Are You Delegating Effectively?

Through many years of experience in bringing collaboration and leadership together I have discovered that effective delegation is part of a mindset that acknowledges the essential quality of team vision and communication, as well as empowerment. This is part of an effective Scaling Up process that brings greater success.

Often there is discomfort in delegation due to lack of trust which evolves from habitual lack of communication and engagement in the process of obtaining results. In this culture, delegation is more of a piecemeal process meaning ‘as needed’ with mixed results rather than a honed tool used strategically throughout the organization to achieve greater results.

You can accomplish greater engagement with your team(s) today with a quick reconfigure of your team meetings and your individual interviews with your direct reports. Your meetings should be an interactive experience instead of just telling them what is needed. If there is a Strategic Plan for the organization or for the department that your staff has not been involved in creating, then a time for presentation and interactive discussion is an important step to take.

I suggest calling a special team meeting to re-review the priorities for the year followed by a series of priority steps. One of the issues in delegation is that people often do not feel safe asking questions or giving suggestions about implementation. Therefore, it is up to the leader to set the collaborative tone so that engagement in the goals is an ongoing process.

Having coached and consulted with many leaders at the top of organizations, I have had the opportunity to engage with many leaders in the difficulty around delegation because they imagine that results would be better if they had done it themselves.

If you are a leader who lacks trust in your team(s), it is vital that you dedicate time for more extensive and effective communication with them.

Try including the following steps in your next strategic planning meeting to promote trust, team buy-in and empowerment:

  • First, include everyone in the presentation of the strategic plan and invite clarifying questions.
  • Ask members to think about how they plan to move forward with their piece of the plan.
  • Follow up with individual one-on-ones and then conduct a team meeting. The more you can have team members supporting each other in obtaining results the more you are not the only one giving affirmation and clarification.

As your business expands, it will become more and more necessary to empower others to move forward through effective delegation. Time spent in the empowerment phase, beginning with communication, provides the ground work for more effective delegation and guarantees better results.

Click here for the Four Team Focus Meetings I suggest as the beginning steps for greater team collaboration and results. In addition, here is a description of the Collaborative Leadership/Team Alignment Essential Tripod. The points of that tripod are Communication, Accountability and Solution Focus.

If you have any questions on team delegation and empowerment or would like to share a particular challenge or success, please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you!

~Patricia