Toolkit: Delegation: Getting work done through others

Delegation: Getting work done through others

What this resource is about

Even if you can get the tasks done that your manager has requested, and help your colleagues on the project team, you know that your direct reports are going

to take the remaining time you have. Where do you find time to fit in getting your own work done? There is plenty of it and it doesn’t go away.

This is a common dilemma for managers—balancing time allocation. You could work longer hours or try to work harder, but this isn’t a realistic or a useful

solution.

The solution is to increase effective delegation and by doing so, increase the motivation of your direct reports. Delegation is a core skill for managers and

leaders. Not only does it help you to get your work done, it helps your direct reports to develop skills and increase their confidence, initiative and experience.

Developing your direct reports adds to their workplace satisfaction and motivation.

Delegation

How do you know that you need to delegate?

If you do all of the work, what is left for your direct reports to do? If you are leading others, it is your job to delegate.

Delegation is something a manager should be doing constantly, however sometimes busyness creeps up on us. You might take on a few more interesting

tasks, some of your team’s performance slips a little and there is some re-work to be done and a couple of deadlines slide past their due date. Suddenly you

find yourself struggling to keep your head above water. The list below suggests some signposts so that you can see when it is essential to delegate.

It is essential to delegate when…

You are frequently interrupted by your direct reports, seeking assistance, instruction or direction.

Your direct reports practice reverse delegation—refer tasks back to you.

Deadlines are often missed or postponed.

Work needs to be redone because it is of poor quality.

Your action tray is over flowing and you are tempted to take it home with you.

Team member morale is low and work is no longer challenging.

Everyone seems to spend a lot of time off-task, chatting and socialising.

Adapted from Flanagan & Finger (1998)

Reasons why we don’t delegate

One of the main reasons managers find it difficult to delegate is that when they have tried in the past it hasn’t been effective; they have had to redo the work.

Other reasons for not delegating are that the manager:

Thinks it will take longer to get the direct report up to speed with the situation than it will to take action themselves.

Feels that the end product will be of a higher quality if they do it themselves.

Thinks that there is too much risk if the person doesn’t get it 100 per cent right.

Thinks that they will lose profile if they don’t do some tasks that will be noticed by the organisation.

Really enjoys some of their tasks and doesn’t want to lose them from their role.

Doesn’t know the individual strengths of each team member and therefore doesn’t know what each person is capable of achieving.

Worries that they will be unpopular for handing out tasks and that they will be viewed as someone who doesn’t do their fair share.

Is concerned that they will lose control over the tasks.

Adapted from Flanagan & Finger (1998)

So while the reasons why we resist delegation are reasonable, the fact is that delegation is essential and not a ‘nice to have’ for managers. Without delegation,

you will not be able to manage your time and something will have to give.

In 1974, Bill Oncken wrote an article titled Management time: who’s got the monkey? That article has since become a classic because it clearly outlines the

manager’s dilemma of where to allocate time and how to ensure that you do not take on problems and responsibilities that your subordinates should be taking

on for themselves. While the article was written when a ‘command and control’ management style was accepted and some of the language may not seem

appropriate (e.g. ‘the boss’, ‘subordinates’), the concept of delegation still remains relevant.

Time allocation

Oncken & Wass (1999) decribe three types of time allocated to managers:

Boss-imposed time

This time is used to accomplish those activities that the boss requires and that the

manager cannot disregard without penalty.

System-imposed time

This time is used to accommodate requests from peers for active support.

Neglecting these requests will also result in penalties, though not always direct.

Self-imposed time

This time is used to do those things that the manager originates or agrees to do. A certain portion of this kind of time, however, will be taken by subordinates

and is called subordinate-imposed time. The remaining portion will be the manager’s own and is called discretionary time.

Self-imposed time is not subject to penalty since neither the boss nor the system can

discipline the manager for not doing what they didn’t know they had intended to do in the

first place.

If we look only at the self-imposed time, we can see that if the subordinate-imposed time

grows, the discretionary-time must shrink as shown in the diagram to the right.

The problem is this: How do we decrease the subordinate-imposed time so that the

discretionary-time can grow?

Oncken & Wass (1999) suggest that our direct reports carry their problems and dilemmas

on their backs like monkeys. When they ask you, as their manager, to solve the problem,

the monkey has jumped from their back onto yours. One monkey on your back might not

be too much fun, but imagine if five of your direct reports came to you, each with a monkey

and then multiply that by a monkey for each day in the week. That’s too many monkeys to

tolerate on your back!

