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At work, you can’t do everything. So, for projects to move forward, you must learn to trust and delegate to your colleagues. Assigning tasks to other members of your team isn’t just about relinquishing responsibility: it’s also an essential element of successful management.
To help you get there, five leaders share their tips for delegating work successfully.
1. Help your team grow
For Nic Granger, Chief Financial Officer of the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), it is important that delegating does not simply mean offloading responsibility.
“Knowing how to manage is less about delegating and more about ensuring that people have the responsibility to do something and the responsibility to act,” she argues. She points out that when people feel that something important is within their control, they are more likely to produce good results. “I think we need to give people the opportunity to develop and be a kind of safety net for them. »
To illustrate his point, Nic Granger recounts an example taken from his own activity, while the NSTA’s GIS (Geographic Information System) team, which notably designs products for an open source site, was working on Energy Integration, a of its most popular applications. The latter brings together a series of regulatory data via APIs into a single consolidated map. The GIS team is behind this feature.
“They created the app themselves because they saw the need for it. It’s the app our management team talks about the most, it’s the app our colleagues use the most – and all because it’s useful,” she says. “I didn’t decide that we were going to design this application and impose its creation. it was the team who came to me to tell me that they had a prototype and to ask me if it was useful. And the answer was yes. »
2. Don’t be selfish
According to Craig Donald, CIO of The Football Association, good delegation means making sure that the people who inherit the job know that they will not only have to do it, but that they will also be able to take credit for it. .
“Every time I speak to the management team or give a presentation, I make sure there is recognition that this work is not just about me,” he says. “I let other leaders know that the effort they see comes from all the other people on my team who helped develop the presentation and who provided their expertise. »
For Craig Donald, the key to getting people on your side when you distribute work is simply not to be selfish: let them have their moment to shine when the compliments come. If you take the right approach, your team members should ask you to give them more tasks and responsibilities.
“When you delegate work, make sure that your colleagues are also recognized for their efforts,” he insists. “When you succeed, your people actually come to you asking to delegate more work – they no longer wait for you to distribute the work. »
3. Put yourself in other people’s shoes
Nigel Richardson, SVP and CIO Europe at PepsiCo, believes that no one likes to be micromanaged. He therefore does everything he can to ensure that his colleagues feel empowered.
“Micromanagement is a nightmare for everyone. It’s a path that leads nowhere,” he believes. “Put yourself in the person’s shoes, whether it’s your business partner, a supplier or a member of your team, and treat them the way you would like to be treated. »
For Nigel Richardson, coaching is key. It brings out the best in us. “I have a fantastic team. I don’t need to micromanage anyone. I see my role as that of a coach, that is, as someone who tries to ensure that the organization aligns with the priorities of the business. »
His leadership strategy is to support his staff and help them excel in all areas. “Make sure the company’s purpose is clear, the organization is clear, your people are focused on doing great work, and then give them as much authority as possible within that framework,” advises -he.
4. Take a step back
Dan Eddie, customer service director at Simplyhealth, a UK healthcare solutions provider, believes that successful delegation requires that the intention, vision, goals and outcomes are clear and understood by all. .
He gives the example of his own team whose members, at all levels of the organization, recognize the four priority areas. In this context, it is possible to easily tell them to go to work and deliver the goods, since they understand what their objective is and what is expected of them.
Dan Eddie adds that it’s also important to recognize that the path to success can take different paths: “I don’t tell my people they have to solve the problem a certain way, I tell them to achieve a result. And, to achieve this, to use the means that they believe offers the best solution to our customers. »
Once you have this structure in place and clarified the four elements, to be able to delegate effectively, you must step aside and let your colleagues do their work. “I am there to support them, guide them, supervise or coach them so that they are as successful as possible. But clarifying what we are trying to do at all levels is the key to delegating, because then everyone has a clear vision of what needs to be done,” he says.
5. Give clear goals
For Hakan Yaren, CIO at APL Logistics, good managers learn new techniques for delegating work along the way. With more than 20 years of experience in the IT field, he believes that professionals must delegate decision-making responsibilities to people with in-depth knowledge of the subject. “It’s not enough to have superficial knowledge, you have to have really deep expertise in what you’re doing,” he tells ZDNET. The CIO feels more comfortable delegating decision-making processes in the most important areas to people he considers experts.
Getting to this point of delegation is far from a hands-off process. Hakan Yaren always makes sure that the people he trusts are part of a larger ecosystem. He also ensures that members of his organization are focused on the five key business objectives set each year by the leadership team.
“I tell everyone that everything they do has to relate to one of the five points that we have collectively agreed upon. If this is not the case, I encourage them to come and talk to me about it,” he reports. “I think by taking this approach you create cohesion and help the company achieve its goals. »
Source: ZDNet.com