The Now What: how to delegate, quotes, small talk, top 10 business books

June 28, 2022

This issue: How to delegate, leadership quotes, polite small talk, James Clear's top 10 business books

How to Delegate

Sometimes you delegate and things don't work out. Why is that?

There are three levels of delegation. It’s essential to be clear which level of delegation you want, and whether or not your colleague is ready.

Common causes of delegation failure are:

testing

Testing

delegating tasks above a colleague’s capability
not being clear about where they can improvise
not being clear on specifics
not checking in
no due date

Delegation isn’t simply handing off tasks and projects.

You need to know:

who to hand tasks to
their level of competence
their comfort with you
their bandwidth and resources
the clarity of your instructions

The Three Levels of Delegation

Checkbox Delegation
Consider and Recommend Delegation
Complete Delegation

Develop colleagues by progressively giving them higher levels of delegation.

Level One: Checkbox Delegation

“Do exactly this.”

You assign a specific task to be completed in a specific way. This is the simplest level of delegation.

Examples of Checkbox Delegation:

“get me the result of this blood test”
“edit this video file using this template”
“schedule a one-hour afternoon meeting with this person”

You assign a due date/time. Then, you await the results.

Level Two: Consider and Recommend Delegation

“Figure it out and get back to me with your recommendations.”

You identify a project or series of tasks to give to your colleague. Then you have your colleague filter through what is possible and how they would approach solution. And before they begin to work on the solution, you meet with them, get their input, and decide together the final approach.

Examples of Consider and Recommend Delegation:

“interview candidates and recommend your choice”
“put together a marketing plan”
“figure out a process and bring it to exec”

You assign a due date/time. Then, you check-in at intervals to support, understand barriers, and help.

Level Three: Complete Delegation

“This is your project.”

You make someone the CEO of a project. You give them full responsibility and accountability. They make the decisions, they figure out the approach, and they get it done.

Example of Complete Delegation:

“you’re our new VP of operations”
“organize our annual retreat”
“you’re in charge of my schedule”

You check-in at intervals to support, understand barriers, and help. They align with strategies, budgets, etc. But, this is their show.

Now What?

Leading with one-to-one conversations: Whether you are delegating or completing a project or task assigned to you, be clear about expectations. What is level of delegation?

Leading self: Many leaders resist delegating. It’s often their ability to get things done themself that helped them achieve success. Ironically, this starts to get in the way as they become leaders. They micromanage, get overwhelmed, and then get stuck. They fail to develop in their colleagues the ability to accomplish tasks, establish strategy, and take charge of projects.

A resistance to delegation may be rooted in your own internal fears.

The fear of wasting time.
The fear that they will lose control.
The fear that nobody else can do it.
The fear they will no longer be relevant if others can complete the tasks and projects.

As Brené Brown wrote in Dare to Lead:

“Leaders must either invest a reasonable amount of time attending to fears and feelings, or squander an unreasonable amount of time trying to manage ineffective and unproductive behavior.”

In my experience, leaders overcome these fears. You can too.

Leadership Quotes

Are you looking for a quote to strategically utter during conversation?

Leadership Now has you covered with lists of leadership quotes by topic.

Are you stuck at a meeting talking about the same problem (over and over) again? Try out this quote on problem solving:

"You know, I believe it was John Foster Dulles who said:"

”The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.”

Are you giving a presentation on the need for change? Throw this quote on a slide:

“Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change. — Confucius”

Or this one on thinking and judgment:

“Erroneous assumptions can be disastrous.” — Peter Drucker

Brainy Quotes is another good place to pick up a quote or two. And as Alexander the Great once said to someone who likes to write down quotes:

“Don’t be afraid of an army of lions led by sheep; Be afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”

Polite Small Talk.

Does making small talk at networking events tempt you to hide quietly in the corner?

This article How to Be Polite by Paul Ford advises the following:

When you are at a party and are thrust into conversation with someone, see how long you can hold off before talking about what they do for a living. And when that painful lull arrives, be the master of it. I have come to revel in that agonizing first pause, because I know that I can push a conversation through. Just ask the other person what they do, and right after they tell you, say: “Wow. That sounds hard.” Because nearly everyone in the world believes their job to be difficult.