The Missing Ingredient in Delegation
I was chatting with a client the other day who was annoyed at the quality of the work they were receiving from a team member. Before joining her team, the employee had a great reputation in the organization, known for their strong technical knowledge and ability to work under pressure. Since the switch to my client’s team, they weren’t living up to those expectations.
In her frustration, my client, a new leader, asked for my advice for holding the team member accountable.
Is Accountability Really the Issue?
To her surprise, I didn’t focus on improving accountability. Instead, I asked questions about her approach to delegation. In my experience, I told her, the majority of performance issues arise when leaders fail to clearly define the finished product. Effective delegation requires clear communication of the desired end result, giving the team room to come up with their own solutions.
Delegation Tips from A Baking Show
This concept came to mind while I indulged in one of my guilty pleasures: The Great British Baking Show. In it, highly skilled bakers compete in three challenges with two judges evaluating their creations.
In the Technical Challenge, just like with my client’s employee, the contestants aren’t provided with a sample of the final result they are trying to achieve. Even with the same ingredients and recipe, they struggle to translate minimal instructions into the desired high quality, tasty result. It causes no end of frustration and angst for the bakers.
As a viewer, we get access to details the bakers do not:a completed version of the dessert the bakers must create. We enjoy a detailed overview of the components, their construction, and highlights about the baking techniques the contestants will need to use in order to be successful.
The contrast between knowing and not knowing the end result makes for highly engaging and entertaining television. With lots of skills and experience, the bakers know they are good at what they do, and yet they struggle. Like my clients’ team, they were feeling the strain of vague direction.
Setting our Teams Up for Success, Not Struggle
As leaders, it is our job to provide context and vision for our team members in their work. Just as the second of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People states: “Begin with the end in mind.”
Effective delegating means consciously including the following elements:
The Purpose. Communicate what the project is, its use, who will benefit from it, and why it matters.
The Result. Describe the results you are seeking and the method for evaluating its success.
A Sample. Provide an example of what you are asking them to complete. Highlight as many details as relevant.
Quick, but important, disclaimer: The amount of detail required will vary for each employee, depending on their experience. You might need all of these details with a new team member who is gaining familiarity with the scope of their role, and you can probably skip a few details if the team member has more experience and has done the task successfully before.
The Missing Ingredient is Clarity
In situations that appear the need for accountability is present, pause first. There are many other tricks for delegating well before a conversation about accountability should be considered. However, creating a clear vision of what success looks like when delegating is one of the best places to start when delegating.
Because unlike reality TV, we want our team members to thrive when they face technical challenges.
