Life Coach Training—Passing the Baton: Notes About Effective Delegation
Effective delegation develops people who ultimately become more fulfilled and productive. Managers become more fulfilled and productive themselves as they learn to count on their staff members and are freed up to attend to more strategic issues.
Not all good workers are good leaders.
Just like me, I believe I am a good worker, much like a perfectionist, and I can’t seem to translate and efficiently use that to my advantage when I was once given a team to manage back then.
I wondered why and out of my frustration I decided to look into it and brought up my concern during my life coach training. I tried to go over my experience with my coach and he told me one thing that I seemed to lack and what other perfectionists seem to have a hard time practicing regarding leadership and having teams delegation.
This article will take you through a comprehensive take on learning how to pass the baton effectively.
This Article Includes:
What is Delegation
3 Elements of Delegation
Importance and Benefit of Delegation
Barriers: How Delegation Fails
Determining When to Delegate Tasks
Delegating Tasks Effectively
Life Coach Training and the Delegation Dial
Key Takeaways
What is Delegation
In my desire to fully tap my leadership potential I decided to take a life coach certification program because I can’t seem to manage my group well when in fact I believe that I have the right—even the best people in my team. I learned that having the right people and was not enough to efficiently use the talents and skills we have as a team. I found out that I lacked effective delegation to amp up our group dynamics.
“To delegate is to assign responsibility and authority to someone else to complete the task at hand but you retain the overall responsibility for its success. Delegation of authority is very important to any organization as it empowers employees or team members.” – Marketing91.com
This section will talk about the essential elements of delegation, its importance and benefits, and the barriers of delegation.
3 Elements of Delegation
Delegation is not just about giving someone a task, it also entails ensuring that it is aptly done. There are three principal elements of effective delegation these are accountability, responsibility, and authority.
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- Accountability
Accountability is the sense of moral urgency or obligation that is felt in the pursuit of the objective and goals of a given task. When you give a task (or is given a task) to someone and they accept it, it automatically binds you two to an agreement (can be expressed or implied) that the task will be carried out to the best of their abilities. Accountability is about taking and doing the right action to complete a task. - Responsibility
The sense of responsibility can be assigned but not delegated. Responsibility is still being liable for the task that you assigned to your teammate; this means that since you sought help from your teammate this does not mean that the general responsibility for the task that was expected from you is transferred, you are still answerable if things go inappropriately. Delegation is about doing the job and reaching the desired goal or results not transfer the duty and liability that was primarily yours. - Authority
Authority can be delegated; your teammate can act on your behalf as long as it is within and needed by the task that you assigned them with. Parts of your formal authority can be transferred for them to do the assignment but the two of you should be clear on a certain line or bounds.An important lesson I learned from coaching courses online
is that a higher position gives you more authority, that whenever you delegate a task to your teammates it can more challenging and meaningful for them since they have to step up from their usual limits in authority. This kind of delegation can help them learn, develop, grow, and find the other potentials that are beneficial for their careers.
- Accountability
Importance and Benefits of Delegation
I’m so used to taking on every responsibility because I believe I can do the best. Through life coach training I learned that this was not beneficial especially if I am working as a leader of a team.
I learned that it is important to know and recognize that I can’t do everything on my own, and I shouldn’t do everything— especially if I have a team. You should empower and utilize the strengths of your team to build trust and aid in professional and career development. Delegation is a way for leaders to determine the right people that are suited for the tasks.
Team leads are assigned with a lot of tasks and delegation is just one way to lighten their workload. Dr. Williams, a professor of management at Wright State University, said it is a way to harbor a heightened sense of commitment, trust, and commitment from employees, “Delegation can also be a clear sign that you respect your subordinates’ abilities and that you trust their discretion.”
Delegation helps employees gain knowledge, develop and discover skills and strengths which can then help them get ready for more responsibilities as they further their careers.
Below are the 4 benefits of delegation:
1. Delegation helps leaders keep a work-life balance.
Going up the ladder means taking on more responsibilities and tasks; leaders and managers take on more projects than they can handle on their own. Their drive to succeed instills a fear of failure thus avoiding delegation.
This is now where the importance of learning who to give the task to comes in— acquiring the right person to do the job saves them time and allows then to focus on important things like planning, organization, and keeping a sense of equilibrium to keep them mentally and physically ready to take on tedious tasks demanded by their position.
