Kami Spangenberg of RTI International On How To Delegate Effectively and Be Completely Satisfied With the Results

Delegation strengthens your team: Everyone wants to be seen and appreciated at work. Delegating shows your staff that you see their skills and potential and that you believe in their abilities. Involving your team in big efforts and assigning tasks that play to individual skills demonstrates that you know your people and are invested in their career success. And even better, when they succeed as a team, their bond with one another gets stronger.

As part of my series “How To Delegate Effectively and Be Completely Satisfied With the Results,” I had the pleasure of interviewing Kami Spangenberg.

Kami Spangenberg is Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Scientific Stature Services and Community Affairs for RTI International, a nonprofit research institute with 6,000 staff working in 90 countries and revenues of $1.2 billion. She leads a trifecta of departments, unified in helping the institute deliver on its mission to improve the human condition by turning knowledge into practice.

Kami has more than 30 years of communications and marketing experience and expertise in strategic communications planning, corporate branding and messaging, and issues management and crisis communications. Prior to RTI, she worked as a change communications consultant in the energy sector, a communications principal in pharmaceutical and supply chain consulting practices, and a global marketing director in the telecommunications field.

Kami is a dynamic and inspiring leader who forges meaningful internal and external connections to meet and exceed organizational goals. She is an accomplished executive-level corporate communications professional who is most passionate about lifting up people. In 2023, she was recognized as a Top Women in Communications by Ragan Communications. Kami shares her time, knowledge and expertise as an author and speaker and serves on the executive committee of The Conference Board Strategic Communications Council.

She considers her primary role that of corporate cheerleader, believing in people and championing their dreams. Working with talented people united in service of a mission for global good fulfills Kami professionally. That and she must laugh every single day.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

When I was a little girl, I used to play teacher, passing out papers to the stuffed animals lined up for school. I always thought I would teach, and I did teach college courses for a bit after receiving my master’s degree. Early on however, I struggled to make a living as an adjunct professor, toting my materials from local campus to local campus in the trunk of my car.

By good fortune, in that first year of my teaching struggle, I landed a job as the editor of a local business magazine, with the owner taking a chance on me. I split my time at the magazine writing stories and advertising copy as most of the ads in our publication were created in-house.

I parlayed that advertising experience into several marketing roles early in my career, learning on the job in each position. After a decade, I had enough credibility as a marketer to land bigger and better jobs, and I was bold enough to pivot as I found new opportunities. I built teams and created functions, and I leaned into challenges. Eventually, I pivoted from global marketing to corporate communications where I have been able to lead incredible teams of professionals doing amazing, impactful work.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

I have always been driven, from graduating high school at 16 to earning my master’s degree at 21 to today. Giving up isn’t an option for me. I have on my desk a wooden, very 1970s plaque, from my childhood. It reads:

Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are all powerful.

The quote is often attributed to Ray Kroc, American businessperson credited with turning McDonald’s into the most successful fast-food franchise in the world. Although I’m certainly a fan of McDonald’s fries, I didn’t know the source of the quote until quite recently. What I do know is the impact it has made on my life. It simply never occurs to me to stop trying. I truly believe that persistence — pressing on — is what we must all do. And that’s what I do. Just ask my colleagues. I coined our team slogan, “Get after it!”

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

My personal tip is to keep a sense of humor — especially when you’re under pressure. Channel your attention to something funny. Lighten the mood just a bit and see if that doesn’t make the situation better. My bio notes that I must laugh every single day and it’s absolutely true.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I am grateful to a former boss who gave me an extremely challenging assignment that altered the course of my career. I was head of global marketing at the time when my company division was merging with a competitor to create a new publicly traded company. My boss and the division president asked me to work confidentially on the communications plan for the newco. I worked under wraps for three months while maintaining my current role and regular duties. Preparing all the necessary internal and external communications for the merger announcement required a lot of extra hours, but I persisted. In the end, I pulled it off, and the launch went off without a hitch.

Immediately thereafter my boss, now CEO of the newco, asked me to be Director of Communications for the company. It was then that I transitioned from global marketing to corporate communications, the field I am in now. That my boss saw something in me that I had not even considered for myself, was everything. It changed my trajectory and afforded me the opportunity to apply my marketing skills in a complementary field that I absolutely love.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. Delegating effectively is a challenge for many leaders. Let’s put first things first. Can you help articulate to our readers a few reasons why delegating is such an important skill for a leader or a business owner to develop?

Leadership is an honor not to be taken for granted. The word itself implies that others are following you, learning from you, taking their direction from you. And that’s what you should be providing — direction. Direction so that others can bring their skills and strengths to what you are trying to accomplish together. Thoughtfully planned delegation designed to harness everyone’s collective superpowers is exactly what effective leaders of teams do. Simply put, a team can get far more done than any one individual.

If you haven’t yet mastered delegation, then it is incumbent on you as a leader to do so to harness the power of your team. Some steps to try:

1. Assess what your project needs.
2. Determine what success looks like.
3. Understand what your team players can bring to the effort.
4. Divvy up the work to play to everyone’s strengths as much as possible.
5. Ensure the team understands what success looks like.
6. Monitor progress and provide counsel, resisting the urge to micromanage or just do it yourself.
7. Course-correct as needed along the way but stay out of the way and let your people do.
8. Accept that things might not be perfect and decide what good enough looks like.
9. Conduct a debrief to unpack what went well and what might have gone better.
10. Celebrate success and capture lessons learned to apply next time.
11. Repeat.

Eventually, you will find a delegation rhythm with your team, and it will become easier as you work together across time and projects. You’ll all get a sense of who excels at what and how work should flow. Exceptional project managers will emerge, making your delegation tasks easier with known go-to team members to take the helm. Ultimately, you and your team will deliver higher quantities of higher quality work to the organization. That’s a leadership win if ever there was one.

Can you help articulate a few of the reasons why delegating is such a challenge for so many people?

Once you’ve gained significant experience and honed your skills in an area, the temptation is always there to just do the work yourself. You’re convinced you can do it faster, and better, than anyone else. Truthfully, maybe you can.

But that is not the point of leadership. Leadership is about letting go of control and creating space to enable others to do their best. Great leaders inspire and empower others. If you’re doing it all, you may be an inspiring dynamo of one, but the empowerment piece will be missing, and you’ll be limiting your potential for bigger results. Stepping aside so others can step in and up is the tough part of leadership and it’s the secret to success. Accept the delegation challenge and be great together.

One of the obstacles to proper delegating is the oft quoted cliche “If you want something done right do it yourself.” Is this saying true? Is it false? Is there a way to reconcile it with the importance of delegating?

This saying is false, especially when it comes to leadership. I love a good analogy, and as I was noodling the topic of delegation this one came to mind.

Think about what it takes to become a licensed automobile driver.

New drivers study the rules of the road, and when they demonstrate baseline skills, they earn a learner’s permit. To become fully licensed, learners need to practice driving to gain experience and competency and must be accompanied by an experienced, licensed driver as they learn. They learn to drive by doing.

The fully licensed driver teaching the student sits in the passenger seat, offering guidance and advice by observing the learner. As the student practices under the instruction of the teacher, they become increasingly proficient in their control of the car and adherence to the rules of the road. All the while, the teacher rides alongside them observing, guiding and coaching as the student gains confidence and masters driving. Eventually, after what will certainly be many drives, the new driver achieves proficiency and is ready to test for their permanent license. Once achieved, the teacher no longer needs to be in the car, letting the driver venture out on their own.

I suggest leaders use this same approach with their teams. Just like a new driver, a new project manager should possess basic skills for the task ahead. As a leader, you should have already assessed these baseline skills before you assign someone to lead a project. As leader, it’s your job to put the right team member in the driver’s seat of a project providing them with proper instructions and guidance. Just like with the student driver, your role is to ride along, observing and offering tips to help your team member be successful. Delegation is not abandonment.

