Archive for the ‘Managing People’ Category

Who should we delegate to?

I’m going to take this in two steps.  The first is when you are just beginning to delegate or have never delegated before and the second is the use of delegation for development, when delegation is used widely already in your team.

Step one – When someone never or rarely delegates

Firstly, as delegation is a new activity for the team, you will need to explain and sell it to them, which will settle those suspicious minds from the start.  Be careful not to allocate work to one or two people in the team regardless of how capable they are.  They may feel unfairly put upon, or others in the team may become envious.  Select the person to fit the task.  However do take time to consider the impact on others and any repercussions that may come from your decision and deal with those issues up front.

Thinking of what tasks or duties would be valuable for you to delegate to your team member – for both yourself and for them – you then need to choose the best person for the job.  The main aim here is to match the task to the person.  Catalogue all the team members’ skills and then analyse using the questions below:

• What are the key strengths and weaknesses of each team member?
• Who currently has the ability to complete the task or be trained up to do it?
• What does each person in the team enjoy doing?
• Who has the motivation and confidence to undertake the task/duty?
• How will the added responsibility fit in with their current duties?   If you don’t seriously consider this then you are dumping on your team.
• Which tasks/duties make the least contribution to your personal objectives?
• How many milestones/checkpoints should be used in the task?

Remember:

The more involved you are the less effectively you are delegating.  So don’t have more milestones than are truly needed.

Intervene only as a last resort if something goes wrong.

It is through mistakes that we learn the most; so make sure your team do not fear failure as this will affect their enthusiasm for future delegated tasks!

Don’t forget if something has gone wrong this is your mistake as you chose the task, the person and the milestones.

You must acknowledge the person’s achievements through verbal and written praise, with possibly a small gift etc.  Also encourage your line managers to get involved with the praise.  This builds confidence, loyalty and job satisfaction.

Step two – delegate to whole team to enhance development

Once you and the team are comfortable with delegation, you can use the above method to start to develop the team into being interdependent, rather than working independently of others.  This again needs to be sold to the team as this is working on the interpersonal/behavioural side of the individuals involved as well as the tasks  

Using the same criteria as above, now add in:

• What weaknesses of an individual could be strengthened by undertaking certain tasks?
• What training or coaching would be needed to help the individual?
• Who could provide the Training or coaching?
• Who could work in synergy on joint projects where the strengths and weaknesses are combined in learning from each other too?
• What development plans are in place for each individual and what task/duty or behaviour needs development – how could this addressed?

Once you have delegated everything it’s not as easy as sitting back and thinking ‘that’s me finished’.  You need to monitor the delegated tasks and continually develop your staff to exercise their authority.

However there are certain managerial roles that you should never ever delegate: motivation, praising, performance reviews, promotions, reprimanding or team-building.

Pitfalls to Avoid

• Failing to provide the information, help, support and advice needed.
• Allowing the person you have delegated to, to dump the task or other parts of their work back on you or others.
• Tasks should be given to the most effective individual, not the longest serving members of the team.
• Delegating the work without providing the necessary and complete authority.
• Interfering, as this shows your lack of confidence in the individual.
• Neglect the follow-up on milestones.
• Abdicating overall responsibility – NEVER blame someone else for what is your responsibility.

Delegation is just another way of creating opportunity and developing and growing your people. That is your responsibility as a manager!

I was asked to cover this subject by one of our readers and as it is such a big area to discuss I will run it over the next 2 months.

Whether you are running your own business or you lead a team, your results come mainly from the activity of others – or they should!  However it is not unknown for business owners or team leaders to undertake many tasks that other team members really should be capable of doing.

The reason for this is a reluctance to delegate.

There are several reasons or excuses for why leaders might fail to delegate

Here are just a few:

• A lack of experience in their own position or in ever having a team
• A lack of confidence in their own ability to delegate
• The need to stay in control
• Perfectionist tendencies i.e. ‘No-one can do anything as well as I can’
• A lack of confidence in the abilities of their team
• The need to feel important i.e. ‘This whole place would fall apart if it wasn’t for me’
• A reluctance to invest the time and effort in learning what it takes to delegate successfully

Now, in some of the cases above it is understandable.  However leaders who do not delegate, or delegate very little, fail to utilise the full talent pool they have at their disposal, and in turn lose the opportunity to develop others.  They also spend time on minor tasks rather than making the most of their own experience, skills and talent.

