6 Secrets of Delegating No One Tells You!
By Leanne Crain
In the last two ezines, we discussed listening effectively, and showing gratitude, as ways of empowering your team. The next very crucial step is delegating effectively.
Empowering your team is essentially entrusting them to do something, while delegating is giving them the "something" to do. Take a moment and look at how many people report to you. Is it too many? Do you feel the need to do things yourself to make sure it gets done? Do you feel the team should be doing their tasks the way you would do them? These are all very common challenges. Since you are all dedicated readers, today we are going to share some of our "secrets" that we usually save for our courses.
1. Get to know your team. Learn their strengths, weaknesses, what their passion is, where they want to go in your company, and what their potential is. Spend some time talking with them to see if they would like more responsibility.
2. Involve your team members in the "considering" stage. Ask them what interests them, and if they would like to take on the task you need done.
3. Delegate important and enjoyable tasks as well, instead of just boring, repetitive ones.
4. Don't micromanage, or tell your team members "how" to do it. Work hard to make them feel like their success will equal success for the company. Make a very clear goal of what needs to be done, and then set up a milestone timeline. These milestones should be set out to tell you if the task is meeting it's time goals, as well as if the person is on the right track. Then, you manage the milestone timeline, not the actual process of doing the task. This allows for many creative ideas to flow on how to accomplish that - you might be surprised at the great insight someone with a fresh viewpoint can provide. Don't fall into the trap of telling your team you want them to take on responsibility, and that you trust them to do it, but then checking in on them daily to make sure they are doing it your way. This simply shows that what you say is not what you believe. Or as Robin Sharma would say, "your video is not in sync with your audio".
5. Don't always delegate to the person who is strongest in a certain area. Know your team member's potential, and then give them challenges that will help them grow. This will not only benefit them as a person, it will benefit your team! Ensure that along the way you are providing them with the tools they need to learn new things, and encourage them to tell you what could help them get there.
6. Give credit where credit is due, but absorb blame. If someone compliments your work, make sure you say "Sue is doing that now" and let Sue have the credit for what she has done. Alternatively, if you are handling a complaint, simply thank the person for bringing it to your attention, and tell them you will try to improve.
Don't forget when the tasks are completed or milestones are met - say "Thank You!"
To learn the rest of our secrets of delegation, please contact Gary Gzik at 613.342.2200 ext. 108 or at ggzik@bizxcel.com.
Preparing for Greatness provides tips in order to improve your health and wellness at work and at home.
Leanne Crain is a Marketing and Administrative Assistant for BizXcel. Her background is marketing and tourism, and she has over 12 years experience in the sales and marketing field.
