How To Manage Those Delegated To
How to Manage Those Delegated To
by Andrew Cooke, Growth & Profit Solutions
This looks at how to assess what are the best ways to manage those doing delegated work.
This follows on from a previous article – The Art of Effective Delegation – which provides a 5-step process for effectively delegating work.
Now you have delegated the work, how can you best manage those to whom you have delegated the work? Different people have different requirements and need to be managed in different ways.
Although the content of the work will vary, there are two key factors which can be assessed for each individual – their enthusiasm to do the work, and their level of skills. This can be seen in the Coaching Matrix below.
Coaching Matrix for Delegated Work
Assessing each individual for each delegated piece of work allows you to do two things: firstly, to identify the coaching method that will work best for each individual in doing the delegated work and; secondly, to identify what needs to be developed with each individual in order to move them to a position of trust.
The 4 Coaching Methods
1. Supervise – Low Enthusiasm/Low Skill.
Here the individual has low levels of enthusiasm and skills in doing the delegated work. Here you need to regularly review the work they are done and whether it is up to standard, and find out what motivates them.
2. Motivate – Low Enthusiasm/High Skill.
The individual has low levels of enthusiasm and a high level of skills in doing the delegated work. They are able to do the work, but are rather complacent or lazy about doing this. You need to help them motivate themselves by enabling them to understand how they can benefit from doing so, or by creating peer pressure (e.g. ‘everyone at your level does this’), or having a suitable blend of carrot and stick.
3. Instruct – High Enthusiasm/Low Skill.
Here the individual has high levels of enthusiasm and low skills in doing the delegated work. They need to be instructed on how to do the work, this may include pairing them with someone who is skilled in doing this, or taking them through the task into separate stages and reviewing the work with them at each stage and checking their understanding.
4. Trust – High Enthusiasm/High Skill.
Here the individual has high levels of enthusiasm and high skills in doing the delegated work. This is the ideal place for a person to do the delegated work to be. You can leave them to do the job and review once it has been completed, or just have them tell you when the work is done.
The Coaching Matrix for Delegated Work allows you to assess how you can best assist those to whom you have delegated the work, based on their levels of enthusiasm and skills for the work. People, dependent on the work, will often be in different quadrants – so this helps you customise your approach to help them develop as necessary to get the work done effectively.
Use the worksheet below to help you determine what is needed for whom.
Delegated Work Worksheet
Remember, delegating effectively allows managers and leaders to free up time; ensure the work is down by the right person at the right level and on-time; helps to develop people and their capabilities; and allows the managers and leaders to focus on what is important – not just what is urgent.
So what are you going to delegate, to whom and how will you coach them to do the work effectively and to grow personally?