So what is effective delegation?

Well, first you need to understand what delegation is really all about.  It’s about giving responsibility to others, building their confidence and developing their own skills and abilities.  It gives them authority and, more importantly, it gives them accountability.  This leads to true empowerment.

But remember – the ultimate responsibilities lie with you, the leader.  If something is not done, or is not done correctly, you can’t say that you delegated that task so you are not responsible.

This is why delegation is a practiced skill!

When managing people, it is very unlikely that at any time you will have a whole team who get on with doing a great job, very well. If you are in that situation then, as I was once warned: ‘it could mean, you’re not on top of what is happening within your team and there could be something big around the corner that you will need to mop up soon!’

So the first thing is setting out your expectations for your staff and remembering to do this as part of their induction when they newly arrive in your team.  (At the beginning of my managerial career I was given the advice – when taking over a team or taking on a new team member ‘go in with very high standards and expectations because you can always come down, however it is much more difficult to raise standards.’  This was very good advice that I use throughout my life.)

Set out their personal objectives and how these fit into the team and company objectives; good clear directions are needed at this stage.

You need to be close to your staff

• Getting to really know them;
• what makes them tick;
• what motivates them;
• what style are they (who they may clash with in the team);
• what their strengths and weaknesses are; and
• how they like to be managed.

So you know all this and you have set out objectives – behavioural and performance related – as well as expectations, and yet you have someone who is not performing in the way they need to or their behaviour is not acceptable.  What do you do?

The most important thing to do in this situation…

…is not to judge or use subjectivity with the person.

This is a time for fact only!  There could be very sensitive reasons behind the behaviour or the poor performance. Going in like ‘a bull in a china shop’ will just exacerbate the problem.  You need to sit down face to face and sensitively ask – and listen to – the reasons behind the problems from the employee’s viewpoint.

If there is a sensitive personal problem then you can easily negotiate with the employee a planned way forward that will suit both parties.

However if you are in the position where the employee has no real reason behind poor performance/behaviour then you need to establish if this is a training or development issue, or if maybe they are in the wrong job. Establish an agreed set of short-term objectives that should be reviewed on a 2-4 week period. You can reset as many times as you wish, however this may be very unfair on the employee, who can then start to believe this is normal working practice.

If there is no improvement in poor performance/behaviour then it is time to turn to your disciplinary policy and procedures.  This policy is there to help you turn the performance/behaviour of the employee around and some employees need this very serious procedure to make them realise how important their performance/behaviour is, even if you have been clear about the importance from the start.

This is a very time consuming and stressful process for everyone involved. The day you start to enjoy this process is the day you should give up the job!

Remember to take this process very seriously.  Detail is so important, as mistakes made at this stage can lead to enormous costs to the company both in time and fines.  An HR team is a vital resource to keep you right on the details and procedures.

This is why it is so much better to set out clear agreed objectives and expectations right up front, as they will stand you in good stead for the future.

We could spend a number of days and weeks talking about the different ‘people styles’ out there in our lives…but we won’t.  Instead we’ll look at different people styles and different behaviours.

What are ‘people styles’?

Well, there are various versions on the market that categorise the way we react instinctively in different situations.  Some have us as colours and some give us an over-riding word that describes us in those situations.  Regardless of how we are categorised, it is our ability to flex that is the key.

All versions of the people styles categorisation that I have come across, have all shown that we can at any time, depending on the situation, move from one style into any of the others.  However we usually favour one particular style.  When we come across someone else who favours our opposite style, that is where we usually clash.

If we are all able to use all of the styles at different times and in different situations the real key to this is- as I’ve already mentioned – Flexibility.  We need to understand and move our style towards the other person’s style to enable better communication to flow so that both parties can be understood better.

Now behaviour is a different thing altogether.

We build up our behaviours through positive and negative experiences; therefore we build up good and bad behaviours.  We can change our unwanted behaviours by observing/obtaining feedback and recognising and accepting that we have certain behaviours.  Once we recognise them, and only when we recognise and accept them, can we then catch ourselves saying or doing the unwanted behaviour and that’s when we can prevent it happening.

When we catch ourselves, we make a mental note and then start to change the behaviour as we are saying or doing it, until we stop saying or doing altogether.

