Keith Tatley

Manager Foundation

Delegation in management is a powerful task management tool. Because successful delegation is how managers manage their workload by engaging the skills and dedication of their employees to produce work. In this module, you'll learn how to identify which tasks should be delegated.

Picking the right things to delegate is going to give you more success. If you're unsure about what you should delegate, this section is going to help you to identify the tasks that you should not be doing as a manager.

<ol>
	<li>Tracking What Tasks Absorb Your Time: Do you find yourself being busy all day but afterwards it's difficult to remember where all of your time has gone? The first worksheet will help you to identify where you lose your time throughout the day. If you already have a good awareness of what tasks take up your time during the day, then the you can skip straight to the second worksheet</li>
	<li>How to Choose What to Delegate: Once you know what you spend your time on and how much time these tasks take up, then you're ready to go through your responsibilities to pick good candidates to delegate. This worksheet will help you identify work that you should not be doing as a manager. And you can also work out how much time and money not delegating is costing you</li>
</ol>

Course Overview

What to Delegate - Intro

Introduction

<h2>Taking Control of Your Time</h2>

Do you know what you had for lunch last week Tuesday? Our memories aren’t designed to recall daily details like that. And it’s the same with the day to day tasks that we do. We’re really busy throughout the day but afterwards it’s difficult to know what tasks are really taking up our time. The first step to taking control of your calendar is to identify what tasks are absorbing your time.

<h3>Use an Activity Log Delegation Worksheet</h3>

This worksheet is to help you identify what activities take up your time during the workday.

Taking Control of Your Time

Work Tracking Worksheet

Tracking What Absorbs Your Time

Delegation Worksheet

How to Identify What to Delegate

Spring Clean Before Delegation

Bonus - Quick Wins

Where and when do you delegate to your employees? The more often and sooner, the better so there's no need to wait to create a barrier to delegating. But while you are developing your management skills and while your employees are getting more used to delegation, you will find it easier and more successful to delegate in your One on One meetings with your employees as I explain in this section.

One on One Meetings With Employees: The Heart of your Management Practice: 
Firstly I want to make a special mention of your one on one meetings with employees because this meeting is more important than delegating to your employees. That's because you can take care of almost all of your management duties in this single meeting, which minimises interruptions and saves you time. Whether you need to give performance communication, build relationships, delegate to your employees, develop your employees, follow up deliverables or anything else - this meeting is the perfect place to do it in. And setting up regular meetings is the best guarantee to keep things moving forward.

Just like delegation is an essential management skill that they don't teach you in school, the ability to run a One on One Meeting with Your Employees is another essential manager skill. Managers who don't think that One on One employee meetings are an effective and efficient way to manage employees are usually the managers who haven't been shown how to get the most out of these meetings. I know because no-one ever taught me how to have great one on one meetings, what to do, what to say, what agenda to follow, what forms to use etc. I had to research best practice and test to find the best way to have one on one meetings. That's why I give managers a quick and easy way to start One on One meetings with their employees in this short course. And you can access it for free over <a href="https://academy.mygo1.com/p/#/app/course/2676815/overview?instance=2525789">here:</a>

Why One on One Meetings are a good place to Delegate:

<ul>
	<li>Safe Place: While you are practicing your delegation skills, this is a safe, controlled environment. You're not going to be interrupted and you have your employees undivided attention</li>
	<li>Reminder: When you have regular One on One Meetings, they are a great reminder to delegate something, in this way you get to keep practicing your management skills while allocating more of your responsibilities to your employees</li>
	<li>Follow up: Sometimes the best intentions fail purely to a lack of follow up. Schedule regular One on Ones and you won't just have a regular reminder for yourself. Your employees will also know that they better have some results to show you in the next meeting</li>
	<li>Time Efficient: Some managers think One on One meetings are just another meeting that takes up time on an already busy schedule. Managers who know how to run One on One meetings know that they save them time because it's an efficient time slot to group communications. And One on One meetings minimise those annoying interruptions that make being a manager such a hard job.</li>
</ul>

Find out how to run kick-butt One on One Meetings with your employees in the online course: <a href="https://academy.mygo1.com/p/#/app/course/2676815/overview?instance=2525789">3 Steps to Easy One-on-Ones</a>

Your Management Meeting: One on Ones with Employees

Where and When to Delegate

<h2>Get the Job Done Right with the Right Employee for the Job</h2>

When it comes to delegating work, one of the secrets to success is who you choose to delegate to. Delegating to the wrong person is like trying to teach your cat to swim. 

