In our last post, we discussed how difficult it is for first-time managers to move the mindset from doing into leading. It often comes with the struggle of not delegating enough and ending up becoming overloaded and overwhelmed with so much to do and deliver. To counter that, we shared how to efficiently decide when to delegate.
Now that you know when delegating makes sense, it’s a good idea to find out how to delegate. And while you are at it, it’s not a bad idea to uncover ways on how delegating efficiently could take place.
I decided to put a framework together, with 13 steps, based on what helped most of my clients and other global leaders achieve great success while delegating.
13 steps delegation framework
Step 1: Start with “to whom”
Consider the following factors when deciding who gets the task.
- Who are the potential employees who would either appreciate the task for the learning experience, or for the perceived personal satisfaction it generates?
- Match the task you decided to delegate to the right employee. Here are some questions to help you figure this out:
- Experience, knowledge, and skills of that individual match the task?
- Individual’s work style: does that person like to do that sort of task?
- Employee’s workload: is that person capable of taking more on? Are they overloaded?
Step 2: Share WHY you are delegating
- “why me” generally comes to people’s minds. Be prepared to clearly tell them why you are choosing them for the task.
- Clearly articulate the desired outcome. Not only for the stakeholder that is asking for it, but for your team. Why are you accepting that task, as a manager, in the first place? How is it aligned with your team’s goals?
- Build motivation and commitment. If you clearly share how that task will impact the employee, the team, yourself, and your department, they are more likely to understand the importance. When people understand the reason behind it, the importance of things, and how it impacts them, it is easier to engage in motivation and commitment.
Step 3: Engage at the right level
- If you know a particular task will have to be done 2 (or more) levels below you, don’t engage your immediate report so that then they can engage the right levels. Call a meeting with all groups involved, make it optional for the above levels to attend (they often will attend, though). Delegate to the right level. Playing Chinese whispers with your report lines will create misunderstandings and gaps in expectations. Just go direct and make sure their managers understand why you are going direct.
- Whenever possible, let your team decide who gets what. Empower your team to determine which tasks should be delegated, to whom, and when.
Step 4: Provide proper instructions
- Take the time to teach people what and how to do it, if you know yourself how.
- Provide resources and/or training. People learn things differently. Your explanation once might not suffice. Even if your employee is an excellent note-taker. And so, make sure they are supported by providing them some resources and extra training if they need and want.
- Provide SOP’s (standard operating procedures). If you don’t have one, take the opportunity to have one created for that task.
- Rely on an information repository or leverage other people’s SOP’s (standard operating procedures). If your team does not yet have storage of SOP’s, take the opportunity to build one or start building one.
- Check for understanding. Just because you taught, it does not mean the other person understood. Checking your employee’s knowledge of what you explained is crucial. For their success and for managing your own expectations, double-checking is essential. Most first-time global leaders are afraid to do so because they don’t want to offend the other person. However, you will see most people will gladly (and proudly) show how much they captured from your explanation.
- If you notice a gap in understanding, make sure to clear it, no matter how long it takes. Empowering someone with a task, knowing this employee did not fully understand what needs to be done, is irresponsible. Make sure they got it.
Step 5: Define constraints and boundaries
- Does your employee have the information they need to perform the work?
- How should they communicate with stakeholders? Through you, with you, or for you?
- Can they do things the way they want, or should they follow a strict SOP (standard operating procedure)?
- How often should they report progress to you, and how to report it (email, verbal, dashboard, etc.)?
Step 6: Establish a prioritization system
- It’s easy when you have only one thing to delegate. But who has only one thing to delegate? Having a prioritization system will help your employees understand better what is expected of them, when, and how.
- Make sure everyone in your team – not only the person to whom you delegated the task – knows what the priority of that task is. Team alignment is essential, not only for communication but for group mindset. If everyone in the team knows person XYZ is time-pressured, they will be more conscious about other things they are asking him/her.
Step 7: Agree on schedules whenever delegating
- Set formal check-ins
- Assign a specific deadline for your review
- Assign a specific deadline for their task submission to the stakeholder
- Define clear priorities
- Define course of action for emergencies, issues, and when sh***t happens. For example, I used to have a “code” with all my teams. When they started the subject line with the code, I knew it was an emergency and that email should come above the rest. They can be simple words, like “emergency” or “high alert.”
