Developing The Right Attitude

To be truly effective at delegating, you must have the right attributes and attitudes about delegation. These positive attributes, outlined below, include personal security, risk taking, a trusting nature, task-orientation, and a good degree of patience.

Personal Security

Managers who are good at delegating feel confident in their abilities and position in the company and have a positive attitude about delegating. They consider delegating a means to prepare team members to be future managers. They view delegation as a means of achieving their own, and the company's, performance goals.

Risk Taking

Good delegators are willing to take risks to get tasks done, stretching resources and making mistakes. They are willing to accept and learn from failure. They must allow both less experienced and more knowledgeable employees to make decisions.

Trusting Nature

Good delegators are willing to trust another to perform a tasks for which they alone will be held responsible. They grant such trust with full knowledge of any limitations the team members may have, such as lack of experience. They allow the team member to supply, without interference, his own ideas as to how an assignment should be completed. They don't revoke their trust after an assignment is completed. Team members need to be supported even if the actions they take are criticized by others. For example, if a person is given authority to conduct an audit, that person should be supported regardless of the audit's finding.

The following general guidelines help increase team members trust.

* Backstop team members' decisions. Even though you don't agree with team members' decisions, back them up when they need support, especially in front of others.

* Don't harp on team members' mistakes. Team members usually realize when they make a mistake. Don't dwell on mistakes. Give employees the opportunity to correct them.

* Don't spy on team members. Set clear guidelines for monitoring progress that are known to each team member. Stick to the agreed-upon guidelines, and don't spy on team members to determine their progress.

* Don't withhold information as a test. Withholding useful information leads employees to mistrust you and your motives.

* Be open. Don't try to hide your own mistakes from team members. Freely share information necessary for a team member to perform her job.

* Clarify expectations. Share your expectations with team members--in advance. * Show respect. Treat team members with respect and courtesy.

* Don't manipulate. Be straightforward in the delegation of tasks. Don't manipulate employees with guilt or implied rewards.

* Examine assumptions. Make sure you are making valid assumptions. For example, if a team member resists performing a task, don't immediately assume the employee is looking for the easiest way out.

Task Orientation
Effective delegation establishes and employs a means of control including channels (progress reports, review sessions, etc.) for reporting progress and problems as well as a schedule for when reporting should take place (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). If you aren't comfortable with the amount of feedback and the level of control, establish means for additional monitoring. If you are especially concerned about a particular assignment, tell the team member that you are going to follow up frequently on the project's progress. Such warning helps to buffer any feelings of meddling.

When necessary, be willing to intervene and hold team members accountable for their action or lack of action. You can redirect team members' efforts, give them additional authority to complete the assignment, or take back the assignment if the satisfactory completion is doubtful. Accountability must extend to the completed assignment. If the assignment is done poorly, reprimand the responsible team member. Adjust future assignments so the team member gets smaller, less significant tasks until he or she once again demonstrates willingness and competence to assume greater responsibility.

Ample Patience
A manager who is a good delegator realizes that results take time. She can see what needs to be done but doesn't order it done a specific way. She is willing to allow team members the chance to develop judgment by letting them try their own methods. If a project falls behind schedule, the manager makes certain the team member has a plan for meeting the deadline; the manager must allow time for delegation. She must allow time for assignment of specific tasks as well as for inexperienced employees to be trained.

In summary, as Thomas R. Horton, former CEO of the American Management Association, says: "The process of delegation must begin by a spark of faith. Kindled by accomplishment, it is ultimately sustained by trust. Effective delegators are the managers who believe in their people as much as in themselves and who know that from that belief comes not just accomplishment, but growth."