2. It builds trust, open communication, and engagement among team members.
Coaching courses online will discuss how cooperative team members are essential to effectively delegate tasks and this can be achieved through building trust, a sense of openness, and work engagement among the team.
Delegating tasks benefit both the team members and their managers. Members of the team are made to feel that their leader is confident in their skills— the superiors on the other hand also benefit from sharing their tasks as it becomes a ground for them to develop their communication and listening skills.
When employees truly feel that their skills and talents are being put to good use, they are engaged and happier overall.
3. It builds skills and promotes empowerment.
Leaders can use their team members’ drive to succeed as fuel for empowerment and skill-building. Letting them do tasks helps them strengthen their skills, build and discover new ones.
It can also be empowering for the members and helps push their creative minds to achieve a breakthrough.
4. It boosts workplace culture.
The ideal workplace bustles with productivity, efficiency, morale, passion, innovation, and teamwork— the same with the benefits of delegation
Delegation should not be thought of as a way to transfer unwanted tasks to others but rather as a way to improve the management of tasks in the workplace.
Barriers: How Delegation Fails
Despite the abounding benefits, the following lists some of the factors that make leaders wary about entrusting tasks to others:
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- Delegation is seen as a mere transfer of responsibility and work.As discussed previously, we mentioned how responsibility can be assigned but not transferred. This is a common misunderstanding by some leaders and managers. Although it is meant to make workloads manageable, it also should involve efficient use of a company’s time and resources. Instead of thinking of it as a passing of tasks, it should be regarded as an opportunity to teach employees the other facets and tasks around their workplace.
- There are psychological processes involved in the reluctance.A study found that two psychological processes that make managers reluctant about using the benefits of delegations:
- The self-enhancement bias is the tendency to evaluate a work product more highly the more involved he/she is in its production. Managers may feel that results are more favorable the more that they are involved in it.
- , this is the tendency to think that work performed under strict control and supervision is better than work performed without as much supervision.When these biases are present, it means that there is still room for improving trust and communication within the team.
- Leaders need to accept and recognize their limitations Leaders and managers need to admit to themselves that they can’t do everything and it involves a lot of courage, confidence, and a strong perspective. The leader needs to constantly remind themselves that the team aims for good work and success just like the one that leads it—putting their full support and trust to their members.
- It is thought of as a waste of time. A common notion is that teaching someone else about a task is more time-consuming than just doing it yourself. This might be true on your first time delegating it, but over time as your member learns more about it, the time spent doing it decreases and it benefits not only you but also your team member as they gain knowledge and experience on the task. Although you really have to invest the time at first, the extra time that you could gain after your member has learned the rope can be allotted for more important work, even for personal development activities like coaching, business strategy, and personal development.
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Determining When to Delegate Tasks
As someone new to a managing role I wasn’t sure what tasks I should and shouldn’t be delegating. The life coach certification course mentioned Jenny Blake a business and career strategist that recommends the 6 T’s below to help recognize which tasks should be delegated:
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- Tiny
- Tedious
- Time-consuming
- Teachable
- Terrible at
- Time-sensitive
Tiny tasks can be done in a short period but when you look at it cumulatively it takes a lot of time that could have been allotted for more important work.
You may find an assistant to help you with things like deleting spam mails, scheduling meetings, and booking flights and services.
Tedious tasks are tasks that do not demand too much skill like copying and pasting leads, these tasks are best delegated.
Time-consuming tasks on the other hand are best broken down into smaller portions and handed off as segments to others.
Tasks that can be easily taught to others and does not require too much expertise are best passed on to others to focus on the tasks that demand proficiency.
The tasks that you are not good at should be given to those who have the skills to do it. This saves time and ensures that the jobs are done by someone well-equipped to take on it.
Time-sensitive tasks are best completed in a hands-on manner but if you can’t do everything entailed in the task, it’s better to ask for help from your team to finish the parts that you can’t focus on.
Delegating Tasks Effectively
Now that we know how to determine which tasks to pass on to others, we now move into the specifics of how to effectively delegate.
- Picking the best person for the job
Picking the right employee to take on the task requires knowledge about their strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. As an example, if you know that your team member works best alone, then you don’t assign them to a task that requires too much collaboration.
