear of depending on others<\/li>\n
               • Lack of leadership training and positive delegation experience<\/li>\n
               • Fear of losing value in the organization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                 Don\u2019t fall into the trap of believing you are indispensable.\u00a0 On the other side of the phrase, \u201cOnly I can do the job\u201d, you\u2019ll find a boss that is overworked and a team of unhappy employees.<\/p>\n

                 \u00a0<\/strong>The importance of knowing your people: <\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On a final note, some people need supervision more than others.\u00a0 Each individual is going to be different.\u00a0 Some will need more check-ins and more personal contact, while others will be more independent.\u00a0 To be the most successful at delegation you will need to adjust your style of supervision according to the individual.<\/p>\n

                 Getting started toward mastering the art of delegating well:<\/strong><\/p>\n

                 Step One<\/strong>:\u00a0 On a scale of 1-10, how good of a delegator are you really?\u00a0 Be honest with yourself.<\/p>\n

                 Step Two:<\/strong>\u00a0 Review the list of reasons why leaders don\u2019t delegate well.\u00a0 Which of those do you struggle with?<\/p>\n

                 Step Three:<\/strong>\u00a0 Review the four questions every follower asks with your team.\u00a0 Ask them for feedback on where you excel and what you could improve on.<\/p>\n

                 Step Four:<\/strong>\u00a0 Behave your way through it.\u00a0 Learning new behaviors is always challenging, especially when it is out of our comfort zone or feels awkward.\u00a0 As we have said in previous Tips, you have to behave your way to a \u201cnew\u201d you to manifest the outcomes you are striving for.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                 Delegation is one of the most essential, yet often difficult skills every leader must master.\u00a0 Delegation done well taps into the collective talent of the team, spreads the workload and builds a stronger team in the process.\u00a0 Delegation that is not done well can cause frustration, confusion, inefficiencies and discouragement.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturebychoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturebychoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturebychoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturebychoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturebychoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/culturebychoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":427,"href":"https:\/\/culturebychoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions\/427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturebychoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturebychoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturebychoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}