Delegation – Striking a Balance – Who, When and How – Leadership Insights from Liddell Consulting

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” -George Bernard Shaw

Leaders assign work and responsibilities to their people all the time. It enables teams to accomplish more, more efficiently and frees up leaders to focus on the higher level. No doubt, delegation is an essential tool, but it can also be one of the most complicated. Many leaders assume they delegate effectively but ask your employees how you are doing. Do you give enough direction or too much? Do you provide the right amount of lead time and resources? Not only do leaders need to know who to delegate to and when, but especially when transitioning a responsibility, how is another key factor.

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The Benefits

There are the obvious benefits to delegating effectively, like reducing your workload and allowing you to focus on higher-level concerns. There are also significant other benefits to why leaders should perfect the skill. We are always talking about the importance of building leaders within all levels of your organization – different degrees of delegation can help employees build critical skills as they grow and advance. It can also help identify which employees will become future leaders.

Too Much

You can imagine why providing too much guidance or not enough resources can create roadblocks for your employee’s success. You recognize the term “micromanagment” – and may even have stories about an old boss or colleague who needed to control every step you took. Do you fall into this category? The fallout is that the employee never learns the skill. Having a safe area to mess up is key to building competencies.

Not Enough

The flip side of that coin is insufficient management – or not providing enough information or resources to allow for success. Just as a micromanager tries to control a situation to ensure success, an “under manager” controls the situation by dooming their employee to failure. Assigning work appropriately can help avoid unintentionally stepping into this arena. Fear of failure can keep even the best employee from top performance.

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL DELEGATION

• Clearly communicate what needs to be done
• Provide context and relevance to the assignment
• Confirm understanding
• Clearly communicate performance standards
• Provide enough authority to complete the task
• Communicate level of support available
• Establish obligation and commitment
• Take notice and recognize performance

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