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Delegate and Deliver!
If someone else can do the job 70% as well as you can, delegate. When I offer this rule of thumb to leaders, the reaction can be brutal. "Our customers won’t accept 70%!" or "Are you crazy? We’d go out of business in a week."
Once people start putting this rule of thumb to work, it doesn’t take long for them to become converts.
A reluctance to delegate insinuates an expectation of incompetence that can leave staff members feeling discouraged. As managers become better at delegating, they hover less and a more trusting environment takes over.
When managers let go of the "if you want the job done right, do it yourself" mentality, they begin to notice lots of changes.
Most staff members appreciate development opportunities and they perform at higher levels than expected. Good managers aren’t surprised that others can do parts of the job better than the master.
Empowered employees bring new perspectives to the task and they usually improve some part of the process. Sometimes they’re more creative, more detailed, or they offer a fresh excitement that invigorates others.
Eight key points to remember when you delegate:
- Stress results, not details
- Don’t take over and give solutions to employee’s problems
- Turn questions around; ask employees what they think
- Establish specific, measurable objectives
- Develop a reporting system and give feedback
- Develop an inspiring but attainable schedule
- Keep a log of who, what and when you delegate
- Recognize the talents and the value of each of your
employees
Too many managers make the mistake of giving away the "easy" parts of their job and keeping the parts they despise or aren’t good at.
With a little foresight, delegators can create the perfect job for themselves and for others. That’s no small feat. Today, six out of ten people don’t like their jobs. The biggest mistake people can make is to believe that working means doing what they don’t like.
I’ve noticed that the most successful business people lead with a servant’s heart. Great leaders not only love their work, they love the people they work with.
One of the best ways to step into leadership is to discover new ways to put your heart and soul into your work. I’m convinced it’s the best way to create an environment where everyone embraces work wholeheartedly.
Elbert Hubbard said, "It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover abilities in others is the true test." Mastery is nothing compared to helping others become great. Taking people from 70% competence to beyond 100% has a power all its own.
Martha Lasley is the author of this column and a business coach at Leadership that Works, a firm that offers training and coaching for individuals and companies.
E-mail or call her at 570-297-2270. She specializes in enhancing performance to reach business and career goals.
© 1999 Leadership that Works