The magical thing about people is that we are all different. We have different skills, abilities and interests. What is impossible for some is easy for others. What is mind numbingly dull for some is an interesting challenge for others. Finding someone with the skills and desire to do the difficult job that you don't want to do is like finding free money. Weaker managers complain that their employees aren't like them, great managers know how to find strength in diversity. 

On the negative side, some of your employees just plain lack the skills, time or interest to do a good job and should be avoided. The following will help you match tasks to employees. Start with the tasks that you have identified in the "How to Identify What to Delegate" section and then work through these criteria to see what employees best match the responsibility.

<h2>Four ways to Choose Who to Delegate to</h2>

There’s more than one way to make your choice, have a look at these four suggestions and use the best combination that works for you. They are:

<ol>
	<li>Delegate Based on Your Employee</li>
	<li>Delegate to Achieve Your Management Objectives</li>
	<li>Delegate as a Test</li>
	<li>Socialise your Problems</li>
</ol>

1. Delegate Based on Your Employee

One way of choosing which employee to delegate to, is by looking at the employee’s capabilities and desires:

<ul>
	<li>What are their interests and abilities?</li>
	<li>What are their strengths and unique talents?</li>
	<li>Has one of your directs perhaps expressed an interest in assisting with this task or project?</li>
	<li>Which of your directs has indicated a desire to grow and develop their role within the team/ department/ organization?</li>
</ul>

Note: We all know that some people suit some jobs more than others. But what is it that makes people different and how do you identify what people are naturally suited to a job and what people aren't? 

<ol>
	<li>This is one of the reasons for One on One meetings with employees because this is where you get to know what your employees strengths, weaknesses, tendencies and desires are.</li>
	<li>You can use behaviour models to discover how to be a better boss with the different personality types on your team. This is also a manager skill I call "Using DISC to Manage Diversity" and you can read about this powerful tool over here: <a href="https://managerfoundation.com/disc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">managerfoundation.com/disc</a></li>
</ol>

<h2>2. Delegate to Achieve Your Management Objectives</h2>

Choosing employees based on your Manager Objectives

But it's not just about what your employee wants because you can also use delegation as a tool to improve performance. Another way of choosing employees is to think about what you are trying to achieve. Consider the following:

<ul>
	<li>Higher performers: Your better employees will produce better results. In general if you're trying to get something important done fast with the minimum fuss, then pick the higher performers</li>
	<li>Have you got employees who need to be more productive: Giving extra work is a way to increase productivity or use up slack time.</li>
	<li>Underperforming Employees: Employees not doing well in their jobs are a sign that they are not doing work that they are suited to. Delegation is a method to motivate them plus find alternative work that they are good at.</li>
	<li>Employees with "Attitude" Problems: Employees who don't fit in and respond negatively to authority can sometimes be turned around by giving them an important responsibility. When someone complains how something is being done, give them a chance to fix it themselves. Either they will find you a better solution, or come to a better understanding about why things are they way they are. Often "attitude" problems are an indication of an employee in a mismatched role - helping them to find work that is meaningful to them will help them feel like they are in the right job.</li>
</ul>

Who To Delegate To

Here are two hacks you can use to quickly get delegation results and figure out who the best person to delegate to is:

<ol>
	<li>Delegate the Same Task to More Than One Person at the Same Time: This is like having a live job interview to figure out who is best person for the job. This minimises the chance of something going wrong because you will get more than one result. And it's a great way to engage the creativity of your team because everyone does things differently and has different strengths</li>
	<li>"Socialise" your problem by talking about it in your One on One Meetings: When I have a problem that I don't know how to immediately solve, I find that it's best to talk to people about the problem and what I'm trying to do. It's good practice to share what you are trying to achieve with your employees because this helps to align your employees to solve the same problems that you want solved. And your employees are close enough to the business to know something about the problem but still different enough to provide a different perspective. When you do this you will also get a better information about your employees: Are they interested in the problem? Do they have skills that you don't know about? And it's not unheard of your employees volunteering to help.</li>
</ol>

