“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”
Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft
Delegation is essential for leaders in the work place and working parents alike, to allow them to focus on more impactful responsibilities, reduce cognitive burden and achieve a work-life balance. It also brings other, even more important benefits like empowerment of others, increased trust, development of skills and autonomy in your team or family.
Delegation can be simplified and misrepresented as “Just ask someone to do it for you”, but it is a real art which involves identifying a task or responsibility that can be delegated, choosing the right person for it, communicating the task and desired outcomes, applying the right level of guidance, recognising efforts and providing feedback.
As a coach, I have observed that many managers and leaders struggle with delegation due to bad past experiences, concerns about quality, misleading ‘lack of time’ to invest in the process and reluctance to “lose control”. In my blog, I would like to take you through different levels of delegation, to help you go through the journey of building trust and empowering others at work and home.
Levels of Delegation: Finding the Right Balance
To ensure the success of the process, the level of delegation needs to be adjusted to the complexity and importance of the task, the experience of the person receiving delegation and the desired outcomes. To support your communication and decision-making you may want to reflect on the levels of delegation presented below.
1. Directing (low delegation)
You provide all the details of the tasks with step-by-step instructions and closely supervise the execution of the task. It is ideal for junior members of staff, who are just learning and have limited experience. At home, you can engage young children in demonstrating and doing house chores with them, e.g. making their beds together or unloading the dishwasher.
2. Guiding (moderate delegation)
At this level, you can provide some autonomy, but you are still involved by offering guidance or feedback. For example, you can ask your direct report to prepare a report, guide them and review the document before it is sent to your client. You can still feel in control over the final outcome. As a parent, your child might be in the kitchen with you, helping to prepare a meal and you are there to watch and offer helpful advice or feedback (but you don’t need to tell them detailed instructions).
3. Supporting (high delegation with oversight)
The person receiving the task has more control but can seek advice when needed. You are increasing their autonomy. For example, a senior member of your team can be making decisions in a project, but can reach out to get your view on matters. Your role is more to remind them that you are here to support, if needed. At home, your child can decide to prepare a simple meal, without you in the kitchen with them, but they can still ask you questions about some ingredients or placement of the utensils.
4. Empowering (full delegation)
At this stage, you allow the person to take full responsibility and ownership for the task and outcomes. This is ideal for highly skilled employees, who have demonstrated their reliability and competence before. Your role is to share what the task is and allow the person to execute it in their way to deliver desired outcomes, you can be brought in for escalation or just be informed that things are done and going well. At home, your older child/ teenager can be responsible for organising and doing their homework and revisions, you can occasionally check-in.
Based on my coaching experience of working with a variety of managers and leaders, I would like to share the 5 most powerful shifts that can ensure your success in delegation.
- Don’t fall into the thinking traps of I will do it quicker and better myself. You are choosing the present over the future. Delegating is an investment. If you say yes to it, shortly this task can be removed from your to-do list completely and you have enabled the other person’s growth.
- Watch out for I don’t want to overload them If this is true (and you are not only led by your caring/ overprotective nature), consider when and how. When will be the right time for it? How can I delegate it to ensure success? You may need to break down the task or gradual delegation.
- This is a learning process – for you and them, therefore prepare for it and allow space for mistakes. When they miss something or complete a task in a style that will not bring desired outcomes, share feedback and discuss what needs to be different next time. Or when you are not sure if your instructions were clear enough, ask questions to check their understanding and access to all necessary resources.
- It is a trust-building/ control-losing journey for you and it is natural to initially worry about the task completion. To put your mind at peace, consider setting up checking points to monitor the progress.
- Use open-ended questions to check their understanding of your instructions. People tend to ask “Do you have any questions?” and everything may seem clear and there may be no questions. To give you more certainty, try using open-ended questions: “What will be your first steps?”, “What is the most challenging part of this task for you?” and “Where do you think you may need some support?” are some good examples.
If you feel that you need more help in delegation or managing your success as a leader, please book a free discovery call and let’s discuss how I can support you.