How to Delegate Successfully

“Delegating tasks is one of the ways that a project manager can draw on the strengths of the entire team, manage the workload and reduce overall stress.  It is also a way to empower team members. When a manager or project leader delegates responsibilities to others, he or she demonstrates a confidence in their abilities and shows the value of and support for their professional development. Delegating tasks, however, does not free the manager from the ultimate accountability for the end results.”

• Set the stage. Meet with your team members and clearly state the objectives of the project. Be clear about what success will look like and then determine what will be involved in achieving those objectives.

• Get the team involved. Let your team members participate in determining how to achieve the desired outcome. People are more excited about doing a project when they are involved in the process.

• Select the right person for each task. Assess the skills and capabilities of team members and make assignments based on know-how and experience. Ask for volunteers for specific assignments and grant the tasks accordingly.

• Provide direction. Provide the right amount of direction based on the developmental needs of the team members. If they have little “hands-on” experience, provide enough “how-to” details for them to succeed.

• Check understanding. One of the reasons for unsuccessful delegating is a lack of understanding about expectations. To prevent this, ask the open-ended question, “Can you suggest how you would go about handling this task?”

• Set limits of authority. Team members should know how much discretion they have on how to accomplish their tasks. Make it clear what authority they have.

• Maintain control even while delegating. You still need to monitor the tasks that have been delegated and to continue the development of your staff to help them exercise their authority well.

• Know what not to delegate. While there are many project tasks you can delegate, there are some responsibilities that you can’t: teambuilding, reprimanding and performance assessments.

• Manage risks. Partner with your team members to identify potential obstacles and challenges as well as how to respond to them, should they occur.

• Keep in contact. Empower your employees—let them do the work but agree upon checkpoints along the way so you will know how it’s going. Don’t hover over the team members; maintain open lines of communication to know what each one is doing and support them along the way.

• Evaluate and reward performance. Address insufficient performance and reward successes. If you’re not satisfied with the work, don’t accept it. Continue to work with the team members to ensure they complete their assignment to both your satisfaction and that of the rest of the team.

PASS

• Out-of-the-box marketing.  Ivana came up with an innovative fashion wheel for Apex, promoting a message that Levis fit real people of all shapes. It takes team and management skills to be able to recognize a good idea and to make it work collectively.
   

• Motivate by vocalizing confidence in team members.  Wes initiated his team meeting by communicating his confidence in his team. He stated, "This is a strong team," and "exactly who I envisioned." Teams are motivated and inspired when their leaders communicate that they have confidence and trust in their abilities.
   

• When pitching a client, match their style and culture.  Trump arrived to the client presentation by parading his fiancée in her tight Levi jeans. Trump revels in showing off his assets but did so in a way that communicated respect for his client's product and industry. The winning team showed up suited up in Levi jeans. Andy advocated for the same strategy but was overruled by Wes.
   

• Know when to talk and when to listen.  Andy gets kudos for presenting the most intelligent leadership lesson of the episode. When Trump confronted him about being quiet in the presentation, Andy responded that, as a national debate champion, he had learned "not when to talk, but when to listen." Good advice. Andy's competitors should be taking notes.

FAIL

• Don't steal the applause from those who deserve it. Ivana came up with the innovative design concept that won this task. When asked by the client how they came up with the design, Jen answered and implied that she had been involved with the design concept -- even though she couldn't even grasp the idea at the time. This type of dishonest or misleading behavior results in a loss of trust between team members.
   

• Leaders must maintain control and order. One of the most difficult challenges that a leader can face is maintaining control of a team, particularly when one of the team members is trying to commandeer the ship.

  Wes, on repeated occasions, allowed Maria to assume the leadership role. The critical juncture came when he acquiesced to her angry demand that he "back off" in the photo shoot. He lost respect and power at that moment. He needed to act rather than electing to wimp out and do nothing. Blatant disrespect should not be tolerated by a leader. Wes should have taken Maria aside and either fired her, redirected her or let her know, in no uncertain terms, that he was unwilling to let her dictate orders to him or his team.
   

• Conflict will happen, and leaders must deal with it.  Conflict and differences of opinion will eventually emerge in any team. The "storming" stage is a long-recognized phase that all teams go through on their way to "performing." Unfortunately, many leaders deal with it either by ignoring it or they fail to manage it effectively. The ability to manage conflict and differences can be a valuable tool to yield a better solution in a team environment.

  Conflict resolution is a learned skill that leaders need to master if they hope to lead high-performing teams. Conflict can either derail a team or result in better performance. Wes demonstrated he had no conflict resolution skills by allowing Maria and Sandy to go at each other for more than 30 minutes during a time-critical task.
   

• Learning from your mistakes.  Maria's track record for marketing success was dismal despite her constant self-promotion that she was "the marketing expert." Wes made a critical mistake by allowing her to take over the project given that she had blown three mission-critical tasks on previous episodes: 1.) She failed to get a written bid from the printer in the Crest episode resulting in overcharges. 2.) She had to be replaced as the on-air presenter on QVC because of her nervousness and lack of poise. 3.) She forgot to include the contact phone number on the e-mail promotion for the bridal salon. This time, Maria blew it by not playing up the best asset of Levi jeans by not showing off enough behinds in the catalog. Effective leaders learn from their mistakes.
   

• Leaders need to communicate a clear decision-making style.  Wes never established his decision-making authority and as a result was unable to hold onto his power as the leader of Mosaic. Because he failed to clearly communicate his decision-making style, Maria was able to take the ball from him and run with it on her own unchecked.
   

• There's no crying in business.  Again, another woman on "The Apprentice" loses control of her emotions in the middle of a team task and cries. Maria was in tears after her confrontation with Sandy. Emotional intelligence is the ability to control and deal with our emotions and the emotions of others. Personal authority, which is at the heart of leadership, is lost when emotions are out of control.

MAUREEN MORIARTY
SPECIAL TO THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER