How to Delegate Meaningful Work

          The hallmark of good supervision is effective delegation.  Delegation is when supervisors give responsibility and authority to subordinates to complete a task, and let the subordinates figure out how the task can be accomplished.  Effective delegation develops people who are ultimately more fulfilled and productive.  Supervisors become more fulfilled and productive themselves as they learn to count on their staff and are freed up to attend to more strategic issues.

Delegation is often very difficult for new supervisors.  Many supervisors want to remain comfortable, making the same decisions they have always made.  They believe they can do a better job themselves.  They don’t want to risk losing any of their power and stature.  Often, they don’t want to risk giving authority to subordinates in case they fail and impair the organization. Finally, delegating takes time and effort to prepare the information and communicate desired results. It may seem easier to do it yourself, rather than take the time to show someone else how.

Delegating the tasks you have mastered will free you up for more challenging work that develops you; and will build your employees’ skills and abilities. You want to foster employee involvement and employee empowerment to enable your team members to deliver their best effort at work.  These tips for successful delegation will help you help your employees succeed when they are most empowered. 

Employee - select an appropriate employee, one with the right level of experience and time.  If you select an employee who will need training, be sure to account for this in your presentation of the project or task.

Big Picture - whenever possible, give the person a whole task to do.  (If you can’t give the employee a whole task, make sure they understand the overall purpose of the project or task.  If possible, connect them to the group that is managing or planning the work.  Staff members contribute most effectively when they are aware of the big picture.)

Establish Expectations - make sure the employee understands exactly what you want them to do and when you want it completed.  Ask questions, watch the work performed, provide examples, or have the employee give you feedback to make sure your instructions were understood. Include in your expectations a list of outcomes or ways the task must be completed grouped by importance: “must haves,” “nice-to-haves,” and “non-directed.”

Authority - give authority to match the level of responsibility.  Be sure to let the employee know when they can make decisions and when they need to consult you.  Below is a list of delegation levels with examples of when to use each one:

·         Tell – the delegate has low ability; the project must be done a particular way; surprises are not acceptable

·         Sell – the delegate has moderate ability; the project must be done a specific way

·         Test – you have ideas but are open to other ideas and insights

·         Consult – the delegate has moderately high ability; others might have innovative ideas or know more than you do

·         Delegate – the delegate has high ability; you can define the vision and don’t need to know the how

Checkpoints – identify the key points of the project or dates when you want feedback about progress.  This is the critical path that provides you with the feedback you need without causing you to micromanage your direct report or team.  You need assurance that the delegated task or project is on track.  You also need the opportunity to influence the project’s direction and the team or individual’s decisions.

Closure – after the task or project is completed, meet with the employee to review how the delegation went. 

·         Did you select the right employee?

·         Did the employee have enough authority to keep the project moving? 

·         Were the timelines realistic? 

·         Did the employee have access to tools and training necessary to complete the project? 

·         Were the instructions clear and concise?

When you receive the delegated work back, give yourself enough time to review it thoroughly. If you accept unsatisfactory work, the employee does not learn how to do the job properly. Go over your review with the employee step-by-step, so that they can learn your review process and understand more about the desired results. Of course, if their work is good, make sure to reward the results using your highly-honed feedback skills.

How to Host a Successful Meeting

          Have you ever attended or hosted a meeting, only to be disgusted with your fellow attendees' behavior or the complete waste of time?  Wait!  Before you schedule your next meeting as a host or attendee against your better judgement, consider the following.
          Meetings should only be held in two situations:  collaboration or conversation.  Any other circumstances can be taken care of with a memo or a short power point.  If you must hold a meeting, follow these four steps and attendance and attitude will improve:

1. Send an agenda and your meeting materials the day before.  You may even send a task or reminder set the day before so that people arrive to the meeting informed and ready to go.
2. Be on time and stick to the meeting time frame.  If the discussion looks like it will go long, reschedule that item for another time.  This is being respectful of other peoples' time, which will be much appreciated.
3. Invite the right people.  Check your attendee list, are you missing any key decision makers?  Do you have any extra attendees who don't need to participate in the discussion, only be informed of the results?
4. Send a follow-up with a summary of decisions and assignments that came from the meeting.

If you are not the meeting coordinator, but you often find yourself attending useless meetings, try these steps to manage your meeting holder:

• Start meetings on time.  If the meeting holder is late, wait 10 minutes, then send a polite request to reschedule.
• Request an agenda and meeting materials the day before the meeting.  At first, you may not get anything back.  Stick with it, if the host knows that you are going to request information beforehand, eventually they will catch on and send it with the invite.
• Keep the meeting time limited.  If a particular topic goes long, suggest moving it to another time.  If the meetings you attend often extend past their time limit, politely excuse yourself from the meeting and offer to contact someone to get the information you will miss.  Sometimes just making this gesture will wrap up a meeting that's dragging.
• Send a follow-up email outlining the decisions and action steps that you will be taking as a result of the meeting.

There are just some people out there who are habitually bad meeting participants.  The best you can do is follow the above steps and keep your cool.

A free resource to help plan, organize, and collaborate your meetings is MeetingKing.  It's an online tool to create agendas, store and share documents, track tasks, and keep a record of past meetings.  