Secret Ninja Manager Tricks: Choosing Who To Delegate To

Choosing Who to Delegate To: Your Employees are the Other Half of Successful Delegation

<h2>Not Enough Hours in the Day? Stop Trying to do Everything Yourself</h2>

<ul>
	<li>
	Overflowing inbox? Wish your employees would do more?
	</li>
	<li>
	Get stuff done while growing your employees with Effective Delegation.
	</li>
	<li>Get your time back AND improve your earnings</li>
</ul>

Do you feel stressed and overloaded with work? Do you wish your employees could and would do more? Successful bosses aren't the hardest working bosses. Successful bosses are bosses who know how to delegate effectively "to get stuff done".

Some people say "If you want something done right, do it yourself." But this is just a management myth because effective managers know how to motivate their employees to do a better job than they could do on their own.

If you feel like a superhero carrying the world on your shoulders then it's time to give yourself the help and support that you need to manage your workload by learning the art and science of Effective Delegation with the <a href="https://academy.mygo1.com/p/#/app/course/2630961/overview?instance=2525789" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ultimate Guide to Delegation Course.</a>

<ul>
	<li>Did you know that tasks that are routine boredom for you can be exciting development opportunities for one of your employees?</li>
	<li>Did you know that your employees have unutilised skills and abilities?</li>
</ul>

Effective delegation is a way to manage your own workload while growing your employees skills and abilities at the same time. 

When you do Delegation right, your employees love it too because they are learning and growing.

<h2>Delegation in Management - a Powerful Management Skill</h2>

Delegation in management is a powerful task management tool. Because successful delegation is how managers manage their workload by engaging the skills and dedication of their employees to produce work. But Effective delegation is more than that because it's also like a mini promotion. Successful delegation engages employees and motivates staff. This increases employee performance. But when delegation in management is done badly it becomes yet another task that an under-performing employee doesn't want to do. This short course includes a free manager delegation worksheet.

Using a delegation tool is the best method to ensure successful delegation. I’ve spent years researching, developing and testing the best of the best so that you don’t have to. I share this and many more proven management techniques with you in the free <a href="http://managerfoundation.com/boss-camp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">www.boss.camp program</a>.

<h3>The Ultimate Guide to Delegation Will Provide You With Proven, Easy-to-Implement and Practical Action Steps For:</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Identifying what to delegate,</li>
	<li>How to make the delegation - right down to the right words to use,</li>
	<li>Delegation mistakes to avoid and,</li>
	<li>How to avoid reverse delegation.</li>
</ul>

Find out more here: <a href="https://academy.mygo1.com/p/#/app/course/2630961/overview?instance=2525789" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Ultimate Guide to Delegation</a>

The Ultimate Guide to Delegation

As a participant of one of our online training programs, you are now eligible to join the Manager Foundation Alumni Community.

Click here to apply to join:

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/groups/5070496">https://www.linkedin.com/groups/5070496</a>

What you will get includes:

<ul>
	<li>Access to experienced managers to find solutions to your employee performance problems</li>
	<li>A chance to share your own expertise</li>
	<li>A place to find trained managers to recruit</li>
	<li>A place to market your own skills to people who appreciate the value of manager skills</li>
</ul>

Joining the Manager Foundation Alumni Community

CPD (CPE) Continuing Professional Development Credits

I run Boss Camp in classes. You can apply to join the next Boss Camp class over here:

<a href="http://www.boss.camp/">WWW.BOSS.CAMP</a>

Bonus:

<ol>
	<li>This will also tell you more about Boss Camp and</li>
	<li>As an application bonus, I'm currently giving away one of my simplest but effective "Secret Ninja Manager Skills"</li>
</ol>

How to Identify What to Delegate

What you'll learn

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