Effective Delegation of Authority

  Effective Delegation of Authority

  A (Really) Short Book for New Managers About How to Delegate Work Using a Simple Delegation Process

  By

  Hassan Osman

  Effective Delegation of Authority: A (Really) Short Book for New Managers About How to Delegate Work Using a Simple Delegation Process

  Copyright © 2019 by Hassan Osman.

  Notice of Rights

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author. Reproduction or translation of this work in any form beyond that permitted by section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act is strictly prohibited. For permission requests, please contact the author. Reviewers may quote brief passages in reviews.

  Liability Disclaimer and FTC Notice

  The purpose of this book is to provide the user with general information about the subject matter presented. This book is for entertainment purposes only. This book is not intended, nor should the user consider it, to be legal advice for a specific situation. The author, company, and publisher make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy, fitness, completeness, or applicability of the contents of this book. They disclaim any merchantability, fitness or warranties, whether expressed or implied. The author, company, and publisher shall in no event be held liable for any loss or other damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. This disclaimer applies to any damages by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer malware, communication line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or use of record, whether for breach of contract, tort, negligence, or under any other cause of action.

  By reading this book, you agree that the use of it is entirely at your own risk and that you are solely responsible for your use of the contents. The advice of a competent legal counsel (or any other professional) should be sought. The author, company, and publisher do not warrant the performance, effectiveness or applicability of any sites or references listed in this book. Some links are affiliate links. This means that if you decide to make a purchase after clicking on some links, the author will make a commission. All references and links are for information purposes only and are not warranted for content, accuracy or any other implied or explicit purpose.

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Your Free Bonus

  Section I: Before Delegation

  Section II: During Delegation

  Section III: After Delegation

  Conclusion

  Thank You!

  Introduction

  There are three reasons why you should read this book.

  The first is that it will help you avoid the common mistakes that new managers make when delegating tasks. Mistakes such as believing you can do it all yourself (you can’t), micro-managing your employees (not a good idea), or assuming that delegation is about instant gratification (it’s not).

  After reading this book, you will learn that delegation is a long-term process that requires a significant investment of time and patience from your end, but always results in a win-win arrangement for you and your subordinates. You will benefit by saving time and being able to focus on more strategic tasks. And your employees will benefit by growing and developing in their careers to become managers themselves.

  The second reason is that you'll get a comprehensive process. Gaining positive results from delegation requires that you follow a step-by-step method.

  The problem is that most new managers typically follow only a handful of those steps and then wonder why their subordinates are not doing a great job.

  So you'll get a complete end-to-end process that shows you exactly what to do before delegation, during delegation, and after delegation.

  The third reason is that you’ll learn immediately applicable tactics.

  In this book, I avoid discussing useless high-level strategies or impractical delegation methods. Instead, I focus on simple tips that you can implement straight away. We’ll cover topics such as how to properly assign authority levels and how to use specific phrases that motivate your subordinates.

  I'll also share examples of what you should avoid and what you should focus on when delegating tasks.

  With that, let’s get started.

  Who is this book for?

  This book is for individual contributors or entrepreneurs who recently became new managers of three or more employees and want to learn more about how to delegate effectively. You’ll learn simple concepts that will help you become a better team leader and manager, so you can free up your time to focus on more important tasks.

  Why should you listen to what I have to say?

  I manage teams for a living.

  I’m currently a Project Management Office (PMO) leader at Cisco Systems, where I lead a team of over 150 project and program managers on delivering complex projects across the world (lawyer-required note: the opinions in this book are mine and not those of Cisco).

  Prior to Cisco, I was a management consultant at Ernst & Young (now EY), where I ran projects and programs at Fortune 100 companies.

  Every single initiative or process that I oversaw required that I delegate activities to other resources, and I experienced what works and what doesn’t when delegating tasks.

  This book contains the best of the best practical advice that will help you manage your subordinates effectively.

