This topic will not pack a conference seminar room, nor will it sell a million books, but it is still the most critical asset a construction leader has…and it is seldom used effectively. Delegation is more than a time management tool; it can be your “secret weapon” for developing your workers.
Never before have so many contractors needed to develop people to become better craftsman and leaders than what we’re living through today. Many contractors admit that a growing number of potential employees have less construction background, even fewer “mechanical” skills of any kind. And with the rising number of construction veterans planning on retirement in the next three to five years we must move aggressively to take advantage of every opportunity afforded us to develop our people. Delegation can be a very critical tool to this end.
Complete delegation is not complete “dumping.” Any leader who “dumps” work on his employee is bound to be resented, not to mention the employee might not complete the job with any proficiency. No, if you prepare your people the right way for delegation you will find that there are several “wins” experienced.
First, you will have more time to work on items that, in some cases, are more pressing. Second, your employee is confident in executing the delegated task. Third, you do enhance the trust issue with your employee because you prepared her appropriately. Fourth, you raised her skill level, stretching her to be able to accomplish more difficult or complex jobs.
Now, if delegation is so critical to the development of our people, how do we delegate effectively? Let’s examine what you can do, immediately, to become more thorough, professional and effective at delegating tasks so you and your employees experience all four of the “wins” highlighted above.
1. Determine which tasks or projects are best completed by you and which can be delegated
There are five considerations to review before determining the answer to this first step.
- Do we have anyone available to delegate to? This is almost too obvious but you must consider if there is anyone available who can take on the delegated task. If there is no one, then the decision NOT to delegate becomes quite simple. If there are one or more individuals available, then you will want to proceed to the second step.
- What is the time allowance for this task or project? In other words, do you have time to delegate or does the deadline require your immediate action ASAP?
- What is the confidentiality of the project? Some projects require your execution and involvement only. If a project is not confidential then it might be a candidate to delegate.
- What is the complexity of the task? Related to the time allowance, some efforts will require more training time to make sure an individual will understand the complexity of the task. Depending on the time allowance you might or might not see it as worth the delegating.
- What level of accountability is to be assigned? While it might be worth delegating to have an employee complete at least a portion of the needed work, in more cases leaders must determine whether or not they can delegate the accountability to the employee so that the employee can complete the delegated task without constant input from the employer. It does you, the leader, no favors if the employee must constantly interrupt you as he works through the project to have you sign off on this or call that person.
That first step — is there anyone to delegate to — can be processed in a nano-second, maybe even quicker. The remaining four considerations are a quick screen test to see whether you should complete a task yourself or whether the nature of the work can and should be delegated.
Assuming that you find the task or project worth delegating, let’s now move to the second step that might take you about two or three seconds.
2. Consider to whom you will delegate
At this second step we should assume that in one second we determined that we could delegate a task based on the five considerations just presented. Now, having determined that we will delegate, let’s consider to whom we will delegate.
- Proven Worker: For the job that is complex and requires someone with existing know how, the proven worker is your choice. This individual is often your first choice when complexity or shortness of time to complete the task is a factor.
- Challenged Worker: This might be the individual who is currently bored in her role and needs some new challenges or the individual who you need to “stretch” so she is able to work on more complicated tasks. In short, this is the person who is ready to go to the next level of skills development.
- Unskilled Worker: In short, this might be a new hire or someone who wants to move to another job role. This individual is the least of your skilled, knowledgeable and available workers.
Step #2 requires you to really know the skill and knowledge levels of your workers. While it is not uncommon to delegate to people who need to “figure it out,” such an approach does not build effective delegation or trust, and it doesn’t leverage your people in the best way.
Remember, if you delegate to an employee who clearly is not capable of accomplishing the work you are setting her up for failure. You are, in that case, simply “dumping” on the worker. This will negatively impact your leadership as you will lose the trust your workers might have placed in you prior to the delegation malfunction!
3. Tailor your delegating effort to the current competency level of the worker
Ok, now, at this point you have made your decision who will be receiving the delegated task. It is important for you to consider what amount of preparation you will need to do in order for the person to succeed — so that you won’t have to take the job back and do it yourself. Consider what prep work you might do depending on the type of worker you have selected.
- Proven Worker: Present the big picture to what is needed for the task, identify the needed resources (if the worker doesn’t already know) such as contact and technical information, set the goal or expectation for the completion of the task including a deadline, and then…. turn him loose!
- Challenged Worker: You will need to set clear expectations for the task to be completed, present the time needs, determine and discuss any follow-up schedule so you can monitor that the work is being completed in the appropriate manner… and turn him loose!
- Unskilled Worker: Define the purpose and importance of the task, then work through the beginning portion of the delegated task to make sure the worker is on the right track. It would also be wise to define any needed resources to complete the job, set any standards and expectations for clarity, and create an action plan for monitoring purposes that includes built in “check-ups.” Finally, after getting him started … let him go!
You boost your delegating success rate if you take a tailored approach when delegating. Remember, the goal to delegating should be to gain some productive time for yourself, develop another individual who is capable of completing more tasks, and set your worker up to be successful. You’ll sure have a difficult time delegating to that same individual if he is not successful.
4. Follow-up periodically; follow through where needed
Employees have more respect for their leader if that leader, when delegating work, actually follows-up periodically and follows through when needed. Such an effort by the leader reinforces that the delegated work is important and needs to be executed as well as possible. Follow the techniques below to reinforce and encourage the worker to whom you delegated.
- Check in on your delegatee to maintain an updated status.
- Review with the delegatee what challenges or obstacles have surfaced and how they might be reduced, if not eliminated completely. (It’s always good to prepare your delegatee for any potential challenge or obstacle.)
- Build the needed authority into the delegated task so that the individual can complete as much of the delegated work without coming back to you.
Don’t overlook this very critical step in the delegation process. A few minutes invested here — in person, by e-mail or by phone — can prevent hours of rework later. The follow-up effort also reinforces your commitment to supporting the employee and allows you to observe how he is coming along with expanding his skills.
In most cases, you still retain the ultimate responsibility for the delegated project. The finished product represents you, your leadership and your effectiveness at coaching your workers. So encourage your workers about their efforts. Look for the good signs that they are displaying in their efforts and praise them.
Don’t let your efforts to delegate become lethargic. Recommit to using delegation as one of your “secret weapons” to professional development in your company. Remember, your professional image as a leader is often measured by the amount of effort you invest in your people.
Instill the same commitment to excellence in your workers when you delegate as when you complete the same project yourself…and watch your workers begin to grow into more mature and better-developed champions!
