Transcripts
1. Introduction: Welcome to this effective
delegation course. Thank you so much for
joining us today. Effective delegation is one of the most valuable
skills you can master. It reduces your workload and
develops employee skills. Delegating also
prepares employees who work for you to
be able to handle your responsibilities and
simultaneously allows you to advance to other
career opportunities within your organization. In simple words, delegation
involves giving someone else the responsibility to perform a task that is actually
part of your own job. Therefore, delegation
is also often one of the hardest skills
for a manager to master. However, the skill
can be learned. This course will explore many of the facets
of delegation, including when to delegate
and who to delegate to. We will also go through the delegation
process step by step to see where the
pitfalls lie and what we can do about
getting around them. So by the end of this course, you will be able to
clearly identify how delegation fits into your job and how it can make
you more successful. Identify different ways
of delegating tasks. Use an eight step process
for effective delegation. Give better instructions for
better delegation results, ask better questions and
listen more effectively. Recognize common
delegation pitfalls and how to avoid them, and finally, test your
delegation skills. Shall we get started?
2. Why Delegate?: Welcome to the lesson too. Today, we will look at
reasons why delegate. Have you ever looked at the final product
of a task you had assigned somebody else and realized you didn't
get what you wanted, and you would have
to redo it yourself. Initially, it may seem
like the person who has assigned the task has
failed. That's good. As long as you can always blame somebody else for
what didn't work, you will never have to improve
your delegation skills. However, as you learn
more about delegation, you may begin to realize it was you as the delegate who failed. As a delegate, you
will always have responsibility for more things than you can handle by yourself. You cannot adequately plan
and perform every task and if you feel your employees aren't ready to take on
tasks by themselves, if you never delegate, they never will be ready. Finally, we have the dilemma of new supervisor who isn't
confident and sure of his or her role and the
traditional manager who thinks there's only one
right way of doing anything. So let's look at the
delegation dos and don'ts. Here are some dues. Specify
the results expected. Explain why you are delegating. Give the necessary authority
to carry out the task. Let others know of
the delegation, and finally, have
confidence in employees. Now, let's look at some don'ts. Delegate just trivial tasks. Expect others to do the
job as well as you can. Delegate haphazardly, be
an autocratic delegate. Check constantly to see
how things are going. Take care of the
results achieved by staff and overload employees. Delegating things
you don't need to do personally frees up time that could be valuable
for other tasks that require your
experience and energy. Delegating also increases
your work capacity strategically and leaves
time for planning, which will improve
organizational systems. We can see there are
some pretty good reasons for improving our
delegation ability. How do you know whether you
are in need of help or not? Now it's your turn. Consider your own role
as a manager over the last three months and answer these questions as
honestly as you can. Please have a look
at this slide. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your
ability to delegate? If one is poor and
ten is excellent, please fill in these boxes.
3. Four Basic Steps to Delegation: In the broadest sense, delegation involves five things, the training and
development of your staff, the direction and follow
up of assignments, the analysis of
performance problems, coaching to overcome problems, periodic forms, evaluations
of performance. Now let's look at four basic steps to
delegation on this slide. Remember, as a leader, whenever you delegate a task, you need to make it
clear what level of authority you are
conferring to others. Sometimes supervisors believe
that they must delegate complete authority for a task before they can delegate at all. In actual fact,
there are degrees of delegation that
can make it easier for supervisors to test their own ability to delegate
effectively or for them to monitor the degree to
which they are comfortable delegating to new or
previously untested employees. So as a supervisor or manager, you decide which degree is appropriate by considering
the nature of the task, the ability of the
person doing the work, and the amount of time
available to complete the task. Kure out the degrees of
levels of delegation. Number one, investigate
and report back. The employees investigates
and brings you the facts. You make the appropriate
decision and take action. Number two, investigate
and recommend action. In this scenario, the employee investigates
or researches, identifies options, and recommends a course
of action to be taken. You evaluate the recommendation, make the decision,
and take action. Number three, investigate and
advise on action planned. The employee researches,
identifies options, and decides on a course of action complete
with justification. You evaluate the
decision made and approve or veto the
action to be taken. Number four, investigate
and take action, advise you on the action taken. The employee researches
identifies options, decides which option is best, take action and advise you, so you have a firm handle
on what's going on. Number five, investigate
and take action. The employee is turned loose. This is full delegation
and displays your complete path in the
individual's ability. Now, you probably wonder when you should delegate some
of your work, right? Well, after you have been in
this job long enough to have a good grasp of what it entails and that's the good
indication for delegation. When you have completed
the skills, abilities, and interests inventory
of your team members, that's the good indication
for delegation too. When you understand the
value of delegating, but how do you prepare
yourself for delegating? Draw up a list of the current
responsibilities that you would leave behind if you were to suddenly leave your job. List the team
members qualified to take over each of these
responsibilities. If there is no one to take over a responsibility,
leave a blank space. When the list is complete, add up the blank spaces
to see what kind of department you would live if you were suddenly
out of the picture. Are you satisfied
with the results? Now, think about it. What tasks should you delegate? Tasks that can be handled
adequately by team members, tasks for which
team members have all the information for decision making
available to them, tasks that involve
organizational detail rather than planning
or organization. Tasks that don't require skills unique to you
or your position. Tasks for which an
individual other than you can have direct
control over the task. Now let's look at what tasks
should you not delegate. The delegation process itself, any work to be delegated should be delegated and
explained by you. Performance evaluations, these are managerial
responsibilities. Disciplinary actions,
this should be done by you privately when
you know all the facts, counseling and moral problems,
planning and forecasting. Some of the detailed work
can be done by others, such as calculations
and research. However, you alone in a
position to decide how departmental goals fit in with the overall organizations
goal confidential tasks, tasks that have
been specifically assigned to you by your manager. And complex
situations, don't ask someone else to handle what you don't
understand yourself. How do you know whether you
are delegating well or not? If you are delegating well, then you are satisfied
with the way staff members complete
work assignments. Team members feel committed and involved and moral is high. If you're not delegating well, however, you may
see these symptoms. You are too busy with work
and under constant pressure. You are spending too much time
on organizational details. Team members leave because
they don't feel challenged or that they are learning or they feel that you are
difficult to work for. You have been bypassed for
a promotion because you have difficulty handling your
current responsibilities.
