It’s all about making that start!

Step one: identify the tasks

The first step is to identify the tasks that would be suitable for delegation.

1. Make a list of all the tasks you currently perform.
2. Delete from the list the tasks you must do yourself. These may be tasks which:
   • Are a requirement of your job which no one else can do
   • You are ‘legally’ responsible for carrying out
   • Only you have the expertise and experience for and it would be impossible or impractical to help your team members gain that expertise and experience.
3. The tasks that have not been deleted from the list are those that you potentially could delegate totally or partially.
4. Ask the question – which of these tasks, if delegated, will free up the most time, so that I can concentrate on those tasks only I can do?

Step two: identify the individual

The second step is to identify the individual who would be best suited to undertake the delegated task.

In identifying the individual you may want to use some of the following selection criteria:

• Spare capacity (i.e. they’ve got the time)
• Best fit – in job terms
• The team member has a special interest in the task
• The delegated task may help to meet a development need
• The team member already has the skills or knowledge to complete the task

Step three: identify the appropriate degree of delegation

At this step you should consider the aptitude and potential of the team member and decide upon the ‘degree’ of delegation:

Degree 1: full delegation

The team member takes over the task fully.

Degree 2: shared delegation

You and the team member share the task and agree who will be responsible for which parts. This is useful when the person is not ready to take full responsibility but can do elements of it now and learn others later.

Degree 3: contributory delegation

At this stage the team member is not ready to take on a large part of the task but may contribute to some part of the task.

Now you’ve got the what, the who, and how much in place – is it time to delegate?

Proudfoot Consulting‘s Productivity Survey for 2007 (PDF, 3.1MB) shows that in the UK 33.3% of the time spent in work is unproductive. Taking into account that they estimate that the optimum ‘labour utilisation’ time is considered to be 85% this means that UK businesses are wasting just over 18% of working hours.

Here’s what they say about the reason:

“Whatever business you’re in, pay particular attention to the calibre and capabilities of those who directly supervise frontline workers. Poor worker supervision has always been a prominent reason for wasted working time in our Business Reviews and in the last two years has risen to become the dominant factor.”

That’s just short of a day a week, then, lost to poor supervision. Not good practice in any circumstance but in the current economic climate, potentially disastrous.

Before we explore this issue further I should point out that this report is based on research of large businesses (with turnover in excess of £100m). Clearly, managing staff in a smaller business can be very different. For example, there’s less likelihood of there being a long ‘chain of command’ and it’s clearly more difficult for staff members in a small enterprise to be unproductive, at least intentionally.

However, I’d say it’s worth all businesses, whatever the size, periodically taking a critical look at how they manage their staff.

Here are a few questions you can use to assess your people management practices (based on my model of effective people management):

1. Are your staff crystal clear on what’s expected of them? Have you described and agreed what good performance looks like for their job? Are these agreed descriptions written as performance standards or objectives?
2. Do you monitor your staff’s actual performance against the standards or objectives on an ongoing basis? Are your staff involved in monitoring their own performance?
3. Do you and your staff review together their performance on a regular basis (every three months is standard good practice)? Do you give them objective, evidence- based feedback? Do you agree on areas of outstanding performance and how these can be built upon? Do you identify and agree any areas of improvement?
4. Do you discuss your staff’s job satisfaction with them so that you can, together, develop ways to maintain or enhance their satisfaction?

Do you now feel like having a lie down?

I do know this all sounds like an awful lot of work and it certainly does take some time commitment to manage your staff effectively. However, research does demonstrate again and again that not only does effective people management positively impact productivity and business performance but it also positively impacts your staff’s job satisfaction.

A win for the business, a win for your staff and not nearly as hard as it sounds with the right tools and techniques.