  You’ll also get a few examples and templates that help you understand the concepts better.

  How is this book organized?

  To make the best use of your time, I’ve cut out any extraneous fluff that doesn’t add much value, boiling this book down to its essentials. But don’t equate the brevity of this book with a lack of usefulness. You’ll get a clear, step-by-step process to delegate tasks the right way.

  This book is organized into three main sections. Section I is about what you need to do before delegation. Section II covers what you need to do during delegation, and Section III is about what you need to do after delegation.

  In each section, I cover the exact steps you need to take to ensure that you’re delegating successfully.

  Although some of these steps might seem elementary or redundant, please don’t skip over any of them. They have been carefully thought out as part of a comprehensive delegation process.

  Your Free Bonus

  As a thank you for your purchase, I’m offering a free bonus that is exclusive to my readers.

  This bonus includes a couple of downloadable templates to help you with your delegation process: a one-page cheat sheet and a sample delegation template.

  The one-page cheat sheet summarizes all the tips in this book on one single page. This will serve as a quick refresher of the concepts and can be saved or printed out as a handy reminder.

  The sample delegation template matches the example given in this book, so you will save time by simply copying & pasting it.

  The files are in Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word format so that you can start using them right away.

  Click here to download your free bonus that includes both templates.

  Section I: Before Delegation

  In this section, we’ll cover the two steps that you need to follow before you delegate your tasks. These include determining what to delegate, and who to delegate to.

  Step One: Determine What to Delegate

  One of the main reasons why new managers don't delegate the right way is because they don't think through the tasks that they're going to assign ahead of time.

/>   This is important because making the wrong decision when you start with the delegation process will almost always result in a negative outcome. If the task is confusing or too complicated, then you’re likely setting your subordinate up for failure, and you may both end up disappointed.

  Here are three tips that help you determine what to delegate.

  Tip 1: Know what you want

  Before saying anything to your employee, you should first think about what you want.

  This may sound obvious, but many new managers make the mistake of starting a delegation discussion with their employees while they're still in brainstorming mode.

  This problem is further exacerbated when coupled with the fact that employees usually won’t question their manager’s request because they want to avoid being perceived as incompetent.

  An invitation to discussion from a manager may instead be interpreted as a hard directive, leaving subordinates to try and execute ambiguous tasks.

  These factors can lead to situations where employees are confused about delegation expectations, which can result in failure.

  So be prepared and know exactly what you want to delegate to your subordinate before you speak with them.

  A best practice is to simply write out the task ahead of time so that you crystallize your thoughts.

  Here’s a simple phrase you can complete: “I need my employee to .”

  For example: “I need my employee to complete the PowerPoint slides and update the Excel financial spreadsheet for our monthly senior leadership meeting.”

  Tip 2: Start with small tasks

  The second tip is to start by delegating small tasks that help you and your employee build trust over time.

  By “small tasks,” I am referring to two things. First, those tasks which are trivial in scope and complexity, meaning they typically require less time to accomplish. Second, tasks that are considered non-critical, which means they’re not going to kill your business or reputation if your subordinate fails.

  Here are a couple of examples to help explain the difference between small tasks and complex/critical tasks:

  Task A: Create a status report for a weekly meeting

  Task B: Present on the client’s quarterly business review meeting

  Task A is obviously the smaller of the two. Creating a status report for a weekly meeting with a limited audience takes less time and wouldn’t be considered a very critical task. On the other hand, task B, which includes an important presentation to a client, could result in some serious negative consequences if it doesn’t go well.

  So start by delegating a task such as task A before you consider delegating a task such as task B.

  Giving an employee a low-risk task helps them increase their confidence. It also means that should they make mistakes, there would be no serious consequences. Starting from here allows you to build a high level of trust with your employee over time.

  Tip 3: Avoid delegating sensitive tasks

  There are some tasks that you should never delegate. These include sensitive tasks that involve people management or personnel issues, and they should be handled by you personally.