Just like a new driver, there may be times when the new project manager hits the “rumble strips,” and the effort gets off track. This is not when you take the wheel. This is when you stay in your place, but guide and offer direction to teach your team member and to help them get things back on track. Remember, you chose to delegate to this team member who demonstrated ability; your role is to nurture that ability.

As a leader you may need to ride along on many projects to help navigate and ensure projects are headed for success. If you commit to doing this with your team members, just like you would with a new driver, you will equip your people with the skills they need to manage on their own and according to your expectations. Yes, they will come to you for direction — and should — for future projects, but you have developed proficient project managers, who are able to drive projects independently and successfully. That’s delegation at its finest.

Can you please share your “Five Things You Need To Know To Delegate Effectively and Be Completely Satisfied With the Results?” Please share a story or an example for each.

1. Delegation takes practice: It takes time to learn to give up control and it takes time for others to learn to “do the things.” Delegate pieces of a large project where you can stick around but also give others room to demonstrate what they can do. I often do this for big communication plans, not taking any individual responsibility for deliverables and instead setting myself up as an advisor to the plan implementation team. Delegate things everyone’s familiar with and could do if you just let them. I did this with our monthly all-hands staff meetings, the organization of which now rotates among the team. Delegation opportunities abound if you look for them and just get started. Then repeat until it gets easier.
2. Delegation is not abandonment: Remember the student driver example? While your hands aren’t directly on the wheel, you are still needed to guide, teach and offer direction to the new driver. For quite a while, I was the lead — in the driver’s seat — for managing our CEO all-hands meetings. One of my team members was always riding along observing how I handled these executive communications events. After a “learning period,” we switched places, and she took the lead with me riding along. I am still involved with every one of these events, but now as an advisor. This role reversal provided my team member with an opportunity to grow and to shine on a high-visibility effort. Stay engaged as a leader but stay out of the way trusting your team to get the job done and they will.
3. Delegation strengthens your team: Everyone wants to be seen and appreciated at work. Delegating shows your staff that you see their skills and potential and that you believe in their abilities. Involving your team in big efforts and assigning tasks that play to individual skills demonstrates that you know your people and are invested in their career success. And even better, when they succeed as a team, their bond with one another gets stronger.
4. Delegation sets you free: With more of your team helping with tactical work, you free up time for strategic thinking. I have long been a doer and have built a reputation as the go-to person who “gets stuff done” at work. That reputation has served me well, but tactical execution is only part of the leadership equation. The other component is providing strategic direction. It’s easy to get mired in the doing at the expense of visionary planning. Delegation allows me to be the leader I need to be for my team. As they take on today’s project implementation, I have time to plan tomorrow’s direction and to set us up for greater success.
5. Delegation is more impactful: Empower your team and watch your results grow. I will never forget the first lunch I had with the manager of a team newly assigned to report to me. At that lunch, she revealed she was pursuing an M.B.A., but was not sure how she would put it to use in her current job. I vowed to her that we would work together to capitalize on that M.B.A. and grow the impact of her team at the institute. Through the years I have looked for initiatives to delegate to her and her department, all the while focused on increasing the value proposition of their offerings. Flash forward to today and that group has significantly increased its positive impact on the organization. All this because I delegated greater responsibility to a manager and empowered her to lead her team with a growth orientation.

Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’d like to start an empathy movement. A lot of kerfuffles stem from lack of attempting to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference. That’s lack of empathy. Imagine if we all took more time to truly see things from another’s perspective in our interactions. The reduction of interpersonal drama would be palpable. That sounds glorious and like a movement I could get behind.

How can our readers further follow you online?

I encourage readers to connect with me on LinkedIn: Kami Spangenberg | LinkedIn

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!