Thinking about delegation
Delegation is critical when you are leading a team. It creates capacity for us to focus on our priorities, it provides development and learning opportunities and it helps to create meaning and value for our teams. It is critical to our performance
So why do we sometimes find it so hard to delegate?
When I am coaching, I often hear…is
It was just easier to do it myself
I needed it done the way that I like it to be done
I didn’t want to put more pressure on the team
They were busy so I just did it
I needed to feel like I was doing something to contribute to the team
and if I am totally honest I have used these excuses a few times myself.
One of my favourite neuroscience models is David Rock’s SCARF model. SCARF stands for Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness (I really recommend his book Your Brain at Work if you want to know more). This model looks at the universal drivers of threat and reward in our brain. Our brain is wired for social connection and it views our workplaces as a social context. Our experiences at work, influence our reward or threat state. When we are in a reward state, we are more collaborative, more engaged, more open to learning, better at problem-solving and more innovative. In summary we preform better. But I digress…
Back to delegation. If delegation is important for my performance, one of the barriers to delegation could be my own thinking about it. When I am coaching, what I don’t often hear people say is…
Status - what if they are better at it than me?
Certainty - what if I don’t know what’s going on/ how it’s progressing?
Autonomy - what if I lose control?
Relatedness - what if I feel excluded?
Fairness - what if they progress further than me / have access to the resources etc
Some tips on delegation fundamentals…
Why - Be curious around what you are delegating and what you are not to manage your own expectations. Remember to check your SCARF.
What - Make sure you delegate appropriate tasks - is what you are delegating appropriate for who you are delegating to i.e. is it in the scope of their role. Also ensure that you are not delegating for the wrong reasons i.e. you don’t like the task
Who - Consider right person, right skills. Make sure that you are setting the person up for success.
How - Think clarity and support. Make sure that you are clear about what needs to be delivered, by when and agree your role in supporting their delivery.