Developmental, productive – the cornerstone of leadership
Without delegation, leaders cannot lead and managers cannot manage. Delegation develops skills, challenges and retains great people, and in-creases productivity. Yet many people have difficulty delegating. These six steps will help you to delegate effectively.
Delegation requires empowerment and trust. You need to empower people give them the skills and confidence to act and take risks. You need to trust them and accept that mistakes will happen – mistakes that can be rectified and learned from and that are more than made up for by the progress that is achieved. Delegation is essential precisely because it goes directly to the bottom line – it has a huge impact on productivity, innovation and employee engagement and retention.
Delegation can be learned but, to be successful, it rests entirely on having the right mindset. It is about bringing people with you. While experience helps, what is more important is attitude, good communication skills and confidence in yourself. These six stages provide a framework to help you delegate successfully:
1. Prepare to delegate
Know what you want to achieve. Be clear about goals and priorities and decide how these can be achieved. Plan what needs to happen, and when, and bring people along with you. Winning hearts and minds and making sure people know the reasons for your plan and what is expected of them are essential.
2. Match the person to the task
Know your people. Understand what they can do, their potential, what would challenge and stimulate them. It also helps to understand their future career plans. Make the most of each person’s abilities. Look for potential and take risks. With encouragement, training and trust, you will get more from each person.
3. Discuss and agree objectives
Engage people with the task that needs to be completed. Everyone needs to understand your thinking, agree with the plan and be clear about what needs to be done and when. Consider constructive criticisms because it can improve your plan and gain the buy-in of others.
4. Put resources and power in place
Provide the necessary resources and authority. In this way, your people can make decisions and act. Support your people whenever this is needed – they need to know you are behind them.
5. Monitor progress
Ensure that people are accountable for delivering what is expected of them. Having overall goals and interim targets will help people to stay focused, to meet deadlines and to ensure that standards and results additional art met. The goal is to keep people motivated and on track and to provide support where needed.
6. Review progress
Learn from experience and feedback. Compare and discuss results and objectives with those involved. Look at what worked well and what could have been done better. Use this to improve future plans.