The Manager 155 - The case for delegation
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The Manager - Edition 155 - The case for delegation
Hi,
I hope you are safe and well. I’ve been pretty busy these last few weeks putting the final touches to my EuroSTAR keynote. I’m talking about the 11 principles of communication (from the comms workshop) and how to apply these to rapid change in a business.
I talk about the new “shed”, a picture of The Queen in my studio, frogs, strategy, people, emotion and motion and a lot more. It’s taken me a while to get this video Keynote right. I’ve recorded it twice (the first one had terrible lighting) and I’ve spent a lot of time editing it, to get it just right. Very pleased with it.
If you’d like to attend the conference, then I also have 20% off. Just head to their site and use discount code SPEAKER2021.
Delegation
My wife says I’m good at delegation. I delegate tasks to my boys all the time. It helps them learn life skills (laundry, dishwasher loading, putting up the tent). At work a colleague of mine, many years ago, said I’d be off playing golf whilst everyone else did the work - I am good at delegation.
But delegation of work is not something I do because I’m lazy. I do it because it’s how everyone learns and how people get more done.
I meet many managers and leaders who simply don’t delegate. Then they complain that they are overloaded, overworked and overwhelmed. Their direct reports aren’t growing in their careers - and a side effect is that there is no succession planning. If many managers didn’t turn up for work, things would grind to a halt. Many see this as validation for their pay check. I see this as poor management.
Delegating work frees up time for managers to work on the system, do more of their bosses work to grow and learn, and it’s also how hyper productive companies operate.
Delegation has many benefits:
Managers get more time to do other work, work that only they can do, until they master it, then they can delegate it - and take on more advanced work. (Think strategy, budgeting, leadership tasks etc)
Those you delegate to will learn how to do more interesting and advanced work (if it’s inline with their career path).
More work gets done.
But. You cannot delegate something that you don’t understand. And at some point something has to give - people cannot just keep doing more work (although it is prevalent in many companies to work this way).
That’s why I have a concept of a “Is this solving a problem cabinet?”. It can be a real or virtual cabinet. But it’s where I put stuff I don’t think is adding value. I stop it. I tell my directs to stop doing stuff and put it there (it’s important managers provide guidance on this, in case it is important or turns out later to be important).
It’s an imaginary place that I put stuff that we simply stop doing.
By stopping doing many tasks, we free up time to pick up more important work. This is how delegation happens. We delegate work to the cabinet. If someone comes to complain something is not being done, we go to the cabinet and retrieve it - and we work out what problem it has been solving. If it’s a real problem and valuable - we pick it back up, say sorry and do the work.
If nobody complains (which is more common), we have removed work from the system. Think meetings, reports, non-essential business tasks.
Be careful. Don’t stop doing mission critical work. But you’d be surprised how many activities people in business do, that add no value at all. By delegating to the cabinet we free up time.
Another thing to consider is that when people do a new task for the first time, they may not complete it well, or in a reasonable time, or with good quality. This is why good managers delegate and keep an eye on the work. If it’s important enough to delegate, it’s important enough to support people with the work. Eventually people will master it and you will have delegated something away. People will learn, grow, widen their awareness and fewer single points of failure will exist.
Delegation is not about overloading people, it’s about allowing more valuable work into the system - and removing the dross that fills so many people’s days. It’s about sharing knowledge and expertise to avoid single points of failure. It’s about helping people grow into new roles, or take the first step towards management, or gain exposure of how leadership strategy works etc. It’s a way of boosting capability whilst also ensuring succession planning is happening.
Don’t be the manager who retains control of everything to justify your pay check. Don’t be the manager who cannot take a day off without the business processes and teams crumbling. Don’t be the manager who hoards valuable work that others could do. Don’t be the manager that never grows their teams or plans for the future.
Good managers are experts in the world of delegation. They see it as growing the business, not shirking away from work. And bear in mind - you cannot reasonably delegate something you do not understand. That’s just avoidance and task management. Delegation is more than that - it’s how the business gets more done and shields itself for the future.
Go forth and delegate. And I shall see you on the golf course :)
Rob..
Things I’ve found interesting this week
I’m a big fan of newsletters. That’s why I still write this one. I have no idea whether any of you read these, but I will still keep creating them. They are a personal medium. I have permission to drop these mails to your inbox - and that is a trust I will never break. Newsletters are not controlled by the algorithms of the big social media companies. And, like me, Craig Mod is also a big fan of newsletters - and his are at many levels above mine right now. I’m still learning.
Covid has made many managers stop managing worker time - and start focussing on outputs and outcomes. One good thing.
Creativity grows as you use it - it's an infinite well. Thankfully.
How to have better conversations. Good, thorough, useful.
No more than 8 hours a day - that's what you should be working. Apparently.
How to stay on schedule! I need this help.
Until next week
Rob..
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Rob..