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When you want to improve people’s performance when you delegate to them
“If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.”
Henry Ford
I love this quote. It makes me smile. And it also makes a great point:
In fact, the expert is bound to know more about how they can help than the beneficiary ever could, because they’re the expert. This is one of the reasons Steve Jobs didn’t believe in customer research, saying that it was Apple’s job to know what customers wanted before they did.
This concept has big implications when you’re delegating (in other words, when you’re the beneficiary).
When buying from suppliers:
- Don’t specify the deliverables (“Please give me a new computer system”).
- Instead, explain your desired future, and ask how they can best help (“We want our office to be more efficient, removing our bottlenecks and freeing up everyone’s time. What do you suggest?”).
When delegating to an expert:
- Don’t specify how the job is to be done (“I need a report by Friday”). Even if you say “Pretty please, could I possibly have the report by Friday”, you’re still focusing on the job. As my wife Emma says: “This is like someone barking out orders with fluff on”. This stifles people’s expertise and/or engagement. It often leads to suboptimal results.
- Instead, explain your desired future, and ask the expert how they can best help (“We need to work more closely with the Finance Department. I’d like to have made some progress on this by the end of the week. How do you think we can achieve this?”).
Delegating obviously depends on a person’s level of expertise. Someone with no experience might need you to guide them on the deliverable. If it helps, brief them using the following approach (it works well in writing or when you talk it through):
My objectives
I want . . . [INSERT YOUR OBJECTIVE I.E. YOUR DESIRED FUTURE STATE]
I know we’re not achieving this now because . . . [INSERT YOUR EVIDENCE THERE’S A PROBLEM]
I’ll know it’s happening when . . . [INSERT YOUR MEASURES OF SUCCESS]
But please bear in mind
We’re constrained by [INSERT THE FACTORS THAT MIGHT GET IN THE WAY]
Immediate next steps
Please can you [INSERT ACTION] by [INSERT DEADLINE].
Here’s an example of how it might look:
My objectives
I want our colleagues to be more engaged.
I know we’re not achieving this now because the Employee Engagement scores are so low. Also, people are turning up later to meetings, and not doing things unless I shout at them!
I’ll know it’s happening when:
- They turn up to meetings on time.
- They do things I ask first time.
- Our staff survey will show improved Employee Engagement scores.
But please bear in mind
We’re constrained by the fact we’ve another big project this month, so everyone is time-poor. Also, the absolute maximum budget for this is $25,000.
Immediate next steps
Please advise how you think we should progress before the end of the week.
The template makes it crystal clear what you want them to help you achieve, but empowers them to devise the best way to do it. You’ll therefore find it often leads to people doing better work in a better way, in a better frame of mind. When you don’t do this, even though you don’t know it, you might be asking for a faster horse . . .
