This Tip discusses that, before delegating, a manager should take a power pause to think about the task, the people, and learning.
“Human beings perform best and are most productive when they alternate between periods of intense focus and intermittent renewal.” Tony Schwartz
Jamie Millard and Gus Murby gave a great presentation at Training 2019 titled: Disrupt the Talent Development Mindset of Your Managers.
Use Delegation in a Thoughtful Manner
Three Areas of Focus: Head, Heart, and Hands
They talked about what managers need to do to develop their employees, by using delegation in a thoughtful manner. They identified three areas of focus: Head, Heart and Hands.
Head has to do with making a can-do mind shift. This involves embracing employee development as a high priority and critical to short- and long-term success.
Heart has to do with unleashing the can-do spirit in their employees so they are doing work that is important to them.
Hands concerns assigning work in ways that ensure employees are continually developing.
A “Can-Do” Leader Mindset
Millard and Murby posit that managers need to develop a “Can-Do” leader mindset, where they recognize that they:
- not only must do work themselves, but also
- must delegate and develop their employees at the same time.
Millard and Murby feel that, when managers want their employees to be engaged in learning, they unleash their Can-Do Spirit. This is comprised of three things:
- commitment (taking ownership and accountability);
- competence (the desire to enhance talents and skills); and
- courage (being willing to stretch and take risks).
Take a Power Pause
Consider Employee VITALS
If and when managers delegate, they frequently seek out the same employees. Rather than falling into this trap, managers should take a Power Pause to consider employee VITALS when deciding what tasks to delegate and to whom:
Values: Personal standards, principles and beliefs that are important
Interests: Work-related subject areas that grab and hold their attention
Talents: Natural abilities and aptitudes to leverage and develope
Ambitions: Career, personal and financial goals and aspirations
Longings: Strong psychological need they hope to fulfill in the workplace
Style: Characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, behaving and interacting
Think About
During the Power Pause, the manager should think about:
(1) the Task (what tasks must be performed? Who can do these tasks?);
(2) People (How engaged are employees? What are their VITALS?); and
(3) Learning (What are the learning gaps? Which VITALS would be motivational?)
This prepares the manager to delegate in a way that has a simultaneous impact on the task, the people and the learning.
Management courses often focus on the mechanics of delegation and encourage it as an important time-saver for managers. They may give lip service to the idea of using delegation to develop staff, but it is rarely the primary consideration.
What I like about Millard and Murby’s thesis is that employee engagement and learning are just as important as the task to be performed. This indeed requires a mind shift on the part of managers, who may be loathe to delegate at all- for a variety of reasons.
What do you think?
May your learning be sweet.
Deborah