You may want your team to select themselves the tasks that pique their interest and assess their fitness for a task. Letting people choose the tasks they’re delegated is another way to build trust with and inspire engagement among your team.
2. Provide context
When you select people for a certain job, it is best that you explain why you specifically chose them to take on the responsibility to hopefully let them see that taking on new responsibilities is an opportunity for them to grow new skills and discover more of their potentials.
3. Give the right guidelines
The right guidelines do not talk about the specifics of steps to be done but rather it gives a vision of the bigger picture and the expected outcome and results.
4. Make sure they have resources and are ready for the task
Effective delegation requires a member that is equipped with tools and skills they need for the task on hand. Resources and training should be provided to help them prepare for the job that they being put into.
As a new manager I was not sure about the specifics of managing a team. My superior advised that I undergo life coach training to work on my leadership skills. He made sure that I have the needed skills to effectively use the team that I was assigned with.
5. Assign responsibility and delegate authority
Again for the third time, responsibility can be assigned but not delegated. You can assign a person to do the job for you but that does not transfer the responsibility that it should be a job whose results are accountable to you as a leader. As a superior, your authority is being shared with them as they take on a task and this should be discussed and acknowledged.
The best thing about delegation is that it is an opportunity for managers and their members to adopt an environment and a workplace culture that embraces a good learning environment where they can make their own decisions, ask questions and develop their skills.
6. Check and give feedback
The manager should still check the work they assigned to someone on their team because it is still a part of their responsibility as a lead. This ensures that the results are according to the specifics that are expected. This also opens an opportunity to provide feedback on the points that may be improved or those that were done well by the team member.
7. Say thank you
After providing feedback do not forget to express genuine appreciation for completing the task and point out the things they did well. Pointing out those specifics gives the employees an idea of the things they are good with and those that they can improve on.
This is also an act that can boost, morale, loyalty, and improve work engagement for the team members.
Life Coach Training and the Delegation Dial
Knowing which tasks and how to delegate them you can now focus on how you can relay those tasks according to the needs of your employee. Sabina Nawaz, of Harvard Business Review, provided this tool called the Delegation Dial to help select an approach according to the need of the team member. The tool is based in part on the Hierarchy of Competence, a model of learning that specifies the process we go through as we build our competence with a task or skill.
The Delegation Dial can help a manager decide on the approach that they can use to delegate a task according to the level of expertise of their member. I could further illustrate this through what I had have learned and steps I took through my life coach training. Here’s how it works:
Do
This approach requires you to do the task first or showing them the expected result of that task for them to shadow you as they try to do it the next time. This approach is good if they have little idea of what exactly they have to do and how to do it.
My coach gave me this approach when I first started handling my team. Being someone who does not know how to handle one, he first demonstrated how to handled his other team by bringing me along to observe and take notes.
Tell
This approach requires a more explicit focus on the steps to be done. This is best given to members who have an overview of what is expected of the task and those who only need further specific guidelines to fully complete a task. This can also be given in a way that they can make up their self-reflection if the steps listed were the only way that they can complete the task.
After taking notes, he gave me a list of guidelines and ideas on how he had come up with such rapport and dynamic with his team. I was then advised to employ some of these tips for my own team.
Teach
This step is about looking deeper into the guidelines given and providing context on the purpose of the task and give them an understanding of the bigger picture of the whole process that their assigned is a part of.
After a few weeks of coaching, he taught me the underlying principles behind the list of tips that he gave me. He talked about the general social psychology and workplace management concepts behind the seemingly simple list.
Ask
As the member’s competence for the task delegated increases, the more that they seem to underestimate what they know about the process. Asking is the approach given as your team members slowly shift autonomy on the task. You ask them questions like “What are your key takeaways from this task that you can use further?”
As I started handling my team and employed delegation, he asked me the lessons I learned about my members the certain soft spots I discovered. He further questioned how I see myself using these strengths, and weaknesses in our future group tasks.
Support
This last step is taken as your member reaches their full competence with a given task. Let them know that despite the sense of autonomy, you are there to support and open to questions in case they would need your help.
As I have consistently used delegation for my team, my coach still occasionally checks up on me and we continue our sessions to develop other leadership areas that I can improve on.
Key Takeaways
Learning about effective delegation through my life coach training not only gave me the needed skills I need for my team but has also helped how I look at tasks given to me by my superiors.