- Adjust things and agreements as necessary
Step 8: Match responsibility with the right level of authority
If, as a manager, you are not prepared to give decision authority to that employee, you are not ready to delegate that task. If you’ve never been in these shoes, I will tell you that being responsible for a big project but having to go back to the boss to ask every single decision is awful. More than awful. It’s horrifying. It’s horrifying because it is inefficient, stressful, time-consuming, and draining. And erodes trust. Both ways. Remember that every delegation is a learning opportunity for both you and the employee. So, be open to this learning, or don’t delegate just yet.
Step 9: Track/measure when delegating
- You can assign a task to someone, give them the responsibility and some of the authority, but ultimately, you are accountable for the execution and result. Measuring does not equate to micro-managing. Measuring means you will check-in, based on agreed tollgates and schedules, to see if that employee is doing well or need extra support. You want to track their progress.
- Register their progress somewhere. Trust me; you’ll have many things to do, many responsibilities. Don’t rely on your memory to remember who said what. Register what was discussed during the check-in and what the agreed steps were. Also, make sure to note who was responsible for them. Don’t write “John to ask for information on topic A.” Instead, write “John to ask Mary for information on topic A.” Be specific.
Step 10: Take time to review before submission
- Many first-time managers delegate a task and just ask if it was done or not. Don’t be that person. Take some time to review the work prior to its submission
- Make some time to discuss lessons learned with that employee. A review is not only about that task. It is also about what you and that employee learned with the experience. This “post-Morten” also helps in building trust and bonding.
- Take time to review, even if it is a seasoned and expert employee. The amount of time you will spend reviewing the work from someone very experienced and from someone who is doing that task for the first time differs. Of course, it does. But no matter the level of experience, whenever possible, always take time to review and discuss lessons learned.
- “Trust but verify.” The first time a mentor said that to me, I replied, “that’s not trusting them at all.” Silly me. Later I learned that verifying has nothing to do with trust. It has to do with accountability. As the manager, you are accountable for the team’s work. It does not matter who’s doing it. You are accountable. If you don’t review and the quality is not up to stakeholders’ expectations, and you point fingers (or burn your employee), later on, shame on you as a leader. Take responsibility and review. I learned this the hard way. Don’t do the same.
Step 11: Provide adequate support when delegating
- As you noticed, you’ll have several checkpoints during the delegation process. Steps 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10. These checkpoints are all a form of support.
- Ask your employee how else they want to be supported.
- Provide timely feedback. By timely, I mean 24 hours within an event. Don’t wait 2 weeks to say that email XYZ was confusing. The closer the feedback is to an event, the more substantial effect it will have.
- Request feedback about how well they felt supported. If you have a good working relationship, you will also grow personally and create further trust in the process.
Step 12: Upward delegation track
- Avoid allowing people to revert responsibility back to you.
- Once delegated, make them feel empowered to finish what they started, even if you have to give them a little hand. First-time managers often feel compelled to allow their delegated employees to be off the hook when push comes to shove. But this, in reality, creates a considerable toll on your employee’s confidence.
Step 13: Acknowledge their work
- You might think, “it’s part of their job now,” but honestly, people expect your “Thank You.”
- Even if their performance feedback is not stellar, make sure to acknowledge their time and effort. It’s not that people are not achieving your expectations because they want to taunt you. They are usually doing their best. If not their best, usually they are not dragging their feet either. They are doing what they can. Acknowledge what they learned and how much progress they made if you don’t want to go all the way to praise them.
- If you also defined rewards agreements in step 5 or 7, make sure to honor what you agreed on.
Final remarks on delegating
Try using this step-by-step guide the next time you have to delegate a task or a project. Delegating efficiently is like any habit. The more you do it, the better and more natural you’ll become at it. The first few times will feel quite awkward. You might even second guess yourself. That’s normal. Don’t feel intimidated by the awkwardness.
Delegating as a first-time manager is always a challenge since you’ve been used to do things yourself. If you are a global manager, on top of that, you might feel intimidated by learning that different cultures have different styles when receiving and handling delegated tasks. That is also normal.
Just make sure to take notes on what you learned about your team’s styles and what is working for you and your team. Trust comes with time, which is also part of the delegation process and its outcome. Don’t be so hard on yourself, and be patient.
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