back this is food for thought thoughts if it
were you and i'm your host Neo Gentrics i hope
you guys have been having a good week uh hope
you had a good june school's over for except
for those who have to do summer school i do sincerely
apologize but for those of us who are still out
and trying to make a living today's topic is
on delegation skills last time we covered time
management skills i said i was going to cover
how to minimize distractions and time wasters
i will But first, let's go ahead and cover delegation.
So you know what I mean by that and how it works.
Okay. Besides, one of the most important questions
to ask or that people should ask themselves is,
you know, if you want to delegate a task, whether
at home or in the workplace, you know, how much
control? Ask yourself this. How much control
do you really want over the task? Keep in mind
that the more control you have over the task,
the more practical it'll be to have it done and
the other person will do it. But that means that
there'll be a lot of snags. They'll have to constantly
keep stopping to ask you questions. So, you know,
kind of weigh your options with that. But to
be honest, to answer this question and the way
we're going to answer it will drive you to delegate
the task. How often you meet with the person
doing that task and, you know, the level of detail
you want to do. And this is something that I
want to make known because just because you delegate
a task doesn't mean that it's out of your hands.
You're still responsible for it. Once more, saying
that you want one level of control when actually
you want another is likely to confuse your team
and make them anxious and less effective. So
it really is important that you know what you
want to communicate and how clearly you communicate
it. Otherwise, you're just going to confuse the
heck out of everybody. Okay? Something to keep
in mind is to know the difference between no
control and total control, which I wish a lot
of people did understand. So let's get into it.
So, like I said before, between no control and
taking total control, there is a huge difference.
Think of control over the task as being shared
in some way between the leader, that is the person
delegating the work, and the people who actually
follow doing, you know, the work. Okay? The level
of control can vary from the leader being in
total control to the followers being in total
control. I mean, there's a whole spectrum of
shared control between both. It just depends
on... if the leader is in total control or not
and that's a leadership style okay now that's
a whole nother thing entirely i'll cover that
later but anyway the leadership style being used
here is likely to be either commanding or pace
setting shared control also could be authoritative
and visionary but again that depends on the person
the leader relies on the quality of their vision
to bring their team together that's typically
what that means Or it can be the, what's the
word, democratic or coaching or affiliative.
I mean, all of which are very much linked to
dialogue. It depends on how you carry yourself,
how you choose to go about, you know, distributing
the workload and how much, again, how much control
you give. So total control. Lying with the followers
is not often seen, though it does happen, and
because of the level of risk to the leader that's
involved, it's more commonly described as a laissez
-faire relationship, if you know what I mean.
Which should give you some idea of the level
of esteem in which, you know, it's not held by
the leadership gurus out there and the people
in charge. So, it's not typically something done
because... It just, it's problematic, it's chaotic,
it's unorganized. I mean, there's plenty of evidence
from psychology that one of the most stressful
conditions in work or life is the lack of control
of what you can do and what you can't do. And,
you know, for most people, most of us, we can
cope with most of our problems, but lack of control
leaves us unmotivated, even depressed, or stressed,
tired, don't want to do nothing. This explains
why commanding and pace setting leaderships can't
be used for very long without profound effects
on you or your team. It's also what explains
why the Leia's Fair relationship is not seen
very often because it's very stressful for the
leader not knowing what's going on and giving
his team full control over whatever the project
is. All right, everybody, let's go ahead and
talk about the nine different levels of delegation
that exist. With the level of control in mind,
we can then, you know, move on to things that,
and think about how you choose to delegate your
work or tasks. And, you know, Tim, what's his
name? Tim Brighouse, I believe his name was,
the former schools commissioner for London. He
defined nine levels of delegation in which people
are aware of and use. And the first one is, look
into this problem, give me all the facts, I will
then decide what to do. That's the first level.
This is what you would tell the person that you're
trying to delegate the task to, to see if they're
competent, I'm assuming. Based off of the fact
that he's basically giving him a task. See if
he what what what results result resound from
that and then decides to go forward Second would
be let me know the options available with the
pros and cons of each. I will decide what to
select this keeps you in control, but still giving
your Delegate or Person that you're assigning
the task to some freedom where he thinks he's
in full control, but you're still the one commanding
the lot the line 3. Let me know the criteria
for your recommendation, which alternatives you
have identified, and which one appears best to
you with any risks identified. I will make the
decision. Moving even further down the list,
seeing how you're still retaining a lot of control
here, but you're still giving him the freedom
to move. 4. Recommend a course of action for
my approval. They feel like they have a say,
they're going to be more happy to... Uh, to do
whatever it is you're asking them to do. Okay.
Let me know what you intend to do. Five. Delay
action until I approve that, though. So we know
that we're moving forward. Then six. Let me know
what you intend to do, but don't do it unless
I say to do it. Okay. Or rather, do it, whatever
you're intending to do, unless I tell you to
stop. Okay? Then we move on to seven. I need
you to take action. Let me know what you did.
