Posts Tagged ‘delegation’

Every good manager and leader knows the results that they achieve are to a large extent influenced by their ability to bring out the best in others.

Despite this, many managers and leaders fail to delegate effectively. Why is this?

Excuse 1: It takes too long

• Let’s be honest, it does require an investment of time. The key thing to remember is that it is a one-off investment of time that pays back over and over again.

Excuse 2: They might mess up

• True, they might not do it perfectly. On the other hand, they are never going to get any better at it if you keep doing it. We can all watch someone else doing something but the real learning comes from having a go.

Excuse 3: They might do it better than me

• Yes, they might and, if this is the case, then it is proof that you should not be doing it in the first place. Take a spreadsheet as an example: the younger generation have been brought up with them. The chances are they can do that spreadsheet report better than you if you are of a certain age. Don’t try to stop them; use the asset at your disposal.

The truth is, delegating can be tough. At the same time, if you want to thrive and prosper as a leader or manager, you want to get highly effective in this area.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

As a manager or leader, trying to do it all alone is a recipe for disaster. So what are some signs to be alert to if you think you might be becoming the lone ranger?

1. A never ending To Do List.
2. Carrying more than your fair share of the workload.
3. Not delegating or empowering others.
4. Not communicating effectively or at all with your team.
5. Trying to do it all by yourself.
6. Not trusting anyone else.

What else would you add to the list?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

If you are a manager, you need to be ready and able to delegate. Why is this so important?

1. You have limited time available.
2. There is only one of you.
3. You will burn out if you try to do everything.
4. It helps develop and grow others.
5. You achieve more, faster.
6. You focus on what you do best.
7. You get others to focus on what they do best.
8. It builds trust.
9. You motivate others.
10. You build a great support team.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Today is D Day.

D for me in terms of leadership success is about:

• Direction setting
• Determining the priorities
• Deciding, when you have many options
• Delegating effectively
• Delivering results

What else would you add?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Most managers, leaders and staff have one thing in common. They all have a limited amount of time available to them. So what are 3 good reasons for managers to delegate?

Reason 1: You focus on what you should be doing

The alternative is spending lots of time on activities that you should not be doing and may be no-one should be doing.

Reason 2: You are free to take on new challenges

New challenges provide you with the opportunity to grow and develop new skills and gain new experience.

Reason 3: You give your staff the chance to develop

The staff that you manage generally want to grow and develop. By delegating tasks to them, you give them the opportunity to grow and develop.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

1. It takes too long to train someone else
2. I can do it quicker myself
3. I can’t trust someone else with such an important piece of work
4. Only I can do it
5. I don’t need to

What else would you add to the list?

1. It  takes too long
2. I can do it quicker myself
3. I tried in the past and it failed
4. I will lose control
5. I don’t trust my staff to deliver

What else would you add to the list of excuses?

In week 4 of The Apprentice, the teams were tasked with developing, producing and selling two natural beauty products.

The teams were mixed up again, with Noorul leading what turned out to be the winning team and Paula leading the losing team.  The big learning point from this week was that it is often the most basic of mistakes that can be the most costly.

So let’s compare both of the teams.  As a team leader, Noorul was clearly not leading and any time where a decision needed to be made he looked like a rabbit in the headlights.  There was absolutely nothing in the way of creativity and the product, particularly the soap was awful.  When it came to selling he just could not do it, despite the fact that in one of the clips he would rate himself 10 out 10 when it came to selling.  Yet despite all of this he and his team delivered a profit of just under £500.

Paula by contrast was a great team leader.  She took decisions, made things happen, a good example being the sale of the remaining stock as a single batch.  She was creative and pretty dynamic on the whole.  So what was the big mistake that was made?  Choosing a hugely expensive fragrance and not considering the financial consequences.

So what in summary are the leadership lessons can we learn form this week’s show?

1. A great product, with good marketing and selling is not enough
2. Crunching the numbers might be dull but essential to running any successful organisation
3. Delegation need to be clear and unambiguous
4. It is important to be self aware
5. When in a situation of conflict, choose your tactics wisely
6. Not being an expert in something is not a defence.  If you are the leader, the buck stops with you.

You can watch The Apprentice in the UK every Wednesday evening at 9pm or on the BBCiplayer

For many managers delegating effectively is one of the toughest challenges they face. 

Reasons Why Managers Don’t Delegate

• Don’t understand the need to delegate
 
• Lack confidence in team to do what they require
 
• Don’t know how to delegate
 
• Tried and failed in the past so have a built in resistance
 
• Like doing a particular job so don’t want to let go of it
 
• Don’t understand their role as a manager
 
• Frightened of making themselves seem easily replaced
 
• Think they have no time to delegate
 
• Have nobody to delegate to

How to Delegate Effectively

• Plan it in advance
 
• Think exactly what you want done

• Consider guidance needed
 
• Brief appropriately and check understanding
 
• Establish review dates and check understanding

• Create a buffer period so that there is time for revisions as required

• Delegate whole jobs, where possible
 
• Inform others who are involved

• Stand back, don’t hover
 
• Recognise work may not be done exactly the way you would do it

• Delegate responsibility as well as task

In truth delegating effectively can transform the results that you deliver.  So what action could you take to start delegating effectively?

If you are a manager you are probably trying to keep a whole host of tasks and projects moving forward at the same time.  You probably know that you could achieve more if you were to delegate more.  In my experience managers often come up with a whole host of reasons for not delegating.  I wonder if you recognise any of the following:

 

“I don’t have time to delegate”

 

“If you want a job done right do it yourself”

 

“It takes too long to delegate, I could do it quicker myself”

 

“I tried delegating once and I was let down by someone else”

 

Chances are you have heard one or more of the above, many times.  By not delegating, you are probably experiencing some specific costs or consequences.  It might be:

 

1.                  Continually staying late at work

 

Maybe you find that you are the person who is always first to arrive and last to leave.  If that’s you, chances are that you could benefit from delegating more.

 

2.                  Missing key deadlines

 

If you are finding yourself always delivering things at the last minute or even worse missing deadlines completely, it might be time to take stock of what you are doing that you really should pass to others.

 

3.                  Feeling stressed or under constant pressure

 

When we start to feel stressed or just constantly under pressure it impacts on our ability to take decisions, solve problems or focus on the bigger picture.

 

4.                  Poor performance rating

 

If you are in a management role, a large part of how your performance will be assessed will be on how well you manage.  If you are focusing all of your time and energy on doing rather than managing, chances are you will be poorly rated.  This might mean no pay increase or your job being in jeopardy.

 

So what steps would you take to improve your delegation skills?