Delegation - More than INstructions Pt 1

Effective delegation is much more than just giving instructions to your staff, right?

So the way in which you delegate is critical, right? The way you give instructions is critical because delegation is more than just giving instructions. It's how you give those instructions. It's about what else do you give along with the instructions that you provide.

What do you do when staff can't seem to follow your simple instructions?

It's a source of annoyance and frustration to leaders, managers, and business owners everywhere.

But more often than not, when your staff or team members can't seem to follow your simple instructions, The problem might just be you. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but more often than not, the problem might just be you, the leader, the manager. What we did is study of 200 staff team members across 30 different organizations. The results indicated that in 77% of the cases, where a staff member did not follow instructions or did not efficiently complete a task, in 77% of those cases, the staff believed that the way in which the task or assignment was delegated was ineffective or ambiguous. But in those same organizations, 83% of managers indicated that poor performance and staff not following instructions was because the staff and team members were either not qualified, not motivated, or simply they were just careless. So you've got managers blaming staff and staff blaming managers.

The truth is somewhere in the middle, as it always is.

There is more than enough blame to go around when it comes to staff performance ineffective delegation. A Harvard Business Review article on leadership in October 2017 stated that one of the most difficult transitions for leaders to make is the shift from doing to leading. There's a psychological shift to focus your attention on areas that are vital to the company and become less involved in the daily tasks. Requires a major psychological shift, and that shift can bring about fear. You know, you begin to ask, what will happen if I let go and delegate that responsibility? Will I be able to make the transition to my new role and focus? Will I be seen as less vital if I delegate certain tasks? But leaders and managers must overcome this fear and because the benefits of delegation are far too great to pass up. A Gallup study showed that leaders and managers who delegate effectively generate 33% higher revenue and higher staff productivity.

And there are some significant benefits that leaders and managers can bring not only to themselves but to the departments and the organizations. In the last 30 years that I've worked with leaders, managers, business owners, I have observed, documented, uh, some specific benefits. I call them the 4 I benefits: increased innovation, increased impact, increased influence, and everyone likes this one, increased Income. Now, these 4 I's are driven by the increased team performance and productivity that comes when leaders and managers begin to delegate more effectively.

These executives, these leaders and managers know that they can't accomplish everything alone, so they delegate tasks to their team and empower them to succeed. This not only empowers their staff, but it boosts morale and increases productivity. And in the process, leaders and managers free up their time to focus on activities that will yield the highest returns and grow their company or their department.

So the way in which you delegate is critical, right? The way you give instructions is critical because delegation is more than just giving instructions. It's how you give those instructions. It's about what else do you give along with the instructions that you provide. In fact, there are 5 things that as a leader, manager, or business owner that you must give along with instructions when you give instructions. And these 5 things are just as, or maybe more important, than the actual instructions that you give. I call them the 5 A's that make delegation work. The 5 A's that make delegation work. And here they are: autonomy, assignment, authority or authoritativeness, assets, and accountability. Let's dive into each one of these for a brief overview.

You know, in my 30 years of observing and advising leaders, managers, and business owners, I've seen a pattern emerging, a set of behaviors that top leaders and managers engage in when they delegate to their staff. So I did some studies, quantitative and qualitative studies, and came up with the 5 A's to make delegation work. 5 A's to make delegation work: autonomy, assignment, authority, assets, and accountability. And incidentally, these 5 A's are also keys to creating a self- leading team or organization. So the first A is autonomy. You must empower—

In his comprehensive leadership training program, The Three Demands of Leadership, Dr. Murray goes into detail on these 5 As. He provides examples and gives tools and tips so you can implement each of these 5 As as you lead and manage your team. So be sure to enroll in the full training program, The Three Demands of Leadership, and self-leadership and get Dr. Murray's in-depth training on delegation. In this training, you will find out your delegation style and also learn what your first priority should always be, no matter what task you are delegating to your staff. In the training program, you will also get to interact with hundreds of other leaders and managers in our Leader Manager Mastermind community. In our Leader Manager Mastermind community, you will find out some of the winning delegation strategies other leaders and managers are using. Get your enrollment information for the training program in the link provided. See you in the training program and in the Leader Manager Mastermind community.