Positive behaviours should always be praised if observed in others, as this is the way to reinforce good behaviours.

So when it comes to styles, we can be flexible if we understand and recognise the other person’s style then move towards that style ourselves.  Behaviours, on the other hand, can be changed through recognition.  And if you are not prepared to feedback to another constructively, or accept your own difficult to deal with behaviour, then it will never change, so don’t expect it to!

This topic comes up time and time again. I am constantly asked how best to give developmental feedback.

Some people avoid feedback at all costs, some only ever give good feedback (praise – another topic altogether), and others do the opposite, and only give developmental (bad) feedback. Some give the feedback in the wrong manner, while some plan it out and get it just right.

Let’s first look at the issues involved in not feeding back or only giving good feedback. What happens here is that there is no personal growth for the individuals involved. This is just not fair. Everyone deserves to grow on a personal basis. If you only ever get good feedback, then you may actually start to believe you have nothing left to learn. This stifles personal growth too.

There are many ways in which people feedback in the wrong manner

• Not planning a proper feedback session
• Choosing the wrong time or wrong place
• Not investigating all the facts from all sides
• Taking too long to get to the point – procrastinating
• Not considering the impact of the feedback on the individual
• Hitting the person too early and/or too hard with the feedback
• Bringing in feelings
• Being vague
• Not providing help or support for the individual moving forward
• Leaving it too long after the event happened
• Rushing the feedback to hit deadlines
• Lack of respect for the person involved. We don’t need to like who we work with, but we do need to respect their thoughts and opinions.

And countless others.

So how do you get it right every time?

There is only one way – by PLANNING.

• Plan where, when and how you will deliver the feedback. Have all the facts and specifics from all areas. Make sure you give enough time and respect to the individual concerned.
• Timing – Always try to feedback as close to the event as possible. Make sure it is appropriate timing.
• Ask the individual for their point of view on the event first, before discussing the facts.
• Listen very carefully and take notes if necessary, to help your recall of specifics. Make sure you re-phrase back what you think you’ve heard them say, allowing you to make sure that your understanding is right. Don’t move on until both sides agree on the meaning of what’s been said.
• Stick only to specific facts. Avoid hearsay or how you or others may feel about the feedback. This is the biggest mistake people make: using subjectivity. There is no place for subjectivity in developmental feedback; there is only room for fact.
• Be clear and direct with the facts. People deserve that.
• Together look for ways forward – If it is a skills gap, then set up training. If it is behavioural, then set up a plan of learning between both of you. You both may want to involve another person who can help the individual with the changing behaviour – possibly a mentor?
• Review progress by looking for the new behaviour and making sure you encourage the progress. Comment on the positive!
• Always remember to give good constructive praise consistently, along with the constructive developmental feedback you give consistently.
• Consistency is a big key to all of this – to always – with everyone – be factual, and focus on development, rather than only feeding back when you are fed up with the same problem or issue arising.

Creating a motivational environment is all about people feeling good about growing and developing in a fun environment, and there is no better way to grow than through feedback.

When you use clear, factual feedback consistently – with everyone – and you are open to it yourself, people will thrive on the development.

The World Is Constantly Changing Around Us

Our markets are evolving. Our people are growing and developing. And as far as our working practices are concerned, what may have worked very well for us in the past, is now not working for us at all.

What Are You Doing To Keep Up With The Changes Around You?

• Don’t wait until it’s too late and your competitors have reacted quicker than you. Keep a constant eye out to check the changes all around you!
• Listen carefully to your customers and your staff. They are your front line eyes and ears to changes.
• Sound out customers and staff re what is needed to cope with the changes. Ask them!
• Plan out and research with your customers and staff, any changes you are considering. Remember it affects everyone, so they must be on side and the changes must be useful to all.
• Be proactive not reactive. So keep on top of changes of any kind.
• Open communication with customers and staff is a MUST, when you are being proactive to change. Remember changes are happening all the time and in every area of our lives, so make this a habitual event (proactive), not just once in a blue moon afterthought (reactive).

In All Changes There Are Opportunities

Look for – and be prepared to take – those opportunities!

Struggling with change? Contact Us now.

It is amazing how we…

Underestimate The Power Of A Simple Thank You!

When we are so busy with work, the simple things can easily be forgotten. When we do have the time to think, like at appraisal time, we are so involved in trying to find things to help develop our staff that, again, we can easily forget the simple and easy ways of creating motivational environments for them.

