Improving Delegation

by Tony Mayo | Communication, Conversation, & Confrontation, For Business Owners, Leadership Development, Team Manager Skills

Delegation: Let’s keep it simple.

1. Find someone who will accept responsibility for the desired outcome.
2. Explain that you do not have the time and/or expertise to design the solution.
3. Ask the person to propose an approach which you have some confidence (not certainty) will succeed with the resources agreed to, e.g., hours, budget, tools, deadline, etc.
4. Don’t abdicate, delegate: follow-up frequently on progress and impediments to show that you still value the outcome, perhaps using something like my progress report format.

“Give as few orders as possible,” his father Duke Leto had told him… once… long ago. “Once you’ve given orders on a subject, you must always give orders on that subject.”

—Dune by Frank Herbert
p. 628 Penguin Publishing Group

Which tasks should you delegate? See this post, 3 Ds of Delegation