7 TIPS TO HELP YOU DELEGATE FOR SUCCESS
Ineffective delegation impacts your wellbeing, holds your team members back and stifles performance. We need more and more from our leaders and our people right now and delegation is key to the mutual success of you, your team and your organisation. Here's seven tips for delegating for success:
Tracy James - PCC
It may feel counter intuitive in times of crisis, but now more than ever it is important to remember that as a leader, it is your responsibility to empower your team to grow and develop in role and skill, as well as maintain your own ability to stay focused on strategy – working ‘on’ the team rather than in it. The biggest blocker to this is often the inability to delegate effectively.
Ineffective delegation impacts your wellbeing, holds your team members back and stifles team performance. We need more and more from our leaders and our people right now and delegation is key to the mutual success of you, your team and your organisation.
Here are seven tips to help you delegate for success:
1. Define the why – ensure your team know why this task needs to be completed and are clear on both the benefits of it’s successful implementation and the consequences of it not being completed.
2. Set clear expectations as to the desired outcome – how you will all measure success and any constraints e.g. time, resource budget. Be sure to set expectations for your contribution, or indeed lack of, to keep yourself in check too!
3. Trust – lack of trust is often a blocker to delegation. Lay the groundwork here. Build rapport and open communication with your team. Welcome candorous feedback rooted in the shared purpose of the pursuit of the common team goals.
4. Set your team up for success – Identify the knowledge gaps and help to fill them. Train out skills shortfalls and don’t delegate to people that don’t have the capacity, resource or skills to complete the work. Work to people’s strengths.
5. Collaborate – ask your team members how you can best support them in the task. Don’t assume. Your team members will all have different needs depending on how capable, confident and motivated they feel to do the task. Help them show you how to lead them.
6. Embrace mindful failure – some delegations will fail. Make ‘lessons learned’ a way of being to ensure you all learn from what doesn’t work to help you set the next project up for success.
7. Create autonomy – make sure your team members understand relative urgency and importance vs probability and impact of risk. Empowering your team with this information will ensure they are informed to make the tough decisions on prioritisation, risk mitigation and resource allocation. Be ready to let go of bigger decisions when your team are ready to make them better than you.
What will you do differently next week to set your team up for success?
Tracy James is a Berkshire based Team and Leadership coach specialising in SME, Tech and Marketing. She works with existing and aspiring leaders looking to up-level, achieve fulfilment and lead effectively and authentically with intentional influence and impact. Subscribe to her newsletter at www.brightyellowcoaching.com/newsletter, connect with her @brightyellowcoaching, or contact her direct at tracyjames@brightyellowcoaching.com for a free initial 30 minute chat about what you could achieve together.
Tracy James – PCC
Life and Team & Leadership Coach
Life and work can feel fast paced and full of expectations, challenges and stuff and things to fill our time with – not all of them in line with who we want to be and how we want to feel. Often our mindset can be the biggest blocker to creating the changes that move us closer to that - whether that be confidence, understanding your preferences or purpose, knowing your values and what’s truly important to you, self-awareness or ability to stretch outside of a well-worn in comfort zone. My purpose as a Team & Leadership and Life & Career coach is support you in achieving the self-awareness and empathy required to know your purpose and what feels right for you. To support you in overcoming blockers – whether internal or external. To help you understand and mobilise your unique strengths and superpowers whilst mitigating your development areas, and to help you formulate and implement informed, realistic and viable action plans. In other words, help you get clarity, find purpose, smash blockers and move forward in your life and your career. I am an accredited to PCC level with the ICF, trained with Barefoot Coaching and studied Business and Personal Coaching with the University of Chester. I pull on an eclectic mix of techniques from systemic and leadership methodologies, to values and strengths tools that I tailor in personalised programmes for each of my clients. I work particularly effectively with those seeking to move forward from emotional drains such as anxiety, lack of confidence or loss and towards a more purposeful life and career and in supporting leaders to lead with authenticity, influence and confident impact. I offer a free 30-minute discovery session to help you find out more about the process and how we might work together. From here you will take away a personalised programme proposal to review to help you decide on the best way forward for you. If you would like to explore this further please book your free discovery session here https://calendly.com/brightyellowcoaching/30min. If you would like to know what my clients say, check out my testimonials here https://www.brightyellowcoaching.com/testimonials.
