March 2003 Leadership Coaching Newsletter
THIS MONTH’S TOPIC: Delegation
Effective delegation is like starting a new exercise program. You know it’s the right thing to do and you’ll love the results, but it’s tough to make a commitment and get started. Just as a personal trainer can get you on the road to fitness, leadership expertise can help with this situation. Make a promise to try this exercise (your muscles won’t be sore!):
1. Assess your current workload by reviewing and/or writing a job description and creating a time budget for your typical week (i.e., x % spent on meetings, email, sales, billing, etc.)
2. Decide which tasks on your time budget consume too much time and don’t effectively support where you should be spending time. These are the tasks that should be delegated!
3. Decide what tasks need to be done and determine which employee would benefit most from the learning experience. Although most employees don't have extra time to do more work, many would welcome an assignment that stretches them.
4. Clearly describe the assignment and where it fits in the "big picture" to the employee who will take responsibility for it. Giving the employee an understanding of why the task is so important and how it contributes to the company's goals will increase their commitment and accountability.
5. Jointly define the time, money, staff, training and resources needed to accomplish the task. Doing this step together will clarify what is needed and show that you are working in partnership with your employee to help them succeed.
6.Work together to outline initial ideas about how to proceed.
7. Give the employee the appropriate level of authority to carry out the assignment.
8. Both parties should come to an agreement about how success will be measured and how often. If the job is completed successfully, what would the result look like? Determining what constitutes success and how you will measure it before you start any job allows everyone to understand the expectations.
9. Provide feedback and support during the process and at its completion. Staying on top of the work, while not actually doing it is critical. Feedback allows course corrections. It's disheartening to get to the end of a failed project and know that better communication with your employee could have influenced its success.
Leadership Coaching Newsletter is written and produced by Wendy Capland. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to: wcapland@visionquestconsulting.com. We'd love to hear from you.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit our website: Click Here. Feel free to forward this newsletter. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy, or distribute as long as copyright and full author contact information is included. Thank you.
Copyright Wendy Capland 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003. All rights reserved.