  For example, tasks such as performance management discussions, or hiring or firing of employees, should never be delegated. Other examples include tasks that require access to confidential information or tasks that your own supervisor asks you to get done personally.

  Moreover, because your position likely carries an inherent level of authority that your employees may not have, any issues that are escalated up to you should not be delegated back down the management chain.

  Step Two: Determine Who to Delegate to

  The second step before you delegate a task is to think through who the best person is for the role.

  If you only have one subordinate on your team, then you can obviously skip this step. But if you have two or more team members, then here are a couple of tips that will help you out.

  Tip 1: Know your team’s capabilities

  Before you assign any tasks, think about the skills and capabilities of your team members, as well as what their strengths and weaknesses are.

  New managers usually make the mistake of assuming that their team members have equal strengths, but, of course, that’s not true. You should put some thought into finding the right person-role fit, which measures the harmony between an individual and the role they’re assigned to.

  For example, someone on your team who is detail-oriented will do better with tasks that require a high degree of attention to detail (like spreadsheet analysis), whereas someone who is big-picture-oriented will do better with creative tasks (like coming up with marketing ideas).

  Another factor you should consider is the time which your team members have available. Adding to the workload of someone who is already operating at capacity is a recipe for disappointing results.

  Finally, keep in mind that finding the right person for the task is not a perfect science. Don’t overthink it and simply trust your gut. You can always readjust later.

  Note: Some managers like to do extensive research to make sure they’re assigning tasks as optimally as possible, developing detailed matrices and assessments of traits like competence and passion. I personally don’t do this as I think this level of analysis is usually not needed, especially since I can always tweak my decisions later on. If this is something you prefer to do, just remember that any decisions you make based on your research do not need to be set in stone.

  Tip 2: Look for leaders

  The second tip is to look for leaders.

  If the right person-role fit is not one hundred percent clear to you, or if you have more than one candidate for the role, then choose a natural leader to take on the task.

  A natural leader is someone who frequently takes proactive action and typically goes above and beyond their day-to-day duties.

  These employees are motivated to move to the next level and develop their skill sets, so allow them to take on more responsibility.

  If you're unsure who on your team might be a natural leader, then simply ask for someone to volunteer to take on additional assignments. This will quickly reveal your high-potential subordinates.

  Section II: During Delegation

  After you determine what to delegate and who to delegate to, the next phase is to actually delegate the task to your employee.

  In this section, we’ll cover the steps that you need to take during delegation. These include explaining the task clearly, describing your goals, giving a clear timeline, describing the authority level, and documenting everything in writing.

  Step One: Explain the Task Clearly

  The first step during delegation is to explain the task clearly. Here are three tips to help you accomplish that.

  Tip 1: Set up a short meeting

  The first tip is to schedule a quick meeting to go over the task with your subordinate verbally.

  This doesn't have to be a formal meeting and could be a quick 15-minute phone call to give your employee the chance to understand the task better and discuss it with you.

  Whatever you do, don’t send an email as a first step, especially when you're first starting out as a manager. Emails are very transactional modes of communication and do not give you a good sense of whether your subordinate fully grasps the task.

  I mention this as a precaution because I know that, as a new manager, it is easy to become overwhelmed with the new role and default to emails instead of meetings.

  As you progress in your relationship, building trust over time, you can move on to emails, but stick to meetings when first starting out.

  Tip 2: Be direct and go slow

  The second tip is to be direct with your task description by being one hundred percent clear on what you're looking for. If you took the time to define what you really want before you started your delegation discussion, then this part is straightforward. Just rephrase the outcome you already defined by adding a bit more detail. br />
  Make sure you also include any supporting information that your employee might need, such as the format you want your work product to be in, or any access to tools they might need. You also want to avoid making any assumptions about what they might know. Err on the side of caution and give them more information than you think they might need.

  And go slow with your task description. People need time to process information and don't want to feel incompetent by asking you to repeat yourself.