- Delegating to a team? Know the strengths of the team as a whole. This team has come together for a purpose. What is it? Are the goals and objectives defined and clear? What is the overarching strength of this team? Ex: A smart, innovative marketing team that produces engaging content on time and on budget, tasked with creating a slogan which best covey’s the ‘Company ABC’ brand within three weeks.
- Know the strengths of the individual team members. Why this team? What required skills are in place? Do team member’s skills naturally complement other team member’s skills? Teams should have contrasting skills and personalities. Take a look at Belbin Team Roles for ideas.
- Ask questions and be an engaged leader. What’s going on in the personal life of the individuals? Make sure all team members are ‘available’ for this task. Ask questions and let your team know you are on board with their wellbeing. What are their suggestions? How do they envision the task being accomplished? Do they require additional information? Do they feel the required resources are in place? Is anything lacking? Allowing dialogue and open exchange of both ideas and doubts and opportunities for solutions. Commitment, ownership, and autonomy is key to successful delegation.
- If this is a team effort, consider having an ‘agitator,’ or ‘outlier.’ Purposefully place a ‘What-if’ person on the team who has full authority to pose questions, raise doubts, and offer out-of-the-box thinking. This will stir innovation and provide a safe place to do it. As a leader, you need to have the agitator’s back. After all, you’ve put them in this position for a reason.
- Clearly articulate the benefit to the team/individuals for completing the task successfully. We all need motivation. Even those of us who are self-driven and self-motivated – we need acknowledgment and validation. Inspired leaders think out of the box when it comes to motivating individuals and teams.
- Step back. You’ve delegated a task and avoiding any tendencies to micro-manage is the best recipe to instill commitment and ownership by a team or individual. When employees or teams feel empowered to run with the mission, better, faster results happen.
Avoid breeding mistrust by hovering and micro-managing. If this is a team effort, allow your team to be self-organizing. Encourage a 10-minute stand-up meeting to be commenced, one in which they hold each other accountable and one in which you do not participate.
If you are delegating to an individual, support them by letting them know your door is always open but you trust them to make the right decisions and meet the expectations.