If We just Stop And Think About Ourselves For A Moment

When someone appreciates us by saying ‘thank you’ or showing it in some other way, we feel great and are given a real boost. Our performance soars and is easy to replicate as we feel fully appreciated for what we have done.

On the other hand, when our efforts are just taken for granted, or we hear others praised for what they have done while we go unnoticed, we can often feel hurt and unappreciated. Performance may suffer and it may become harder to produce our best work.

So Why Do We Think It Is Any Different For Others?

(This includes our family and friends too!) Who are you taking for granted?

However Be Warned

We need to make the praise, specific, true and timely.

What do I mean by that? Well…if we just go around saying ‘thanks’ or ‘that was good’, all the time and to everyone, it just becomes a nonsense and is unproductive.

There is no need to overdo praise, just mean it! We need to keep looking for the good and productive things that everyone does. That way we can follow the 3 Steps to Great Praise.

3 Steps to Great Praise

1. Look and listen out for specific excellent, quality, productive results from all staff. Everyone does something well every day, so it’s easy to spot if we try.
2. We must really mean it. Our body language needs to be congruent with what we say. If not it will be picked up and it will feel awkward to deliver.
3. Make sure that we praise as soon after the specific event as possible to make the best impact.

If we use the 3 Steps to Great Praise, our staff will definitely feel appreciated and production will be the result of a very simple act from you!

Have you ever had someone or something hold you back from a very important task? How do you deal with people who are very nice but seem to be dragging their feet on your important issues?

Do you let it go until the frustration and emotion gets too much and you blow? Or are you reactive, quickly getting angry at the person you are dealing with and even raising your voice?

Below is a quick guide to dealing with those difficult people or situations.

The first thing

We really need to do in these situations is plan our conversations, as this prevents us from being taken away in another direction from our real objective. Work out what we need by the end of the conversation (our agenda and objectives, don’t forget our contingencies too). Write these down and refer to them throughout the conversation.

Next…

…make sure we are dealing with the right person. If the person we are speaking to can not make the necessary decisions for us to achieve our objectives, then we need to go up the chain of command to reach the decision maker, otherwise we will end up completely frustrated and very emotional.

If we can not speak to the right person at that time, make sure we leave the conversation with at least their name and contact details so we can speak directly to them later.

We need to allow the person we are dealing with to have their say completely and without interruption. If something occurs to us, then write it down so we don’t forget, but don’t interrupt! Listen carefully. Check they have completed what they want to say and then rephrase in summary what we believe they are saying. Again, check with them that our summary is right. If they correct our summary, then repeat the rephrase/summary process until we have a full understanding of the situation from the other person’s point of view.

Now we explain in detail our own situation:

…both the facts and the impact on our life, practically and emotionally. The key is to ask them to put themselves into our situation and then fire the bullet questions at them: “How would you feel in this situation?” and “What would you expect in this situation?” Let them answer the question – silence is golden at this time. Most people will try to avoid answering these questions by saying something like “I know it can’t be easy” or “I’m sorry, it must be really difficult”. This is not answering the question. So re-state our question until they really put themselves into our shoes and answer the question we’ve asked.

It’s time to get what we came for!

They are now in the position of owing us due to their lack of results – so ask them what they are now willing to do for us. If they don’t suggest what we need, that’s when we suggest what they can now do for us (propose our objectives) after all we have been through.

When we take time to plan out our objectives, we will usually always get a better result than we were expecting.

Remember the times we have planned out a difficult situation in our heads: what someone might say, what we would say in return, how the whole conversation might go?

In this situation, what usually happens is that the conversation doesn’t go according to plan…it goes much better than we would ever have imagined! They don’t say what we were expecting…they say just what we wanted to hear! We feel much better for having the conversation, although we didn’t really want to have it in the first place. And how did we achieve this success? It’s simple – Planning!

Here’s your Quick Guide Checklist.

Print out, cut around perforations, keep it close, and use it to deal with your difficult situations every day.
Quick Guide Checklist – Difficult situations

• Plan your agenda and objectives
• Stay positive and calm
• Speak to the decision maker
• Listen carefully to the other person’s point of view and check for understanding
• Explain the situation and ask for what you need
• Finish off the conversation with a thank you!