Delegate Anything in 5 Simple Steps | Leadership Training for Managers
By the end of this video, you're gonna learn a very simple five-step framework that's gonna help you feel comfortable and confident with delegating anything to your team…
The reason I'm doing this quick video versus my normal studio setup is 'cause I just got off a phone call with a client that I work with one-on-one just a few minutes ago, and he told me that this simple framework I taught him changed his entire view and his entire mindset on delegation.
Why Most Managers Struggle with Delegation
To give you some perspective, he's an engineering manager and he's been in a management role for years. He's never been able to escape this cycle of endless work. He's basically just assumed more work. He's still doing the individual contributor responsibilities he was doing back when he was an engineer. The only difference now that he's a manager is he also has this manager responsibility. He's basically doing two jobs. He's never really offloaded anything from his plate.
This is a common trap for a lot of managers because the skills that get you promoted into your first leadership role are typically skills that make you a top performing individual contributor, skills like problem solving skills like being able to take on the most challenging projects that nobody else in your company can tackle.
The irony is that, by you doing all these things on your own and being a star top performer, when you're an individual contributor, you don't necessarily build the skills that you need to be a successful and effective leader. You don't learn how to break down what you do in a way that's understandable to other people. Think about Michael Jordan trying to teach people how to do what he does, right? Oh yeah, just grab the basketball, jump from the free throw line, and dunk and then go back and get a steal on the other end and get a rebound. Michael Jordan could do things the way he did, but he couldn't necessarily teach that to other people.
That's what happens to you when you move into your first leadership role. It's hard to make that transition because nobody ever teaches you these soft skills, these people skills, these leadership skills, these management skills.
Now that I've given you all that context, I just want to give you a very simple framework, and by the end of this video, you're going to feel comfortable delegating to anyone.
The idea of delegation is making that shift from I do, to you do. In the very simplest way to define delegation, it's, okay, this is something I'm doing. It's something now that I want you to do instead. But there's some steps in between.
5 Step Delegation Framework
The first step is I do, I'm doing the work and I've identified something that I want to delegate to the other person.
The next step is I do and you watch. So what that is, that's where you're training them. So you've already identified what you want to delegate, whether it's a task or an entire responsibility or something in between the two. But the second step is I do and you watch.
Now, most people are clear on delegation to this point. They understand that they have to train the other person, but it's the next few steps where things get a little confusing.
The next step is we do together. So instead of just one way handing it off to them, info dumping an entire system or process or step by step instructions to them, and then expecting them to take it all and run and go and do it perfectly. You need to do that third step, which is we do together.
In that second step, they're shadowing you. They're watching you. They're asking questions. You're doing it, but you're giving them the space to see what it looks like to do it right.
That third step, this is where the real growth happens. You're doing it together. Instead of me taking the lead, we're both doing it together. We're making every decision together on this task. We're agreeing that this was done right. Or if we don't agree and we don't have consensus, we're going to talk it through. We're going to figure it out. Okay. Why did you do it that way? Can you explain that to me? Here's what my rationale was. Here's why I did it this way.
You keep talking this through until you gain consensus because if you really want to delegate something to someone effectively, you need to make sure they're not just following the rules. You need to make sure that they understand the intention behind what you want them to do. Okay?
You can't just dump it and expect them to understand all the intricacies that you've spent years learning as you've become a master of this task. You need to work alongside them as an equal and really have some thoughtful, thorough discussions to help this stuff resonate with them.
If they're stuck, then you want to ask them thought provoking questions that they're not asking themselves. What are you going to do if you get stuck? How will you handle this scenario if it happens? Have you anticipated these problems? Get them thinking about these things. That's step three is we do together.
The fourth step is you do, I watch. Now, this is where we switch roles here. In step two, they're shadowing me but in step four, I'm shadowing them.
Now, they can start doing it. They can start making independent decisions on their own but, with me shadowing them, so that I can catch them, if they get too far down the wrong path. That's, again, where I can ask them questions. Why did you do that? Can you explain this to me? What's your rationale here?
Nine times out of ten, it's going to be a teaching point that you're going to show them something that they missed. They misunderstood or they, weren't doing the right way, but that one time out of ten, they're going to explain something to you that you didn't catch. They're going to show you a better way of doing something that you've been doing for years, because you've had blinders on and you've developed your own kind of biases and, you've gotten tunnel vision on things.
That's why this step is so important. We assume that when someone does something differently, That it's wrong. It's not our way, so it's wrong, but when you take the time to do this right and have that step where you're shadowing them, they can help you gain perspective on why a different way of tackling this might be better. Or you can work together on expanding on each other's idea, and that way you can figure out what the best system is. This is all about diversity and creating the best systems. Now that's the fourth step.
Obviously, the fifth step is you do. So you can define, in that fourth step, what does completeness look like? What does success look like? What is that checkpoint where I can fully hand this off?
But then you get to you do and now they're doing it without you and they're only coming to you when they need help or support.
To quickly recap that five step delegation process. Step one is I do . Step two is I do, you watch. Step three is we do together. Step four is you do, I watch. And step five is you do.
How to Multiply Your Time Through Delegation
Now if you're a leader or a manager who wants to learn how to increase your impact through delegation, you should sign up for my free mini masterclass on How to Multiply Your Time Through Delegation.
In this mini masterclass, I teach you some mindset shifts for helping you make that shift from individual contributor to leader and manager, where instead of doing more yourself, you're getting others on your team to do more.
I also cover a framework for how you can figure out what is delegatable, because this is where most managers get stuck. You know that you need to offload work from your plate, but you can't figure out what that is. What should I be delegating? I give you a very tangible system and actually a toolkit for figuring out what is delegatable in your own workload. Then very last but not least, I also give you a framework for how to actually hand off that work to someone step by step. How to consider how you should explain this to them. How to figure out the best environment to show them what to do. What resources you should be giving them and all these types of things.
It's all designed so that you can ensure success when you're delegating because you need that confidence and comfort otherwise, you're never going to relinquish that control. If you're interested in learning more about this, I included a link to this masterclass in the description of this YouTube episode.
Once again, this is a hundred percent free and it's on demand. You can watch us at your own pace. No matter what your schedule is, it's 60 minute recording that you can watch at your own pace. All you gotta do is click on the link in the description. If you're interested in taking this further as well, I have plenty of YouTube videos on delegation and I'm going to pop one up for you right now.
check out my FREE mini masterclass - “MULTIPLY YOUR TIME THROUGH EFFECTIVE DELEGATION”
Frustrated with overwhelming workloads that leave you burnt out and prevent you from scaling up in your role?
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Watch this FREE, ON DEMAND 60 minute MINI MASTERCLASS to discover how to increase your efficiency, leverage your team’s collective skills, and contribute at a higher level - through mastering the art of delegation.