Let me know how it turns out. If they're progressing
fast and effectively, then we move on to step
eight. Again, take action. Communicate with me
only if the action is unsuccessful. This lets
them know that you trust them, and at the same
time, it still gives you that feeling of control
that you wouldn't otherwise have if you had just
given them the task and said, here, figure it
out. And then nine, take action. No further communication
with me is necessary. You know, as such, you're
just assigning them the complete task. There
are nine levels, okay? Everybody's going to be
one of these nine levels. Some people progress
down the nine levels as they get better and better
and better with the tasks they're doing. That
one's rare, but as I said, each one of these
levels is a different person. Some people are
more of a hands -free type of person. Some people
still have some hands -on. Some people... want
to do almost everything okay at this point it'll
be immediately apparent that there is a huge
or rather there is huge potential for problems
if you want to know exactly what is going on
but your subordinates has received the message
that you don't want any further information but
delegating the work is obviously a lot more complicated
than it looks at first sight when you consider
all these different and assignments and things
that have to be considered, you know, when assigning
a task to somebody. I just want you all to keep
that in mind. It's just some stuff to keep in
mind. There's a lot to consider. There's a lot
of thoughts or rather a lot of food for thought
here when it comes down to delegating tasks to
people. All right, everybody, we're coming into
the homestretch. Key skills when it comes to
delegating work that everybody should know, okay?
From what I've already covered so far, even though
it's just a little bit, like I said, it's just
something to keep in mind for you, something
to think about when you're delegating work. While
delegating may be complicated, and I mean, you
can see it's clearly complicated in some aspects
depending on what you are or the type of person
you are. There are actually only two principal
skill areas needed for successful delegation
of tasks. One, be aware of what level of control
you want and need, which means which needs higher
levels of self -awareness and which ones don't.
Good leaders are intrinsically self -aware and
understand how they like to work. They understand
themselves better than other people see them.
And this goes hand -in -hand with emotional intelligence,
which I've covered before. So keep that in mind
if you're wondering about your self -awareness
and how to improve that. what i'm saying is the
best leaders are also aware how their subordinates
like to work and strive to find a balance between
the two to allow their subordinates to grow and
develop in their job and function properly while
you still remain in control and you know working
where you're comfortable you can find out how
much control people like by asking them some
people will straight up tell you and then negotiating
negotiating a level of delegation that fits both
your preferences where you both can be happy.
Now, while this does offer some compromise, it's
more comparable. Okay? That way, you end up with
a win -win situation instead of a lose -lose
situation. Now, if you want to know about negotiation
skills or what is negotiation, I will cover that
next time. So, you know, look forward to that.
Again, that's another thing for another day.
Moving on to number two, make sure that you are
absolutely clear with your subordinates what
level of delegation you have used. This requires
strong communication skills, though, and as I've
mentioned before, interpersonal communication
skills, verbal skills, all of these things are
important. I've covered them before. Feel free
to go back and look for those podcasts, you know,
and listen to them, okay? Delegation is not just
a work skill, okay? The nine levels of delegation
work with children as well. For example, you
might want your children to tidy up their rooms.
In a level one delegation, you say, please go
and have a look at your room. Come back and tell
me how long you think it might take you to tidy
up. And then I will decide whether you have time
to do it before school. It doesn't leave the
child much room to maneuver, but, you know, nor
does it give them much of a chance to develop
their own skills and take control of their lives.
That's definitely something you may not do. In
a level 6 delegation, you might say, please go
have a look at your room and come back and tell
me when you think you might be able to tidy it.
Once you've told me when you're going to do it,
I expect you to get on it and do it. You might
need to remind them later, but... you are reminding
them about a commitment which they made to you,
rather than an order you gave to them. And then,
you know, they, as partners in the task and its
timing, the control is shared, and they're more
willing to do it. Even if they still fuss and
complain, all things considered. But, now looking
at level 9, okay? In a level 9 delegation, you
might say, your room really needs tidying, and
I don't mind when you do it, but it has to be
tidy by the time you go away at... You know,
on the weekend. I'm probably a teenager at this
point or something. Is that okay? You are putting
a high degree of trust in your child to do as
you ask. The level of delegation doesn't really
give you any option to say, have you done it
yet? Because the answer is not unreasonably.
It's not, you know, it's likely to be, you said
you don't mind when I do it. Why are you nagging
me? You know, and then they're just not going
to do anything. All right. But like so many skills,
delegation can be broken down into a relatively
straightforward set of skills, and in this case,
communication and self -awareness are the main
two. However, like many others, it takes a fair
bit of practice before you're really comfortable
with doing this, and I want people to understand,
it doesn't happen overnight. None of these skills
happen overnight. It's just something to consider
when working on yourself. To get better, it's
a good idea to practice consciously using the
different levels of delegation so that you become
more familiar with the type of language needed
for each one and are able to use them comfortably
so you'll then be able to flex your style and
fit the task and help the people around you to
whom you're delegating the task to. Okay? At
any rate, that's it for today, guys. I hope you
all enjoy the rest of your day. I hope you all
enjoy this podcast. This is Neogentrix again
with Food for Thought Season 2. Hope you enjoy
the rest of your day. Peace.