During
first season of
television reality show, The Apprentice, Donald Trump would give
ultimate winner
dream job of working for him, running one of his divisions and earning $250,000 per year. On
final episode,
choice came down to two candidates, Bill Rancic and Kwame Jackson, for
“ultimate” job. Both were very qualified. Bill Rancic was
owner of a successful Internet cigar business grossing over one million dollars a year, and Kwame Jackson was a graduate of Harvard Business School and most recently worked for
prestigious Wall Street investment house, Goldman Sachs, as an Investment Manager.In my opinion,
decision on who would receive
job came down to one thing…delegation. Both Bill and Kwame delegated tasks to their “team members” and achieved success. However, Kwame was asked several questions by Mr. Trump relating to how Kwame handled one team member, Omarosa Manigult-Stallworth. Mr. Trump wondered why Kwame let Omarosa get away with lying to him and not working with
other team members to make
project successful. Kwame responded to Mr. Trump that he didn’t know he could fire Omarosa. Mr. Trump stated that Kwame should have asked if he could fire Omarosa.
Bill Rancic got
job. This drives home
point…learn how to delegate to accelerate success both for you, your organization, and your team.
If we know it is an important key for our success, why don’t we delegate? Here are some of
excuses I routinely hear:
* No Time – I have no time to teach a team member
tasks. * No Energy – It takes a lot of energy to follow-up and keep team members on task for success. * I Can Do It Better – I know what needs to be done and can do it better and faster so I’ll just do it. * Why Should I? – Why should I train someone to do my job?
Why? If you are in a leadership position, your job is to take
time and
energy to train others to do more so that
you, your team, and your organization are more successful.
Well, what are
benefits of quality delegation?
1. You multiply yourself – The more you delegate,
more you create team members that can accomplish much more in much less time. You are known as someone who gets things done with self-directed teams.
2. You create a motivated group – The more you delegate,
more your team members are motivated because they see you as someone who trusts them and their abilities to get things accomplished. Because your team is motivated, they take more initiative to create solutions, be more creative, and are willing to take on more responsibilities.
3. You master stress and time management skills – You are forced to prioritize your tasks and realize that there are tasks that you do not need to do, yet would be perfect tasks to develop your team members. By learning how to prioritize your tasks for delegation, you will be less stressed during
workday and go home at
end of
day satisfied that you accomplished more.
4. You are known as a person who develops people – The more you delegate,
more you will be known within
organization as a person who develops people. Remember, even when you think no one is watching, someone is always watching
way you achieve success by developing your people. Whether it’s management, other teams, departments or divisions, someone is watching. The word will spread about how well you develop people. The results, management will see you as a developer of people; and other employees, both inside and outside of your organization, will fight to work for you because they know you have a motivated, creative working environment.
5. You create opportunities for yourself and others – By delegating tasks to others, you can then take on more advanced tasks that will prepare you for future opportunities when they become available. This is
main reason why
excuse “if I delegate my tasks to my employees, then they can take my job” doesn’t fly in my book. Another reason why you delegate tasks is so that you can develop yourself for future promotions, monetary, and career opportunities. For example, if you want to become vice president for your organization and you know that skills B, M, Z are required by all vice presidents, then delegate any management tasks that you have already mastered to your team members so that you can then ask for more “vice presidential” tasks. When that position is available within or outside of
organization, who do you think will have
inside track? You will! Because you can say you already have
skills of a vice president, while developing
people behind you to fill
void when you are promoted. Also, as a leader, you never want your team members to be with you in
same position forever. Thus, delegating tasks continuously prepares them for opportunities that may come their way.
So how do we successfully delegate tasks? Here are my seven steps to delegating tasks to achieve success. These tips can not only be used in your organization for more success, but in every aspect of your life to accomplish more.
1. Understand
Task Make sure you understand
task so that you can clearly communicate
task to
person undertaking
task. You must also understand what barriers and resources are required to succeed. Also, you must understand what tools you have to make
task successful. Along with resources needed, if
person isn’t progressing on
task, what options do you have as a leader and manager to make it successful? Questions you can ask is, “Can I provide additional training?” or “Can I acquire additional tools?” Or if they are not suited for
task, ask these questions, “Can I reassign them?” or if they turn out to be detrimental to
project or team, “What actions can I take to alleviate this situation?” Make sure you click on
“Delegation Checklist” link at
end of this article to receive your f*r*e*e copy of this important tool that will give you
tools to make
best decisions when delegating tasks.
2. Find
Right Person Find
person who is motivated to take on
task. You may have someone who has
skills to do
task but is not motivated to do it. This situation will not work. However, if you have someone that doesn’t have
skills, but is highly motivated to learn and is excited about
opportunity, then this is a good candidate for delegation. The person must also be motivated to take on this task for
good of
group as well as his/her own motivations. You might ask, “How does this assignment help you achieve your career goals?” It also helps
person has good communications skills to express any concerns.