What shall I do with this?

The starting point for prioritizing your workload and planning what needs to be done should start with this simple question…

What shall I do with this?

And there really are only 4 answers:

Do It - This is the really important and urgent stuff

Dump It - This is neither important nor urgent

Defer It - This is probably either urgent but not important or important but not (the most) urgent task

Delegate It – This is important stuff – but do you really have to do it?

I recently attended a time-management event provided by Business Link. After speaking to a few people at this event I found that people were really reluctant to delegate. The main objections were that it would take too long to show them how to do it and that they didn’t trust someone to delegate to. Effective delegation does require time and effort in the short-run but time and effort will be saved in the long-run. It is a Quadrant 2 activity.

According to Stephen Covey, in the ‘Put first things first’ section of ‘The seven Habits of Highly Effective People’, there are two types of delegation – gofer delegation and stewardship delegation.

Gofer delegation is just that – go for this, do that. This is ineffective delegation as it still takes up the supervisor’s time because they have to be watching the delegate’s every move. It focuses on the methods.

However, stewardship delegation is focused on results. It requires time to be invested in training and mutual understanding and commitment regarding expectations in 5 areas.

Desired Results – Create a clear picture of what needs to be accomplished, with the emphasis on what rather than how. Explain this to the delegate, get them to describe it and then make a quality statement about what the desired results will look like.

Guidelines – Let the delegate now parameters they should operate within. Let them know what possible failures there are. The key is to tell them what not to do, as opposed to telling them what to do – which would be gofer delegation. You want to still keep the responsibility to achieve the desired results in the hands of the delegate just make sure it’s done within the guidelines.

Resources – Identify any resources that the delegate can use to accomplish the desired result. These can be human, financial, technical, or organisational.

Accountability – Set up regular and specific times for reporting and evaluation.

Consequences – Specify what will happen after the evaluation, both good and bad consequences, which could be financial or linked to future assignments.

Stewardship delegation may require a lot of time, effort and patience but in the long-run you will be free to pursue tasks with a higher priority to you, safe in the knowledge that you can rely on the individuals below you. It also empowers the individual as they are given responsibility. Most people thrive when given responsibility. You will be teaching the individual self-management, which is one of the hardest disciplines to master. This will help the individual to develop and therefore become more valuable to you and the business. This is very much a Quadrant 2 task.

Effective delegation is one of the greatest tools of management, a mark of true leadership and a great way to enhance personal and organizational development and growth.