Keeping the monkeys off your back

Don’t take the monkeys from your direct report: You need to make sure that your direct reports are empowered to deal with the monkeys themselves. In

addition to them displaying initiative and working out how they could solve the problem for themselves, they also need to know that they have the authority to

take action. This is where effective delegation comes in: If you give the monkey back, you need to make sure that the person is capable of being able to look

after the monkey.

Get control over the timing and content of what you do” is appropriate advice for managing time. The first order of business is for the manager to

enlarge his or her discretionary time by eliminating subordinate-imposed time. The second is for the manager to use a portion of this newfound

discretionary time to see to it that each subordinate actually has the initiative and applies it. The third is for the manager to use another portion of the

increased discretionary time to get and keep control of the timing and content of both boss imposed and system-imposed time

(Oncken & Wass, 1999)

Keys to delegation

1. Just handing a monkey back to your direct report is not reasonable if you have not also given them the authority to solve the issue. In addition to giving

them authority, make sure that you let them know that you have confidence in them.

2. When you hand over a task, provide a detailed scope of the task, the specific details of the results that you are expecting, the available resources and

the expected schedule and deadlines. Ensure that you outline the risks involved to the person so that they understand the weighting of the assignment.

3. Negotiate with the person what you expect them to achieve: How will they

know that they have done a good job? Outline how you expect them to

report back to you.

4. Don’t disappear from supporting the person you have delegated to. Keep an

eye on the process without being in the way. If the task is large enough to

warrant it, set up agreed check-in points along the way to ensure that

milestones are being achieved. Expect to see them accomplish the task in a

way that is different from how you would do it. While some tasks have to be

completed a certain way, most tasks can be completed correctly in a variety

of ways and still get the job done.

5. Reward success: The size and nature of the reward will depend on the level

of task. Following the process, make time with your direct report to evaluate

the process—what went well? What didn’t go well? What would you both do differently next time? If the process wasn’t a success, make sure that you

share any fall-out.

Adapted from: (Flanagan & Finger, 1998)

Match the task to the person

Task

Inspire Leaders suggest that there are four layers of information you could potentially provide to the person doing the task. The layers increase in the amount of

detail (and micro-management) as they go.

When you delegate, remember to ask the person what level of detail about the task they need.

Person

When considering who to delegate do, consider their:

Remember to ask the person:

What are your abilities in each of these areas?

What support do you need to develop any of these areas?

What if your direct reports don’t have what it takes?

In some cases there may not be enough capability in your team to delegate to. This is where you can apply your coaching skills.

By coaching your people, you will get to know them better and learn their strengths and areas for development. Through the coaching process you may

uncover hidden strengths and talents that could be used in executing delegated tasks. Once you and your coachees have created development plans, you can

start to systematically assign tasks to team members to stretch them and help them to develop.

For more detailed information on how to coach your direct reports, see the Coaching for Performance Toolkit on the LDC website.

You may find that when you try to delegate, your worst fears are

realised: The person just doesn’t hit the mark and their

performance is lacking. If this does happen, you will need to

provide them with feedback.

The list to the right outlines some feedback fundamentals.

Providing feedback is only fair. As their manager, it is part of your

role to provide coaching and feedback.

Giving feedback can feel difficult. Find out more about giving

feedback and having difficult conversations in How to have

the conversations you have been avoiding toolkit on LDC’s

website.

Motivation

In addition to making sure that you delegate well, another way to free up some discretionary time to get your own work done, is to make sure that your direct

reports are motivated. You could spend a lot of time trying to motivate them with external things like time-off or pay rises. However, if you have tried this, you

will have found the effects are short lived. The key is to help those you manage to motivate themselves from within (intrinsic).

Fredrick Herzberg researched motivation in the middle of the last century. He found that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction were not opposite ends of the

continuum, but separate scales. Therefore, you actually have to address job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction separately: Using different solutions and

practices.

The opposite of job satisfaction is not job dissatisfaction but, rather, no job satisfaction; and similarly, the opposite of job dissatisfaction is not job

satisfaction, but no job dissatisfaction.

(Adapted from Herzberg, 2003)

The picture on the left from Inspire Leaders (adapted from

Herzberg) shows how the job satisfaction factors (known as growth

or motivator factors): Achievements, recognition for achievement,

the work itself, responsibility, and growth or advancement are the

factors that really make the whole thing ‘fly’.

The rocket however sits on a platform of the dissatisfaction-

avoidance factors (known as hygiene factors): Company policy

and administration, supervision, interpersonal relationships,

working conditions, salary, status, and security.

