HOW TO EFFECTIVELY DELEGATE TO YOUR STAFF

One major issue that we see with middle managers is they receive so many projects from the executives to accomplish. Then, it puts too many tasks on their plates. The role of a manager is to take the project assess who needs to do which tasks and delegate these. For many managers, delegation is a very difficult task. What we hear from most managers is, “It’s easier to do it myself than to delegate and it not be done correctly”

Most of the time, this is how a manager would delegate:

Call a staff meeting, saying “I have been given a huge project, I need help because I don’t have time to do this whole project.” They will tell the staff the tasks and issues they need to work on and resolve. No deadline or direction is given. Managers will then leave the room expecting the project to be completed correctly and on time.

This is an extremely ineffective way of handling the project and delegating.

Don’t worry, there is a proper way to delegate effectively. Here are the 5 steps to use:

I SHOW YOU - The person delegating the task or new responsibility sits down with the person they are training and shows them how to do said task or the new responsibility.

WE DO TOGETHER - The person delegating the responsibility and the person that will be taking responsibility to sit down and work on the task together.

I WATCH YOU - The person taking on responsibility does the task exactly as they were shown. The trainer supervises.

YOU DO WITHOUT ME - The new person talking about the responsibility will do the task on their own, with no supervision. When they finish, they must report back letting the trainer know they have finished and ask you to go and check.

I CHECK THE WORK - In the final step, the trainer checks the work to see if it was done correctly exactly as they were taught. If it is correct, CONGRATULATIONS, you have delegated this task correctly! If it is incorrect, you need to go back to step one and re-train.

Delegation is a difficult habit to learn, but extremely necessary. Managers need to understand how to have a process in place because when delegation is needed, it can be done efficiently. The staff will then feel empowered to take on more responsibilities from their managers and managers can take more off of their executives.