Have you ever been stressed out by the complete inability of subordinates to complete the tasks you've delegated? I know I have. Turns out, I've been doing things all wrong.
Problem is that I'd been considering the act of delegation to be a tool employed by managers, not by leaders. But what if I were to look at this act through the eyes of a leader? It changes everything.
In my mind, a manager is one who maintains the status quo. He manages, he executes. The leader, however, builds for the future, and establishes an infrastructure that manages itself.
Start with a mental exercise. Think about a SPECIFIC instance where you did not get the results you were looking for. Now dissect it to find out why that task didn't get executed properly:
1. Lack of CLARITY from the leader when the task is assigned.
2. Lack of COMPETENCE in the person executing the task.
3. Lack of OWNERSHIP of a specific person. Think: assigning a task to a group of people.4. Lack of CAPACITY of the person. Think: does the person have the time available to execute the tasking?
5. Lack of MOTIVATION of the person.
6. Lack of LOYALTY of the person.
To increase clarity, be more specific on what you want your end state to be. Avoid specifying HOW you want the task to be done. In the words of GEN Patton, "Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what needs doing and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."
To increase competence, don't assign tasks to people who aren't capable. To take that a step further, ensure that no one single person has a monopoly of critical abilities. Ensure you have a continuing training program to build and reinforce these abilities.
To increase ownership, always designate a point person. There should be no ambiguity over who is responsible and in charge of the task execution, which short circuits many of the problems associated with group dynamics. Two things will happen.
1. Equal opportunity. This allows you as a leader to ensure that all of your subordinates will have the opportunity sooner or later to take point. While many times tasks are successfully executed by groups, it is often the case that one individual in the group "steps up" each time to take lead. Be careful in situations like these, as there may be silent leaders in the group that might be more capable, but won't step up to the leadership opportunity unless assigned the role.
2. Increased accountability. Ensure you correct failures and recognize successes of the individual in charge.
To increase capacity, there are a few options:
1. Spread the love. By building a larger knowledge base, you can delegate to multiple people, as opposed to overloading the same one.
2. Allow the person to set their own deadline. This will allow them to subtly convey to you how much time they have available to execute the task given. If the deadline they give is too far off for your taste, keep reading.
3. Prioritize the person's tasks.
4. Unload work from the person's plate by eliminating unimportant tasks, giving them to someone else, or even better, developing a competence in sub-delegation.
5. Increase hours worked per day, or even better yet, come in on the weekend! If you reach this point, you need to recognize that you are in crisis mode. Finer points of delegation are the least of your worries at this point.
To increase motivation, you can manipulate, or you can inspire. Manipulation may work, but it is a short-term solution. It is a tool for managers. Leaders, however, inspire as a long-term solution. Consider how you get your subordinates to get to work. Are you a manager or a leader?
1. Manipulate via fear. Fear of documented failures, fear of reprimand, fear of disciplinary action.
2. Manipulate via aspiration messages. "You can do it, guys!" "The deadline is right around the corner, just finish this up and we can go!"
3. Manipulate via peer pressure. "We are the only group at this organization that is doing this poorly."
4. Manipulate via novelty. Ever see a person work harder on something just because it was new? After a while, the novelty always wears off.
5. Inspire with why. If the person doesn't understand how they or the task fits into the "big picture," then everything you ask will be categorized in their mind as "busy work." Unfortunately, it is very hard to get passionate about busy work. This particular piece is talked about in more detail in "Start with Why" (linked below), but the short story is that you need to have a clearly defined organizational mission that ties in with all of the tasks that you give on a regular basis.
To increase loyalty, be a leader. Easier said than done, but that will be the topic of future posts. Loyalty is absolutely critical to delegation. Some people join your organization already loyal, others join for other reasons (e.g. a paycheck). In the absence of organizational loyalty, personal loyalty is absolutely critical. The person needs to know and respect you as an individual. Over time, as they encounter more people in your position, they will gain an organizational loyalty, and loyalty to your position. This will be very helpful to your relief. Always remember that your role in this transition is critical.
Now consider the following:
1. Do you actually follow up on every task you give? If not, you need to stop delegating tasks that you yourself don't even care about.
2. Do you delegate too much? Have you reduced yourself to just a "traffic cop," forwarding every email you get to a subordinate? If you're not adding value to the tasking, then you're not adding value as a leader.
3. How many people can you train up to meet your standards of competence for delegation? For me, that number is about six. Six and below, I can train, task and follow up.
4. Are your expectations too demanding? If you're expecting perfection, you're expecting too much.
5. Are you too busy to delegate properly? People never have time to do it right the first time, but they always have time to do it again. If you really don't have time, you're probably in crisis mode in your time management. Fix that first.
6. Is there a deadline for every task? Preferably, it's a deadline set by the person executing.
7. Is there a way to consolidate regular tasks into one? I found it's effective to establish a "battle rhythm" with regular reviews of common taskings (I like binders). This allows the subordinates the opportunity to take ownership of the tasking, and execute automatically without your involvement.
The bottom line is, if you establish WHY the task is meaningful and establish COMPETENCE in your subordinate before you task, you're setting your subordinate up for success. Make sure you relinquish CONTROL of the details, and avoid specifying HOW the task needs to be done. Assign the task with CLARITY, specifying only WHAT you want the end state to be.
Please note that this posting borrowed heavily from the following books:
Start with Why, Sinek
Out of the Crisis, Deming
Turn this Ship Around, Marquet
Rules & Tools for Leaders, Smith and Foley
