Krug: Delegation need not be the final option

If you read this on Tuesday afternoon, the day that my column posts on 1851franchise.com, it probably will coincide with me waking up from sedation. Or I certainly hope to be waking up from sedation about that time. I mean, that’s the plan. A life-long control freak that would rather drive six hours than fly 55 minutes, I am turning the keys over to a surgeon that is going to fix something in my cervical spine that’s not quite right. My neck has a zig where it should have a zag, you see. After about four hours of the doctor playing “Operation” and a few new metal pieces that cost a lot more to install than they cost to make, I am sure that my dear friends at the security checkpoints all across America will be transformed from confused to confuzzled as I pass through their scanners. And, of course, I’ll be like new. Let’s make that newer. Well, probably more like certified pre-owned. This surgery is a job that I couldn’t do myself – not with a reasonably good expectation for outcomes. I had to hand it off to someone else more capable of handling it. For some reason, there is a certain security in delegating to an expert. If we don’t believe that the delegate can’t properly accomplish the work, we hold onto it like a running back cracking into the line on a goal-line plunge. Have you ever met someone who is overworked and can’t get unburied? They probably aren’t the world’s best delegator. Then again, there are some who delegate with such masterful sleight of hand, you wonder what they do all day. Coincidentally, these people typically have incredible golf handicaps and are despised by anyone who knows better. Some surely are concerned that in giving up work that they may be viewed as weak or incapable. Some just don’t have any trust for those around them. Some just don’t think they have the time to explain the nuances of a project to those who can help. In any case, delegation is a key technique to not only improve productivity in a work group, but also to train the next generation how to do what they’ll eventually need to do. So let’s quickly review some of the more frequently used (or abused) approaches to delegate work a fellow associate’s way: Teach a Co-Worker to Fish: If you give a man a fish, the Bible says, he will eat for one day. Teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime. Does it take time to teach someone to do something that they don’t know how to do? You betcha. It takes time to do the work yourself, too. So work this problem backward from its conclusion and you’ll likely find that showing someone how to do something that they don’t know how to do makes you a better person (because you learn through teaching), makes the person you are working with a better employee (because they are no longer just staring out the window, watching the planes line up for landing), and makes the company better (because now two people know how to accomplish a task). The Dump and Run Baptism By Fire: This technique is equal parts lazy hockey strategy and pressure testing. But, in very quick order, giving a co-worker some stuff to handle with minimal instruction and expecting it back in a shortened period of time can yield good results – provided you’ve left yourself an out if the project comes back in somewhat less presentable shape than you had feared. Nonetheless, if you give your partner in this caper enough information to get started and they have some wherewithal, they may surprise you. Which, if that works out, allows you to watch the first period of the hockey game. Win-win. The Point-by-Painful-Point Program: In this methodology, the work is over-explained and every painstaking detail is conveyed so that the person picking up the work is overwhelmed and more confused after the conversation than they were wary and intimidated before it began. Results may vary with limited or overdone instructions. Unless you are trying to explain how to launch a rocket into space or in any other direction, keep the instructions as simple and the anticipated outcomes as clear as possible. So perhaps less is more, and this can be avoided unless you are working at NASA – if anyone still works there. The Huck Finn Method: As the legendary character tricked his friends and neighbor kids into whitewashing the fence in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” so too can you. Simply act like the work that you are doing is so completely gratifying and rewarding that you would be a horrible person to keep it all to yourself. If you can manage this on a semi-regular basis, you probably could break even par by the end of the next golf season. Best bet is to rely infrequently on this technique, because it is ingenuous. Clear Goals, Defined Timeframe and Reasonable Expectations: Perhaps the technique that you’ll find most useful is that of the teacher who assigns out work that is not due 15 minutes after it was conceived. Your teammates tend to be willing to take on more of the workload if they understand how it connects to larger projects that the company is focusing on and how their work meshes with those priorities. If you can set up a co-worker for success by laying out the work, explaining its relevance and setting realistic deadlines for its completion – and hang in there with them as a coach or mentor – you stand a far greater likelihood of developing someone who is more engaged in the work your company performs and may have helped a teammate grow. Now, wouldn’t that be a cool thing to think about as you enjoy Happy Hour next Friday. • • • As always, stay classy. Chris Krug is president of the progressive media communications firm No Limit Agency* in Chicago. No Limit is a full-service agency whose practice focuses on strategy, brand management, creative campaigns and delivering unparalleled placement in the media. No Limit Agency works with some of the best-known brands in North America, and that’s not a coincidence. Contact Krug by calling 312-526-3996 or via email at [email protected].