Seven tips to become a good manager
27 September 2007
Read by 1600 persons
Text: You think you know how to delegate, but your team complains about being given tasks haphazardly. Here's how to do it.
Everyone agrees that knowing how to delegate is an essential quality for any professional who leads and supervises a team. Unfortunately, too often, the person to whom tasks are delegated feels that they are being given work haphazardly. And very often, the person delegating has the feeling – usually well-founded – that things would go faster if they did it themselves rather than having someone else do it.
But what's happening?
We easily find ourselves in an inextricable situation. If we have the time to do something, we tend to do it ourselves, simply because it's possible. And also because it's simpler, faster and more reassuring to feel that we are in control.
But if we don't have time to do something, we tend to offload that task onto someone else, taking care or not to spare that person by talking about "delegating", or even "a new opportunity" or "a challenge". Why is that? Simply because we don't have time to "delegate" properly. And in the end, everyone feels a real sense of frustration!
Another thing. Sometimes, the person delegating will add great confusion to the frustration by telling the other person not only what to do, but also how to do it, mixing the end and the means in an almost incomprehensible muddle.
It is therefore very well seen to delegate and those who do it receive encouragement and applause, yet very often they do not do it correctly.
Tips for managing bad bosses
The key to delegating well without falling into the traps of either assigning tasks haphazardly or doing everything yourself is to understand that you should delegate a type of task and not isolated tasks. And delegating a type of task means that the person to whom you entrust the work can take charge of a whole series of tasks, not just the one you have to have them do at a given time. This is how you effectively train team members: they then become truly capable of performing some of their superior's tasks, in the long term.
This means that you have to take the time to delegate properly, not just when an urgent task needs to be accomplished!
If your superior doesn't know how to delegate
Here is a simple and effective strategy to implement for delegating well. Feel free to suggest it to anyone who delegates haphazardly.
1. Think about the person to whom you can entrust the task. Plan how long it will take you to delegate correctly (i.e. to train, explain, accompany), as well as the place, times and methods best suited for this.
2. Explain exactly the result you expect (not how to go about it for the moment): in what form, for what purposes and within how much time.
3. Invite the person to think and reformulate the request you have made to them in order to check that they have understood what you expect of them.
4. If necessary, clarify your instructions by saying, for example:
– "What you understood correctly is..."
– "What you added and that I didn't mention is..."
– "You forgot..."
Then repeat steps 2 and 3 if necessary.
5. Suggest that the person think:
– about how they are going to go about achieving the expected result;
– about the resources/training they will need;
– about the help/supervision they will want;
– about the freedom of initiative they will need;
– about the people who need to be informed that they will have this freedom of initiative.
6. Agree on the elements that will reassure you both about the smooth running of the project.
7. At the end of the mission, make sure to:
– share your impressions and comments on their work with this person;
– discuss the conclusions to be drawn from this experience for the future;
– discuss what you have both learned, about this project itself as well as about the type of project to which it belongs.
Published on 17/09/2007
Entreprendre.ma
Everyone agrees that knowing how to delegate is an essential quality for any professional who leads and supervises a team. Unfortunately, too often, the person to whom tasks are delegated feels that they are being given work haphazardly. And very often, the person delegating has the feeling – usually well-founded – that things would go faster if they did it themselves rather than having someone else do it.
But what's happening?
We easily find ourselves in an inextricable situation. If we have the time to do something, we tend to do it ourselves, simply because it's possible. And also because it's simpler, faster and more reassuring to feel that we are in control.
But if we don't have time to do something, we tend to offload that task onto someone else, taking care or not to spare that person by talking about "delegating", or even "a new opportunity" or "a challenge". Why is that? Simply because we don't have time to "delegate" properly. And in the end, everyone feels a real sense of frustration!
Another thing. Sometimes, the person delegating will add great confusion to the frustration by telling the other person not only what to do, but also how to do it, mixing the end and the means in an almost incomprehensible muddle.
It is therefore very well seen to delegate and those who do it receive encouragement and applause, yet very often they do not do it correctly.
Tips for managing bad bosses
The key to delegating well without falling into the traps of either assigning tasks haphazardly or doing everything yourself is to understand that you should delegate a type of task and not isolated tasks. And delegating a type of task means that the person to whom you entrust the work can take charge of a whole series of tasks, not just the one you have to have them do at a given time. This is how you effectively train team members: they then become truly capable of performing some of their superior's tasks, in the long term.
This means that you have to take the time to delegate properly, not just when an urgent task needs to be accomplished!
If your superior doesn't know how to delegate
Here is a simple and effective strategy to implement for delegating well. Feel free to suggest it to anyone who delegates haphazardly.
1. Think about the person to whom you can entrust the task. Plan how long it will take you to delegate correctly (i.e. to train, explain, accompany), as well as the place, times and methods best suited for this.
2. Explain exactly the result you expect (not how to go about it for the moment): in what form, for what purposes and within how much time.
3. Invite the person to think and reformulate the request you have made to them in order to check that they have understood what you expect of them.
4. If necessary, clarify your instructions by saying, for example:
– "What you understood correctly is..."
– "What you added and that I didn't mention is..."
– "You forgot..."
Then repeat steps 2 and 3 if necessary.
5. Suggest that the person think:
– about how they are going to go about achieving the expected result;
– about the resources/training they will need;
– about the help/supervision they will want;
– about the freedom of initiative they will need;
– about the people who need to be informed that they will have this freedom of initiative.
6. Agree on the elements that will reassure you both about the smooth running of the project.
7. At the end of the mission, make sure to:
– share your impressions and comments on their work with this person;
– discuss the conclusions to be drawn from this experience for the future;
– discuss what you have both learned, about this project itself as well as about the type of project to which it belongs.
Published on 17/09/2007
Entreprendre.ma
