The first in a series on time management by โTime Queenโ Robyn Pearce. Learn the four stages of delegation in order to free up your valuable time to better manage your business.
One of the biggest complaints youโll probably hear when people talk about their staff is โitโs quicker to do it myself.โ And thatโs true. However, if we donโt work out how to get past that stage weโll be doing โitโ until weโre old and wrinkly.
The problem is that very few folk have formal training in delegation and management. Many lurch along, doing their best, often overwhelmed. If theyโve got staff itโs easy to feel resentful of the time it takes to train others. And another layer of complexity is added in small businesses (89.7 percent of New Zealand businesses employ five or less staff*) where many times the business is the ownerโs โbabyโ. Letting go, sharing the workload and the responsibility can be as challenging as bringing up children!
The thing is, while youโre doing work that someone else can do at a lower pay rate than you want to pay yourself, youโre effectively paying yourself that low rate. Or, itโs a task you donโt enjoy, you struggle to do the work, and take three times as long as someone who has that competency. Think of what else you could be doing in that time, instead of sweating over something you find difficult.
A common example for SMEs is bookkeeping. If you donโt have a finance brain, a skilled bookkeeper will do in minutes what youโd take hours over when it comes to preparing your monthly accounts, doing your invoices and keeping track of all the financial data you need to manage. Donโt say you canโt afford to pay someone else โ actually, you canโt afford not to.
Perhaps youโve hired young staff fresh from school or university, thinking youโd get them young before theyโve learnt bad habits from someone else. Or youโve taken on a mature employee, but they donโt want to listen to you telling them how to do something they believe they have good skills in already. Youโve tried to utilise what you understand is delegation but โ it doesnโt seem to work.
Stick in there โ delegation is a skill worth mastering. Once youโve learnt some of the core skills youโll free up time, be able to focus on the work you do best, increase profitability and get home earlier. It is a (reasonably) easily-learnt high-performance leadership style that produces long-term results and far higher profits.
Good delegators give their subordinates as much responsibility and authority as they are able to accept but at the same time maintain control. Paradoxically, good delegators increase their own power by sharing it with others.
And communication is key. A Harvard management specialist, after much research, came to the conclusion that all good managers know intuitively: that the ability to communicate clear expectations was a managerโs most important leadership and motivational tool.
One of the most powerful skills of a good delegator is the ability to ask good questions, instead of supplying all the answers.
A common problem for would-be delegators is that they donโt realise itโs a four-stage train journey, not a one-stop destination. If you donโt step through each phase with the person youโre delegating to, at some point youโll almost certainly have to backtrack. Master these four steps, learn to be patient in the initial stages, and youโll achieve better results faster. Yes, you could have done the job faster โ at the beginning. But, thatโs a sure path to limiting your growth and success. Once youโve trained someone up properly youโre free to move on to new challenges and opportunities.
The four stages of delegation:
1. Direction โ
High Direction, Low Support
Initially a new person needs instruction, not the opportunity to use their initiative. Youโll give them heaps of directions, and only a low amount of support in making decisions. They donโt yet know enough to need much support.
2. Coaching โ
High Direction, High Support
They are starting to understand the process. You encourage them to come with questions; you give plenty of explanations, continue to instruct, and also support them in learning and applying new skills and knowledge. You set regular review times, and check constantly that they understand. This is the stage that takes more of your time but if you donโt invest time here youโll never get beyond the โitโs faster to do it myselfโ stage.
3. Support โ
Low Direction, High Support
Now your employee is getting a good grip on the process. Youโre weaning both you and them off lots of โtellingโ. You now support them in making the decisions. Your role is to help where needed, review their actions and oversee results as they ramp up their level of responsibility.
If youโve got someone who keeps asking for help when they really should be able to make the decisions, require them to come with two solutions when they come with a query. If theyโre forced to do the thinking for themselves, pretty soon youโll find they donโt come for that extra reassurance and youโre not interrupted unnecessarily.
4. Delegation โ
Low Direction, Low Support
Only now does true delegation happen. Your delegatee not only has an excellent understanding of the task, but they have the confidence to get on with the job. They can still come for help if they need it, but thatโs a rare occurrence. And the big benefit? Youโre free to get on with other higher-level activities that will make a long-term difference in your business.
*www.med.govt.nz/business/business-growth-internationalisation/pdf-docs-library/small-and-medium-sized-enterprises/structure-and-dynamics-2011.pdf
Further reading:
โข Kenneth Blanchardโs excellent little book โLeadership and the One Minute Managerโ, where he expands on the 4-stage process
โข Robyn Pearce & LaVonn Steiner: โGetting A Grip On Leadershipโ
โข Michael Gerber: โThe E-myth revisitedโ
