Synergy Blog

There is an old saying that it is better to work SMARTER than HARDER. Here are some points to ponder that might be what you and your business need to strive in this recession.

As a Manager are you trying to do it all yourself? Are you slow to delegate and let other people take on more reasonsibility? When speaking to Business owners I find quite often that they are just not sure what the best way to delegate to. Here is a simple 7 step process to delegating that I hope you will find useful.

Step 1:  Get very clear in your own mind whatthe reasons are for delegating - ask yourself why am I delegating to this person and why this job.

Step 2: Provide clear instruction as to what needs to be done, making sure to check with the person that they have understood. One great way to do this is to ask the person to summarise in their own words what they believe is being asked of them. Any minunderstanding can be sorted out at this stage.

Step 3: Identify the resources that the person will need to complete the task and make sure they have access to these resources. One of the top reasons employees do not feel engaged with their work is because they do not have the resources to adequately carry out their role.

Step 4: Agree deadline and interim milestones and when  / how work will be checked. It is best to avoid having random and overly frequent progress checks as the delegatee may feel micro managed and could end up not making any decisions for fear of making a mistake. Point out that mistakes are there to be learned from, not to be punished for.

Step 5: Give regular and constructive feedback. All feedback does not have to be good, in fact this would be counter productive as people need to know where they are going wrong.  At the same time, make sure to catch people doing things well and praise accordingly. Remember the timeless advice - praise in public, criticise in private.

Step 6. Retain control: This does not mean micro managing the person, nor does it mean giving the person such a small task to do that it is hardly worth doing at all. Agree when and how often progress will be reviewed and in what format. Once agreed, stick to the plan and don’t all ow yourself to “check-in” on an adhoc basis. The person needs the space to learn and to figure out “THEIR” way of getting the job done. Very often, Managers find that employees find much better ways to do things than they can.

Step 7: Provide the person with support, which is agreed up front. Your role is not to provide instruction but more to act as facilitator to assist the person in figuring out the best way for them to get the job done. It is not about doing it exactly the way the boss has always done it.

For more indeas on delegating, more detailed articles are available in the article section of our website.