Concentrating on only either motivators or hygiene factors will be

ineffective. Make sure that there is a stable platform of hygiene

factors and then take care of the motivators.

Dan Pink (2009), motivation author develops this idea further. Pink

makes the distinction between ‘algorithmic’ work (transactional

work that is repetitive and doesn’t require complexity) and work

which requires complexity and creativity. Studies show that

providing rewards for transactional work is successful, but it

actually lowers performance where there is any complexity

required.

To plan for your direct report’s motivation, use the Herzberg's

Hygiene and Motivational Factors—checklist, on the webpage

for this toolkit.

Increasing the motivation factors

While we might be aware of increasing the hygiene factors in a workplace, we might be less aware of how to increase the motivation factors. Hygiene factor

improvements are more straightforward and can be applied across the board. Motivators however need to be individualised and managed carefully. Not all

opportunities are going to increase motivation and you may find that your attempts to stretch an employee may be perceived as you giving them more work.

The perception could be correct if you have set up horizontal loading.

Herzberg makes the distinction between horizontal loading and vertical loading on someone’s job. Horizontal loading expands the meaninglessness of

someone’s job. Examples are raising targets of output when the outputs are not enriching the job, removing the challenging part of a job so that the person is

freed up to do even more meaningless work.

Enrichment of a job requires vertical loading where the person is able to learn new skills, develop responsibility and recognition. The principles of vertical

loading are outlined below, but you can use the ‘WIIFFM’ (What’s in it for me?) principle to help you think of ways create vertical loading for each direct report. If

you stop and ask yourself ‘from my direct report’s perspective, what is in it for them if I change xyz?’ you will be able to gauge whether there is a possible

motivator in the situation.

Principles of vertical job loading

Principle Motivators involved

A. Removing some controls while retaining accountability Responsibility and personal achievement

B. Increasing the accountability of individuals for own work Responsibility and recognition

C. Giving a person a complete natural unit of work (module, division, area, and so on) Responsibility, achievement, and recognition

D. Granting additional authority to employees in their activity; job freedom Responsibility, achievement, and recognition

E. Making periodic reports directly available to the workers themselves rather than to supervisors Internal recognition

F. Introducing new and more difficult tasks not previously handled Growth and learning

G. Assigning individuals specific or specialised tasks, enabling them to become experts Responsibility, growth, and advancement

(Adapted from Herzberg, 2003)

You will need to anticipate for, and expect, a drop in performance for the first three to four months of an enrichment programme, but after that initial dip, you

can expect a significant rise in performance. The positive effects of vertical loading will be long-term but you will need to keep checking that the role is still

enriching for your direct report as they grow and develop.

To learn more about providing development opportunities for your people, open the Experiential Learning toolkit on the LDC website.

Rewarding and recognising

As mentioned earlier, rewards for performance work well when the task is transactional, yet when the task requires complex or creative solutions, rewards

actually lower performance. Pink (2009) suggest that the way to improve performance is to make sure that work environments have the following three

elements of true motivation:

Autonomy—the desire to direct our own lives

Where possible and realistic to do so, allow direct reports to decide: When they do a task (time), how they do it (technique), whom they do it with (team) and

what they will actually do (task).

Mastery—the urge to get better and better at something that matters

Provide direct reports with ‘Goldilocks tasks’. Pink describes these tasks as ‘neither overly difficult nor overly simple’. In addition to keeping this balance, you

need to create an environment where mastery is possible: Do they have access to the information or training they need to improve their performance?

Purpose—the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves

Make sure that direct reports know how their contribution adds value to the organisation. You need to communicate the purpose as well as place equal

emphasis on purpose maximisation as on the profitability of their work.

Sources

Flanagan, N., & Finger, J. (1998). Just about everything a manager needs to know. Toowong: Plum Press.

Herzberg, F. (2003). One more time, how do you motivate employees? In H. B. Review, Classics compendium: 15 must-read articles for managerial success

(pp. 48- 61). Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.

Inspire group, Wellington, New Zealand: www.inspiregroup.co.nz

Kohn, A. (1993, September n.d.). Why incentive plans cannot work. Retrieved July 03, 2013, from Harvard Business Review: http://hbr.org/1993/09/why-

incentive-plans-cannot-work/ar/1

Oncken, W., & Wass, D. L. (1999). Management time: Who's got the monkey? In H. B. Review, Classic Compendium: 15 Must read articles for managerial

success (pp. 174- 179). Boston: Harvard Business School Press Corporation.

Pink, D. H. (2009, July n.d.). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. London: Canongate.

This is a component of the Delegation: Getting work done through others Toolkit

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