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Are you constantly trying to get people to do their work
independently in order to permit you to do what you need to do?
Do you want to let go of the drive to do everything? Are you
tired of believing that it’s easier to do it yourself rather
than to delegate the job to someone else? Do you look at the
people you manage in terms of the problems that you expect them
to cause or do you view them in terms of their potential? If
any of these questions tickled your interest, then you may need
to sharpen your skills as a manager who knows how to delegate.
Delegation is not a simple ‘dumping on’ people strategy. If you
manage people in your company, then it is your responsibility to
coach personnel to become self-managers and problem-solvers.
The tool that you can use to help your people move to their next
levels is delegation. The strategy of delegation involves the
kind of leadership and control to tell people what they need as
to the components of when-how-where-why-to what level of
excellence they need to do a particular project or task or job.
Delegation offers the kind of leadership that gives people the
authority to do what they are expected to do.
Before you begin the process of delegating to any of
your personnel or members of your team, answer these questions.
Be honest with yourself in order to be ready to delegate.
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Do I feel intimidated by another individual’s outstanding
skill?
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Do I appreciate the value of delegation to my excellent
performance as a manager?
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Do I honestly want my personnel to excel and succeed?
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Does each of my personnel knows what is expected of him/her?
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Does each of my personnel knows what an excellent performance
of a task/project/job means?
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Have I helped my personnel to learn to do their jobs at
excellent levels?
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Am I comfortable in leaving the office, knowing that I can
depend on my personnel to take care of things?
When you are ready to develop delegating strategies that really
work and gain excellent results, then incorporate these three
important components of effective delegation. You will need to
design your approaches to building your skills as an effective
delegating manager.
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The Pre-Delegation Meeting: It is during this interaction
that you, the people manager must communicate goals,
guidelines, job descriptions and expected standards of
excellent performance. You, the manager, should also
communicate clearly what aspects of the job/task will and will
not be delegated; what parts of the project are to be
delegated; when the team members may call on you for your
input, help, and involvement.
-
The
Process of Project Completion: This is the actual handling
stage of project management. It is your responsibility to
schedule (set up) frequent contact sessions with the people to
whom you delegated. At first these contact sessions may occur
with shorter time intervals between them and then longer time
intervals for reporting to you and giving status reports may
be scheduled.
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The Post-Delegation Meeting: As a team leader, you are
expected to bring together those who worked on the project to
evaluate the process, efforts, results, your assistance and
involvement, as well as feedback as to what elements of the
delegated process should remain and what elements should be
changed.
John Naisbitt, in the MEGATRENDER NEWSLETTER, wrote the
following: it is the challenge in any industry for managers
“…who traditionally had all of the answers and told everyone
what to do…” to shift to the kinds of managers “…who act as
facilitators, as developers of human potential…” Therefore, it
is your responsibility to reach your performance level of
excellence by retraining yourself in the role of the delegating
manager who maximizes the best in performance by the people you
manage. This is an opportunity you cannot afford to turn down.
For more information on customer
servicing go to
www.motivator-on-call.com
© PEOPLE COMMUNICATION SKILLS
2001
Editors
Note: Esther Bogin,
M.S., C.C.C., is founder and president of People Communication
Skills, LLC, owner, Motivator-On-Call.com as well as a professor of Communications at Nassau
Community College. Her
vast expertise in interpersonal communication strategies help
business and professional people to move to their next level of
their inner achievement.
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