How to get more done by doing less

Delegation can often be associated with a top down hierarchical approach to management, where the boss delegates to their subordinates; you don’t often hear it mentioned in relation to agile teams. But great agile teams are not made up of a lot of highly skilled specialists, they typically have individuals who can perform many different tasks to support their team mates and get the jobs done. So how do you get to this state? — Effective delegation can help in making this happen.

I’m sure you all recognise the situation, you’re rushed off your feet, have so much to do and so little free time to stop and think, if it does cross your mind you may think “I can’t ask Fred to do that, it won’t get done the way I want”

Or maybe somebody has flown past your desk saying, “Can you get the latest version of the software released and ensure all the appropriate channels are updated”, they disappear and you’re left wondering exactly what all those channels are.

These are definitely times when effective delegation should be practised.

The levels

The first thing to ask yourself is how much do you want / need to be involved in the delegated task — really (be honest!). Be careful not to fall into the trap of wanting to be involved in every aspect of the delegated task, that’s not delegation, it’s pairing (an equally valuable approach, just not the subject of this article).

There are a number of approaches or levels you can choose, these are described below:

1. Tell — You decide for others and you may explain your motivation. A discussion about it is neither desired nor assumed
2. Sell — You decide for others but try to convince them that you made the right choice, and you help them feel involved
3. Consult — You ask for input first, which you take it into consideration before making a decision that respects people’s opinions (“Look into this and tell me the situation, I’ll decide” — the person delegating retains responsibility for assessing the options prior to making the decision)
4. Agree — You enter into a discussion with everyone involved, and as a group you reach consensus about the decision (“Look into this and tell me the situation. We’ll decide together”) It can depend on how experienced the person is as to how far to go with this, it can be a case of getting them to present the options, pros and cons and make a recommendation and that the person delegating is just checking the thinking before agreeing to the proposed action.
5. Advise — You will offer others your opinion and hope they listen to your wise words, but it will be their decision, not yours. You’ll probably want to follow-up on what happened afterwards.
6. Inquire — You first leave it to the others to decide, and afterwards, you ask them to convince you of the wisdom of their decision. Be careful not to confuse this with Consult / Agree — you’ve given them the authority to make the decision, the follow-up is more about coaching / feedback.
7. Delegate — You leave the decision to them and you don’t even want to know about details that would just clutter your brain

(source: Jurgen Appelo)

The steps

Having worked out how much you want to be involved, the next thing to do is delegate the task so that the person knows the scope of their responsibilities and you can retain the necessary oversight of the task.

The following 9 simple steps will help ensure that it’s a great experience for both of you.

1. DEFINE — define the task that you want to delegate
2. SELECTION — Select the individual or team for the task
3. ASSESS ABILITY — Assess the ability and training needs of the person/team to delegate to
4. EXPLAIN — Explain the reason the task is being delegated
5. STATE OUTCOME — Explain what the required result should be
6. RESOURCE NEEDS — Consider any resources the person/team will require to complete the task
7. AGREE DEADLINES — agree a realistic date for the task to be completed by the person/team
8. SUPPORT — agree how much involvement and help you can provide
9. FEEDBACK — Ensure you give feedback once the task has been completed

There’s no doubt, the biggest key to success in delegation is understanding the experience of the person selected in doing the delegated activity — don’t assume, check, and if they seem uncertain consider adjusting either the level you’ve selected or the amount of support you’re giving.

So, come on, share the load, share your knowledge and experience, help others develop into the supportive team mates you always want and free up some of your time to develop yourself.

(Alternatively, if you’re the person being delegated to use these as checklist to ensure you know exactly what’s expected of you and how the other person wants to be involved and use it to build your confidence in doing tasks you might be cautious of taking on.)