The 8-Hour Workday Habit

          Have you ever heard of the game called Superfection?  It's a timed game, where you fit pieces together into the shape of squares on a board.  If you do not get all of the pieces on the board before the time is up, the board pops up with a loud "kapow" and the pieces go flying.  I had it as a child, and spent many hours beating the timer.  Recently, my daughter pulled the game out, and I heard the familiar sound of the timer, the "kapow", and her squeal as she played.  Of course, my son and I had to get involved.  I remembered that my best time was 60 seconds, and the challenge was set.
          Amazingly, I recalled the skills I had developed when I was younger and was quickly able to bring my time down to 59 seconds.  My son was impressed with how calm and deliberate my hands were as I played.  My kids are still working on it.  Then my son had an intriguing idea.  What if we set the timer to only have 60 seconds on it?  What would happen when we weren't just beating our time, but we were under pressure to beat the game's "kapow?"
          As a small business owner, you put in as many hours as your business needs to be successful.  You often have 12 to 14-hour days, and never a day so short as 8 hours.  As a matter of fact, you could say that you are in the habit of working long hours.  The thing about habits is that they become ingrained.  We perform the habit's motions but lose the meaning.  
          Business owners in the habit of working long days lose a sense of time.  Since they are "at work" most of the day, tasks can take as long as they need to.  If you are in a service business, appointments can run long, because your day is booked in units of customers instead of units of time.  You just start at the beginning and work until you've seen all the customers on you schedule for that day.  This can be true of other business types.  The mindset is on completing the task, not on the time it takes to do it.  
          While giving the customer or task as much time as it takes may seem like superior customer service, in reality, it leads to inefficiencies and waste.  The customer may not appreciate that you are consistently late to start their appointment (because of the overlap from previous appointments), or that their appointment with you runs long.  Taking longer to complete tasks most often does not mean that you did a better job, it just means that it took longer and so your day stretches on.
          Another effect of an endless day is that you begin to mix your personal activities with your work time.  Since you are never home and never have time off, you begin to take care of your personal emails, bill paying, phone calls, and maybe even errands during business time.  This is a matter of survival, right?  If not now, when?  The result is that you always have a working mindset.  You never give yourself down time, you never feel you are away from the business, and burnout drags you down further.
          I propose that you take a different approach.  Set the timer to as much time as you want to give your business in a day, before you start your day.  You may even set a reminder to go off an hour before your day ends, so that you can take stock and wind up your day.  Start with a 10-hour day, because cutting too much time off too quickly will lead to frustration.  Since you are creating a new habit, you will have a learning curve.  Plan on struggling with it at first, but just like a diet, forgive yourself and start fresh with the next day.
          You will need to clear your personal activities off your work day calendar.  You will need to schedule a reasonable day.  You can use tools from The Busyness Habit to help.  Be firm about the timer and end your day when it goes off.  You will be amazed at how quickly you will adjust to the day, and your new habit will be to go home at a reasonable hour.
          Playing Superfection with the threat of the "kapow" caused me to go back to some old struggles.  My hands were shaking and I had trouble getting the pieces to fit together.  But then, I took a deep breath, reminded myself that I could to this, and went back to calmly beating the timer.

Photo courtesy of marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com

The Busy Habit

          As a small business owner, you know what busy is.  Often, you are wearing multiple hats and performing jobs in which you have little or no training or background.  You know you'll figure it out eventually, or grow your business and hire someone else to do it.  In the meantime, you are spending a lot of time learning new skills and, well, running a business.
          Busy is an attitude, not a state of being.  Creating habits to help you stay organized and manage your schedule can reduce your stress level, and give you confidence in your day.  You will probably have as much, or more, to do; but you will feel like it is manageable.  

• First, write out your to do list, highlight the important tasks (no more than five), cross off the rest, then store the list in your drawer.  The To Do List exercise is a good tool to focus your thoughts and help you keep your eye on the big ticket items, but you can burn a lot of time tending to it and a long list can make you feel defeated before you've even started.  At the end of the day, get out the list and rewrite it for the next day, adding any tasks that came in during the day, but save the highlighting for when you are fresh the next morning.  Put a big check mark next to completed items and enjoy that satisfying feeling.  
• Second, set realistic expectations early and often.  Your customers, suppliers, and employees may demand more from your business than you are prepared or capable of giving.  Know your limitations, communicate that, and then stick to them.  You may have to get in the habit of considering your calendar and capabilities before you accept a new obligation.  Practice saying "sure, but can I get that to you tomorrow (or another reasonable time frame)?"
• Last, use your email program to organize and schedule your time, then commit to sticking to it.  Most programs come with reminders, tasks, and the ability to move emails to your calendar.  Categorize your emails and tasks during your To Do List exercise.  Block time on your calendar for administrative tasks, phone calls, meetings, and follow up.  When you are obligating yourself or your business, open the calendar and use it.

If you keep these three points in mind as you work through your day, how you spend your time becomes easy.  Just like a diet or new exercise regime, being organized is a habit.  The initial effort takes time, but eventually it will become a background part of your day.  If you find yourself slipping, or you have a "busy" day, take a deep breath, remember that tomorrow is another chance, and forgive yourself.