Dec

Develop Your Staff With Effective Management Delegation

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In a previous post I asked the question, “Is the best manager skill management delegation?”

Within the post I stated that Management delegation is a vital manager skill that, once mastered, frees the manager from stress and pressure and enables them to be more successful.

However there is a huge knock-on effect of effective delegation and that’s staff development. Through effective management delegation you can quickly and easily develop your staff to learn new skills and become much more of an effective team.

Here are some delegation ideas to help with effective delegation and staff development:

Think beyond straightforward tasks when delegating. What about meetings, presentations and training? These all provide excellent delegation development opportunities. I’ve often asked staff members to organize and ‘chair’ the meeting – it’s excellent experience for them.
Let the person who has taken on the task see it through to the end whenever possible. If it’s sensible to delegate certain elements or stages of the task to different people always include everyone involved in the information loop as the task progresses.
Instead of feeling angry or disappointed if a delegate task is not completed successfully, re-examine the delegation and monitoring of the task. Ask yourself honestly if anything could have been improved. Build your findings in to future delegation.
Delegate some really good / nice pieces of work. Some jobs are more pleasurable than others, let others enjoy them too.
It’s OK to delegate tedious tasks too. After all they have to be done. Just make sure that everyone has their fair share of routine and more challenging work.
Ask your team to identify some of your tasks or responsibilities that they feel are ripe for delegation, together with practical suggestions on how they see their ideas moving forward.
Don’t play favourites, delegate to your problem people as well as your star players. They may be more in need of the development.
Talk to your team openly and frequently about your attitude towards delegation as a development tool. This prepares the ground favourably for individual discussions.
Delegate to all levels of staff. Anything else is an inefficient use of company resources.
Whenever a task lands on your desk ask yourself, ‘Does it have to be me? Does it have to be now?’ The answers to these questions will often identify a delegation opportunity.
Go to work every day with the intention of giving a large proportion of your work away. This frees you up to manage instead of do.
If you identify a specific training need when delegating a task, think about others in the team or organisation to see if they would benefit from the same development. This will make the development more cost effective.
If training is needed to enable someone to take on a delegated task, consider ways in which the new skills could then be used in other areas of work to maximise the benefits to the individual and the organisation.
If you have delegated several separate elements of a large project, remember to include everyone involved in the end of project congratulations. It’s possible to overlook the people who were responsible for the early groundwork if a project has been a lengthy one.
Help a ‘problem person’ to turn around their poor performance by using structured delegation to tackle the difficult areas. Keep them informed of what you are doing and make it plain that it’s important to you on a personal level.
Every delegation opportunity is a motivational opportunity. Be aware of what makes each team member tick and explain the delegation in terms that will activate their ‘hot spot’.
Ask you team to give you feedback on how you delegate. Explain that you are always seeking ways to improve your own performance and so would appreciate honesty, then act on the information received.
Let your team know that it’s OK to feel nervous when taking on new challenges. This will ensure that they able to talk to you about their worries giving you the opportunity to deal with them.
Discuss existing priorities and workloads when delegating a new task. Ensure that agreement exists on where the new responsibility fits in.
Raise your own profile by asking your Manager to delegate tasks or responsibilities that will give you a chance to interact at a higher level. You can ask for this openly if you have a good relationship with your manager, otherwise present it as an offer to relieve their heavy workload.
Consider your next move on the career ladder and check out the role profile for the position. Identify your development areas and ask your manager to delegate tasks that will give you the specific experience that you need.
Ask for more information if a task has been ‘dumped’ on you rather than properly delegated. It’s far better to risk annoying your manager at this stage than to fail to deliver because you don’t know what you are meant to be doing. Always be diplomatic!
People sometimes fail to delegate because they feel more comfortable doing than managing. Understand and accept that you need to have the overall view to get your team where it needs to be. That’s your job now and if you don’t do it, who will?
Organise your own diary, tasks and priorities fully. This is essential to enable you to delegate effectively. If you are always reacting to a crisis rather than forward planning you will be unable to find the time to manage.