After taking a couple weeks off to get caught up on life, I’m back…
So back to delegating!
The critical issue of delegation is to determine your level of knowledge of a current situation as well as the other person’s. This will help you to deliver the correct amount of information to the person you are delegating to.
Let’s present a hypothetical again…Assume that you are planning this same Wu Tang Clan concert and you are attempting to delegate responsibilities for the food to Bob. Bob has dealt with food before, he has contacts with several vendors. You don’t need to tell Bob every detail of the ins and outs of the food for the event.
However, Bob has not been in on the meetings where this event has been discussed, so he doesn’t know that the venue has set up new restrictions for food. They only allow hot dogs in the building and do not allow any condiments.
In this situation, you need to tell Bob about the restrictions on food and then give him the latitude to work out the best situation that he can. You don’t need to tell him every detail about the building. You don’t need to tell him exactly where the ice machines are. You don’t need to tell him about every drink.
It’s important when delegating that you don’t overinform. Often this insults good and competent people. If you told Bob again about every detail of the venue, he may assume that you think he doesn’t know what’s going on. Bob then feels like you think he’s incompetent, and thus becomes a less effective worker and more relient on you to do his job.
On the flip side, you cannot underinform and expect people to just figure it out. Your most self-reliant and adaptive workers will ultimately be messed up having to correct mistakes that could have easily been corrected beforehand. For instance, if you don’t tell Bob about this new restriction, it’s likely that he will be very upset and resent you when he orders popcorn, peanuts and funnel cake and you knew that the venue only allowed hot dogs. Bob will hate working for you and will see you as incompetent.
It’s also important that you not dump all the tasks on one person. I know that every department has certain people that are more reliable than others. They know everything about the office and the things going on in the office. These people are invaluable.
As a leader, you should strive to keep these people happy and involved but also you should work to develop those workers that are producing less. The new employee needs to be given tasks that are challenging and worthwhile. The intern needs to be pushed and tested. And the slacker needs to be given something that will test their abilities and skills.
To choose tasks to delegate properly, you again must have an understanding of your worker’s current capabilities. You should also be familiar with their skill sets that they need to build and the areas in which they are weak.
I do not recommend asking your staff to choose particular tasks. Often this ends up leaving the most challenging and difficult tasks to the same person every time. Also, it sets you up as a weak leader and people don’t like working for weak leaders.
I have found that it is better to kindly request that an individual complete a task. ”Bob, would you work on the food for this event?” If he says yes, then let him know what he needs to know and let him go.
Again, if you want to become an effective manager and be able to breathe and enjoy your job, not to mention become a better department, you should delegate to those you supervise. You will get more out of work from everyone.
