5.
What are some of the symptoms of poor
delegation?
Look around. Managers complaining they’re too busy.
[Employees] feeling managers don’t trust them. Lack of delegation is one of the biggest reasons managers who want to be
executives either don’t get promoted or fail once they are promoted. Executive roles triple their workload, and if they
haven’t learned to delegate and don’t have staff ready to be
delegated to…they fail.
“Short-term thinking
favors doing everything yourself...but it’s
corrosive in the long
term.”
6.
What is the best method to deal with
employees who do a poor job after work has
been delegated?
Give them feedback. Feedback is just another part of management—it’s not limited to delegation. It applies to everything
directs do, good or bad. When someone does something
good, for instance, you’d say: “Can I give you some feedback?” If they say “no,” let it go. They’ll usually say “yes.”
Then say, “When you do X, here’s what happens.” Then,
“Thanks.”
The same applies to mistakes. If staff mess something up
with a delegation, offer them feedback, privately.
The only difference is that in the last step you ask them to
change. You don’t tell them to change. You don’t tell them
what to do—they can figure it out. You’re asking for a commitment to change. Don’t worry about them not doing so.
Picture them doing it right, do it politely, without anger.
Almost everyone will change after one instance, some will
take two. More than that is rare...but there are podcasts for
that at manager-tools.com.
How to Delegate
the Manager Tools Way
STATE YOUR DESIRE FOR HELP: “Laurie, I’d like
your help on something.”
TELL THEM WHY THEM: “You’re best with customers; you need development here; you like doing
analysis…” Don’t just pick someone at random—
think.
ASK FOR ACCEPTANCE WITHOUT DETAILS:
“Would you please take over customer survey
reviews?”
[We always ask for agreement FIRST. Around 80
percent of [staff] say “yes”—and that makes them
much better listeners when you give them details.
They will listen while trying to figure out how to do
it, rather than how to defend against it. If they pause,
find out why—and then address their concerns when
you walk through the details.]
DESCRIBE WHAT’S INVOLVED IN DETAIL:
Walk them through what’s required. “Here’s what’s
involved…”
7.
Sometimes, delegating may be misconstrued by
employees as “dumping” more work on them.
How can you avoid this pitfall?
Develop a relationship with them first. [Staff] who are treated
with respect—which they define as time and communication
with the boss—don’t respond this way, in our experience.
Bosses who aren’t trusted or thought of as respecting their
[staff] can’t just start delegating and suddenly get a bunch of
work off their desk. That isn’t misconstrued as dumping…it is
dumping, probably.
Our recommendation for developing a relationship with
them is to have weekly one-on-ones or 30-minute sit-downs.
This is the most important recommendation we make to
become an effective manager. ■
May 2012
■
PULSE 47