The Fine Art of Delegation: Five Vital Tips

All too frequently, supervisors and managers avoid delegating because “it’s easier to do it myself;” “it takes too long to explain,” “I can do it better anyway;” and, “isn’t it my job to do this?” These are four of the most common reasons managers give for sidestepping delegation. Digging deeper, however, can’t we add the following to the list? “how do I delegate anyway?” “how do I know how much to delegate?” “what if my idea is better, should I substitute my good judgment?” or, “if I delegate this task to someone else, what value do I add?”

Delegation is a Vital Skill Set for Managers — The Five Tips for the Art of Delegation:

Delegate to Results, Not Process
Delegate in “Bite-Sized” Pieces
Provide the Tools to Get the Job Done
Check-In Without Hovering
Resist the Temptation to Substitute Your Excellent Solution

Tip #1: Delegate to Results, Not Process

Wow – that sounds like a pithy statement; however, what does it mean?

In brief, what is the goal, or end result of the delegated task or project? Asked another way, the delegation will have been successful, if what is the end product? This requires the delegator to spend the time up-front to know what the ultimate goal is. A “drive-by” delegation often results in an unfortunate result.

A story is useful here. Imagine that a nonprofit was just awarded a $500,000.00 grant from the county to house homeless veterans. The CEO delegated writing the thank-you letter for her signature to the Program Director. The Program Director wrote the letter, it contained all the facts and was grammatically correct. However, the CEO just didn’t like the style; should she change the letter?

While thinking about the answer, let’s move on to the next tips before we answer that question.

Tip #2: Delegate in “Bite-Sized” Pieces

What if the CEO thought through the entire process and knew that she prized her own writing style, and that it could be problematic if the letter wasn’t reflective of that style. She could have:

Asked the Program Director for the facts and figures, congratulating him on a job well done and indicating that she would write the thank-you letter;
Given him a copy of her writing style, expressing that she was fussy about her letters, and asking him to take a stab at it, recognizing that she might change it;
Asked him for a draft, indicating she would give him feedback along the way; and,
Asked the Program Director to sign the letter on the nonprofit’s behalf (did she really need to sign it)?

Tip #3: Provide the Tools to Get the Job Done

This entails delivering the resources needed, which could be time, treasure, knowledge, equipment, removing other projects from the employee’s plate, and/or granting the delegatee access to others. Had the CEO done that in this case, she would have:

Advised the Program Director when she needed the letter and its importance to the agency and to her;
Removed other projects from his plate, or re-prioritized those projects; or,
Informed the Program Director that because she was rather finicky about her letters, that he might like to consult with the
Facilities Manager who just wrote a letter on her behalf that the CEO signed.

Tip #4: Check-in Without Hovering

None of us likes someone looking over our shoulder while we work. In addition to adding to the stress level, we often don’t produce our best work. By the same token, delegating something big or small is risky business and the Manager wants to ensure that it is what she or he wanted. After all, the buck stops, ultimately, with the Manager, or in our story, the CEO. Here, she could have:

Advised the Program Director at the outset that she was happy to answer any and all questions, inviting him to come to her once all the facts had been gathered to sketch out how he planned to write the letter;
Checked in to ask how it was going, answering questions and providing suggestions; or,
Asked to see the letter in progress.

Tip #5 Resist the Temptation to Substitute Your Excellent Solution

If the solution, which in this case was a letter for the CEO’s signature met the goal, e.g., it stated all the facts, was thankful for the grant and was grammatically correct, the CEO should not substitute her “better” style for that of the Program Director. After all, if she felt that strongly about her style, she should have written it herself!

Returning to the question above: “The Program Director wrote the letter; it contained all the facts and was grammatically correct. However, the CEO just didn’t like the style, should she change the letter?” The answer is a resounding NO.

Had she followed the five tips, what would have been the value-added by the CEO in delegating this assignment?
For the Program Director:

She would have trained another to acquire an important skill-set;
She would have motivated an employee to continue to strive for self-improvement; and,
She would have provided positive feedback!

For herself:

She is on the road to freeing herself up from tasks, allowing her to focus on other strategic organizational priorities.
The CEO created and facilitated the “win-win.”