How To Delegate with Clarity and Purpose (Video)
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An intuitive and practical tool to help entrepreneurs and founders become better at this important skill.
The ability to delegate is often viewed as just one of many skills an effective leader needs to demonstrate, but the truth is it is one of the most underestimated of skills. To say I can’t delegate is tantamount to saying I can’t lead. Like most skills, however, delegation can — and should — be learned or improved upon to a very great degree.
Entrepreneurs owe it to their companies to do so. Not paying attention can lead to all sorts of “people problems.” I work with entrepreneurs every day and would say that 65 percent of the issues that great entrepreneurs face go back to problems arising from delegation. Here are three common problems:
Somebody on the team simply seems incapable of “stepping up” and the entrepreneur or founder is frustrated with that person, to the point of maybe even letting that person go.
The entrepreneur is feeling overworked from taking on other people’s work because he or she feels it would be easier “just to do it” than to demand others double down on their efforts. I’ve written about this here.
You hired a new person who expects to be told what to do in greater detail than you realized when you hired him or her.
All of these situations can create disharmony and major headaches in your organization. What you need is clarity . . . and more clarity.
At a previous company I led, we decided to solve these problems by creating a delegation tool called a Green Sheet. I’ve been a big fan ever since. The Green Sheet is a tool that a manager and employee fill out. We used to keep our meeting rooms well supplied with green sheets to encourage employees as well as managers to use them to drive clarity around expectations, deadlines and so on. Using Green Sheets can also remove the emotional baggage of delegation.
So let’s go through it quickly. First of all, there’s the delegator, the delegate and the assignment. If I am the delegator, I say to the delegate, “OK, delegate, I’m going to give you a project to write up an ROI spreadsheet for an upcoming new product launch.” Then, I provide three critical pieces of information:
First, the context for the assignment. The context outlines the background, current situation, and relevant facts. “We typically do new products every six months. The last one was a success, the one before that, not so much.” So anything you think is important around that project gets listed in the context. And typically, that should just be the facts. Another fact might be “we’re running out of money” or “you only have this much money for the project.”
Next, the delegator writes up the purpose, a crystal clear, two sentence overview of what you’re trying to accomplish with this assignment. “I really want you to nail this ROI because it is going to lead to a “go” or “no go” decision on this particular product launch.” What could be clearer than this?
Finally, you discuss the expected results. Here, you want to be very specific: “I expect you to create a spreadsheet, I want these lines to be covered in the spreadsheet. I also want you to put a little deck together outlining the ROI that I can use for my board meeting. I want a three-page deck: one page with financial projections, one page with etc.”
Keep it simple. A clear statement of background, purpose, and result gives the delegate lots of opportunity to ask you some questions to achieve total clarity.
Levels of delegation
Being clear and concise about what you are delegating is critical, but you’re not finished delegating until you’ve established what the great business mind and podcaster Andy Stanley calls “the level of delegation.” Andy illustrates four levels of delegation:
Investigation- “I want you to go investigate this and come back to me. You are being assigned responsibility for getting information that’s necessary for me to make an informed decision.”
Informed progress- “I want you to be responsible for running a task that we have just designed together and for reporting on your progress before noon every Friday.”
Informed results- “I want you to deliver on the objective/result by determining the path to get there and reporting on the results.” For me, this was my VP of sales, for example, who was responsible for getting results and informing me of them.
Complete ownership- “You have complete ownership over every aspect of the project and I assume you will get it done.” This is the highest level of responsibility and ownership and it is typically not given out lightly.
As you can see, each level of delegation assumes greater levels of responsibility and ownership. This is critical to effective delegation because one of the dynamics that commonly trips up employees and managers is the agreed upon “level” of responsibility or ownership. Some employees might want more ownership, others less. By defining levels of responsibility and ownership in addition to the task, managers offer employees the opportunity to prove themselves and move their way up to level two, three and four.
It lays out a nice clear path, while allowing you to build ladders of trust as members of your team show you their motivation without you having to micromanage their every step.
Notice in the Green Sheet template that milestones and deadlines are also very important. You need to be very specific about when and what progress looks like. These should be agreed upon and acknowledged by delegator and delegate, alike.
I’ve seen the green sheet solve all kinds of problems. It helps you see where the disconnects are occurring in your team, and in the worst case scenario, ferret out folks who don’t belong.
For founders who struggle with delegation, Green Sheets clear the air and allow you and your team to move forward with greater trust and resolve.
So, give the Green Sheet a try and let me know how it works for you! And I wish you all the best out there building your change-the-world business.
Sincerely,
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All credit to my ghostwriting partner, Dave Moore, who is instrumental in getting my thoughts out in a coherent manner & into these blogs. Thanks Dave!