Delegating = Developing Leadership

How to get the most from effective delegation.
Article | Mon, 11/01/2010 - 01:00
By Jason W. Womack, Med, MA A typical day: sit down at a desk, move some paper around, make calls, send e-mail, and (probably) attend meetings. That’s work. Then, we come up with things that MUST be done, that we CANNOT do ourselves. When you delegate, you develop two leaders... 1. You as a leader, manager, and promoter of talent. 2. Them as individual contributors. Get the Most From Effective Delegation: Empower others; discuss priorities to delegate tasks and projects. Give them the practice and experience they need to grow, as well as yourself the time, energy, and focus to work on other projects.
  1. Be clear: Before you end a meeting, clarify what needs to be completed by when, and who is doing what part(s) of the project. If it’s a long-term project, build in weekly check-in milestones.
  2. Establish timelines: Build your system to track these deadlines and check-in dates. Add appointments to your calendar for the weekly check-ins to track that the project is on course. Hold people accountable.
  3. Manage It All: If you happen to be away from your desk when you delegate a task, make sure you have a way to track that item. Some people call their own voicemail, others e-mail themselves a message. A third way is to use a voice-to-text transcription service such as http://www.womackcompany.com/reqall/
For more information, visit www.womackcompany.com or www.twitter.com/jasonwomack

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by mricci | Tue, 12/21/2010 - 07:04
I often delegate creative tasks to web design agencies and I must admit that effective delegation is strictly related to the 3 points you highlighted in this post, Jason. Being clear about what needs to be done and by when is paramount. In particular, when dealing with creativity tasks (where the output is a website, a banner, etc.), it's important to make clear what we'd like to communicate, how and to whom. A few notes about the company's history, customers and values should always be included (the context). I also experienced that in this specific kind of delegation, it's always a good idea to give people some freedom initially, i.e. letting them develop different concepts/prototypes, before deciding the right route to take. (Marco Ricci - www.smarterlifeblog.com)