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“Creating Successful Leaders”

Tag Archives: Delegation

November 21, 2013 4 Ways To Delegate More Effectively

When done properly, delegation is a win-win. You end up saving time, and the person you’ve passed work onto feels valued for their unique skills. Why is it, then, that more people swamped with work don’t delegate?

Because Delegation Takes Up-Front Work

Many leaders find that it takes them more time and effort just to bring others up to speed, when what they’re trying to do is lessen their workload. Why delegate if it ends up being more work in the first place?

It’s true that you’ll need to work harder and longer when you’re preparing to delegate tasks. There will be meetings, training, negotiations, and the inevitable hiccup. But if you take the necessary time to delegate in a meaningful way, you’ll end up saving far more time and energy in the long run.

How do you do this?

Know Your Team

This is where it comes in handy to know the people who you work alongside better than just knowing their name or where they went to school. When you’re familiar with their interests, passions, and experiences, you’ll find delegation much easier. You won’t be guessing, fingers crossed, that George can take care of the task you’re passing off. You’ll be confident that he can, because you know George, and man is George competent.

What’s more, knowing your team will let you sleep better at night. Just as every mother must let their children go off into the real world at some point, so too will you need to let go of the desire to obsess over the tasks you’ve passed on to others. They’ll appreciate that you trust them enough to leave it in their hands, and you’ll be able to focus on other things.

Plan Well

If you’re delegating to a group of people, you’ll need to hold a meeting or two beforehand to help build unity within the group. They’ll go off and tackle bits of the greater project, sure, but it helps them to know how their contribution functions within the whole. It also helps you stay mentally organized as you’re the one keeping track of all the loose ends.

Which leads to…

Check In

While you should trust your team to perform well, it isn’t micromanaging to do frequent check-ins on status. Keep it friendly, and be open to their feedback. They often have great ideas to contribute and they’ll feel appreciated when you take their ideas seriously.

If you’re worried that it may be too hard to ensure that your standards are being implemented by those you’ve delegated work to, fear not, but be sure to…

Have Clear Deadlines, Goals and Expectations From The Get Go

And be specific about them. It’s better to over-prepare in the beginning and be able to ease off as your team gets up to speed than it is to go into a project unorganized and be forced to pull people off projects.

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November 7, 2013 Thinking For Yourself

There’s true power in thinking for yourself. We need only look at history to see that the great minds–Edison, Einstein, Galileo, Newton–all shared in their questioning of the status quo, and found breakthroughs that have impacted society up to present day. They thought for themselves.

Like all of our cliche phrases, thinking for yourself isn’t very well defined. We might hear someone explain, “That gal over there thinks for herself,” and we’d nod our heads approvingly, not really thinking about what that actually means. The best definition I can come up with is someone who doesn’t just assume that the usual way of doing business is the best way. These type of people don’t feel comfortable operating unless they have a full understanding of why their role is necessary. They aren’t afraid to experiment with “what if” scenarios. They trust their instincts and their ability to reason their way to innovation.

These kind of people find themselves in an awkward position in the professional world. On one hand, the mavericks provide innovation, and innovation is what fuels thriving businesses. So we all rely them. On the other hand, they’re often perceived as the rebels, the trouble-makers, the ones who won’t get with the program and shut up. They’re often ridiculed, dismissed, or persecuted for their beliefs and actions.

If you’re an outside the box thinker, congrats! We owe the world’s innovations to your kind. Here’s some advice to keep you optimistic about this strength:

1. You’ll encounter resistance and doubts. Don’t be discouraged! Keep challenging the norm, but do it in a productive way, which leads me to…

2. Be patient and humble. Although can expect to be rejected and misunderstood, persistence wins in the end, as like-minded people tend to flock together and feed off each other’s energy. Keep in mind that every new idea isn’t automatically better, and it takes time for people to grow accustomed to change.

3. Give the outside the box thinkers on your team room to experiment. As a manager, you may be hesitant to encourage your creative types to explore, but you’ll be rewarded in kind by an improved dedication and some really stellar ideas on their part.

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October 23, 2013 On Organization: Let’s Learn From The Chefs

“Type A” people are too often misunderstood as overly strict and tightly wound when it comes to organization. Actually, we can learn from the type A’s out there. Their strict adherence to systems of organization may seem strange to a “go-with-the-flow” type of person, but they pay such close attention to sticking to the systems not to be weirdos, but to make things easier on themselves.

A timeless philosophy from the culinary tradition epitomizes the power of a well-organized work space:

Mise en place.

It’s French, and it translates roughly to “everything in its place.”

Going the extra mile in preparation for tasks helps you. It makes you work faster. It minimizes stress. It gives you free time. Imagine you’re a chef and all the things at your desk are different ingredients. Putting all the things in their place makes work flow beautifully, which is what mise en place is all about.

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