FastTrain

Recently I was working with a manager who informed me that he didn’t delegate any responsibilities to his team. I was shocked and disappointed and asked why. “Well, he said, every time I delegate a job to one of the team they always screw it up, so it’s easier and quicker to do it myself”.

No doubt it will be no surprise if I tell you that the person screwing up the delegated task was the manager himself. Further investigation revealed two fatal mistakes; he only ever gave grot jobs to be done and he never spent time telling his team member what he wanted from them.

Delegation only works if the manager is prepared to spend time explaining the task, getting agreement from the team member, explaining precisely what the outcome should be, gives them the authority as well as the responsibility to do it as well as any necessary information. The manager also needs to agree times when he and the team member meet to review the delegated task and make sure it is on track. Also, he needs to make sure that there is a time frame for doing the work; and he must trust them and not micromanage.

The other big must is that at least some of the jobs he delegates are interesting, challenging and ultimately rewarding.

If this manager had followed just those simple guidelines then he might have achieved more success, built a more skilful team with higher levels of motivation and greater loyalty to their manager.

He has promised to try again, we wait and see how he does.