Improve Delegation by 34%

The second view of delegation is "Direction." Direction occurs when the boss directs a person about what do. In the communication processsteps are assigned with a full description of what to, when to do it and where to do it. It is usually written out as in step one, step two and step three so on and so on. This is usually advisable to do with new employees. The issue is most bosses are still directing employees two to three years after someone is hired.

The next level is true "Delegation/Collaboration." At our company we use both words together despite the fact they really involve different players. For instance Delegation is more top down boss to team member or employee. Collaboration is more across the team of an organization chart. Both definitions must use the process below to qualify as an effective way to get things done via leverage. Process of Delegation/Collaboration

Plan before you delegate 'always think of how the team can help accomplish a job, focus on results when describing and paint a black and white picture let the one delegated to fill in the colors

Decide who to assign to - best person not closest or not the one that always gets it done ( do not reward incompetence)

Communicate in writing - always follow up if delegating by phone and don't send an e-mail with out confirming dates and whether they truly understand the objectives Manage (follow-ups) and evaluate (on-going) peace of mind Reward- results that are recognized get repeated

How can these five process rules get managed using a tool box like Outlook? You start by meeting with those under your leadership or those in your team and begin to discuss the task request feature. You communicate to the team that everyone will make and use task request to delegate and track important assignments in the future. The great thing about this feature is that once the originator enters the delegation or collaboration into the form automatic e-mails keeps them updated on the status. This helps with open items and the follow up in step four above.

Below is an example of a delegated item using the process described earlier.

Subject: Update results from assessments

Now the great thing about task request is you get two checkmarks to fill in like the sample below

X Keep an updated copy of the task on my task list

X send me a status report when done

Jane: Use a spread sheet to compile the results from those that have taken the assessment on line for ABC Company. Also add to the list those that have not completed the assessment and send it off to the Jim Jones for him to review plus copy Mary Sue Smith and Bill Jones. The deadline for all of these to be completed was yesterday so ask the client for suggestions on getting all to complete this on time. This is part of the speech we are giving next month so the information will be needed for the slide show.

Our timeline is today; please notify me if this will not meet your schedule of if you have any questions.

At the bottom of the task request is a place for contacts and categories. Using this example the Category will say: March 15 2010 Speech and the Contact will be linked to Jim Jones

My clients tell me this prevents things from falling thorough the cracks. They can also easily track any open items. The end results is more of the right things are getting done by the right people at the right time, plain and simple that is what effective delegation /collaboration is all about.


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