Delegating Effectively

Set time aside on a regular basis to plan which tasks and activities can be delegated to others. This may not be restricted to project tasks: in order to have the time for project management, you may find that you have to delegate other parts of your job, too.

Getting delegation right

Successful delegation is not always easy, especially if you are managing a small project within a multiproject environment. As the manager of a small project, you can expect to find yourself delegating longer-term tasks to busy people who may only have a partial understanding of what you are trying to achieve, and for whom your project is a relatively low priority. When deciding which tasks and activities to delegate, take time to consider the benefits you could expect from delegating a particular task, and the blocks that you would need to overcome. Once you have identified potential opportunities for delegation, clarify the specifics of how you could achieve them by asking yourself:

• What is the required outcome or deliverable from delegating this task?

• Why is this important?

• How will it be used and when is it required by?

• What constraints are there on how the result can be achieved?

• What could go wrong?

• Who should I delegate this task to?

• Why should they do it?

• What objections might I need to overcome?

• What help will they need?

• What level of authority can they handle?

Overcoming barriers to delegation

Tackle fear

Fight any feelings that delegated tasks will not be done properly or on time, that your delegation request will be rejected, or that you will be shown up by someone doing a job better than you.

Plan well

Think ahead, so you don’t discover tasks that have to be done when it is too late to ask anyone else to do them.

Get experience

The best way to learn how to delegate is to have someone delegate effectively to you. Note the attitudes and behaviors that overcome or bypass resistance and use them when you delegate.

Fight guilt

Nice people don’t like delegating unpleasant tasks. However, effective leadership requires a hard head as well as a soft heart.

Beat indecision

Try to make quick decisions as to who to approach and what precisely has to be done, and don’t procrastinate about approaching the sponsor if their involvement is required.

Preparing to delegate

Where possible, delegate straight from the plan: as soon as you have identified a task that needs to be done, select someone to do it. If they are present when the task is identified, use that moment to pass responsibility to them. Give delegatees as much warning as possible: it is preferable to have three weeks’ warning of a deadline, rather than three days. Warn people of impending delegation, even before you are clear on what you want done. Brevity is of the essence and it’s not a bad idea to use a standard format for this “heads-up message”.

Setting the details

Arrange a formal meeting with the person you are delegating the task to. The success of the task depends on your ability to transmit the details and parameters of the task to the delegatee at this meeting. When delegating complex tasks, in particular, it is vital that you are confident that your colleague has fully understood and is committed to what they have been asked to do. Asking “Do you understand?” is simply not good enough: it is a closed question and as such will generally receive just a “yes” or “no” answer. Instead, try to ask open questions, such as “How do you plan to do this?” This will give you more information about their level of understanding, but it can be quite challenging for the delegatee to answer without time to reflect. The following model for holding a split delegation meeting has proven successful in delegating project tasks to some very difficult characters.

Compose a heads-up message

Holding a split meeting

Organize your delegation meeting in two parts separated by a “gap” to give the delegatee time to reflect before being invited to explain how they will approach their task.

• Part one Describe what is required, by when, and at what cost; why it is required; and the context and parameters of what is required, including any restrictions on the methods to be adopted. By giving people whole jobs or the context of the whole job you will increase people’s understanding and motivation leading to a more satisfactory outcome all round.

• Gap Give your colleague time for reflection on their own. Create the gap with a statement such as: “Let me get us a cup of coffee while you stay here and have a think about the task. When I come back you can tell me how you’re going to go about doing it and what help you’ll need from me.”

• Part two Ask your colleague to brief you on any modifications they feel should be made to the goal (where appropriate); the way they plan to approach the task; what help they will need from you; and when they would like to review progress.

• Once delegation is compete, give your colleague immediate feedback on their contribution, and pass a summary on to their manager where appropriate.

Giving feedback

Longer-term delegation benefits greatly from formal (diarized) review and follow-up sessions. Follow the adage: “People don’t do what you expect—they do what you inspect!” Ad-hoc checking is generally sloppy and inefficient—in fact, imprecise questions such as: “How are things going?” result in inexact answers, such as: “Oh, fine!”, and almost invariably lead to problems at completion with missed deadlines or partial delivery. When reviewing a delegatee’s work, accept what is good enough, don’t criticize irrelevant details. Accept that a task may have been done differently to how you would have done it.