4. Picking the Right Person: Picking the right person. Well delegation is an
essential part of management, it's sometimes difficult
to get it right. Selecting which tasks you should delegate and to whom requires
careful consideration. There are actual three steps to prepare yourself to delegate. You should develop
the right attitude, decide what not to delegate
and what to delegate, deciding who to delegate to, how do you pick the right
person for the job? If you pick someone
whose basic skills are not up to the job, you are setting both them
and yourself up to fail. It's not to say
that they already have the requisite skills, just that they can
develop them within the timescale necessary
to do the delegated task. If you need something completed and completely accurate by, let's say, Friday, don't pick
a new starter with no idea. But if you need to get a task off your desk and
onto the desk of one of your team and you have someone capable
but unexperienced, take time, coach and teach them and invest in their
learning and development. Who is capable of
completing the task? Think about it. What is the record on
similar assignments? Before delegating a
task, ask yourself, how will this person fit in with those he or she must
work closely with? In which situations does
he or she operate best? Are his or her skills
up to the task? Remember, exceeding
required skills level can make the task
boring or frustrating. If you have nobody
readily capable, can somebody be trained
to do the task? Who could be trained and
how long would it take employees motivation is also as important as the ability
to perform the task. If you aren't sure of the professional interests
of the group, this is a good
opportunity to involve team members and give them a chance to try
something different. While activities
can be assigned to employees who aren't interested, consider those who
are interested first, then decide if the team member
has the time available. How much is he or
she currently doing? How well is he or she handling
the workload she has? How does the workload compare with the others
in the department? Their level of interest in
accepting more tasks is often a good barometer of
their level of ambition. One of the main reasons
we want to delegate is because we don't have time
to do the job ourselves. If you delegate to someone
with an even bigger workload, don't expect this to go well. At the very least,
expect to talk with the person and
gauge their interest. Now, let's talk about
matching skills and people. Even if you have knowledge
about the person's skills, their workload and their
potential for success, delegating can still be tricky. If given the chance, people may do very well at activities they never
previously attempted. The person with enough time is not necessarily
the right choice either as the busiest person is often best at
working efficiently. Given these variables,
what is the best means of achieving the overall goals of the department? Think about it. Are team members
encouraged to take individual initiative and
accept greater responsibility? Are those greater
responsibilities being rewarded and recognized? You can also base delegation on the employee's
desire to grow. New supervisors, once they have had a
chance to interact with employees can begin devising plans to train and
develop their employees. A key aspect of this
is finding tasks. You can delegate and match
them to the workers with the readiness to
successfully complete the tasks and benefit
from the assignments. One way to do this is to inventory the skills and interests with of
your employees. Rank employees according to their readiness to
learn and grow. Keeping an open mind about
who belongs to each category. Work on upgrading
low performers, developing the high performers, and preparing average workers
to maximize their strength. Remember, all managers with outstanding management skills
are excellent delegators. In old school thinking, people used to say that if
you want the job done right, you have to do it yourself. In new school thinking, however, the correct
statement is, if you want the job done right, you have to learn
how to delegate it properly so that it can be
done to proper standard.
5. Levels of Authority: Levels of authority.
The delegation of authority is a
process through which manager assigns
responsibility to subordinate with a certain
level of authority. Example, power to take
decisions in order to accomplish
certain assignments on the manager's behalf. There are four
levels of authority. Level one, no authority. If the assignment is especially
important or difficult, if the team member is new or if the type of assignment
is new to him or her, it's often wise for you
to assume all authority. This level of authority
should be used as little as possible since it indicates
a low level of trust. Even so, use this level when you have doubts about the
successful completion of the task or when the task is so important that you want a
high degree of involvement. Level two, minimal audority. As the team member
gains experience, it's desirable to allow him or her great latitude in action. This method allows the team
member to have a say in determining his her goals
and performance standards. At the same time, you stay
informed of the team members progress and have an opportunity to intervene if difficult
problems arise. Level three, medium authority. This level of authority allows the team member to take some level of
decisions without you. For this level of authority, the team member sets the goals, plans, and performance
standards. The employee then act autonomously with regular
stages reports to you and consults you only if he or she encounters a particular
difficult problem or customer. Level four, complete authority. When the team member has become a trusted employee who has demonstrated competence
in completing the type of task assigned, you can grant
complete authority. You will be completely
removed from the assignment even
after it is completed. This is the level
managers should hope to achieve with most employees
on most assignments. When properly executed,
this level gives you more discretionary
time and confidence that all work is being
completed as scheduled. With this level of authority, you have only minimal
interaction with the team member in the
form of a status report. A
6. Communication Skills: Communication skills. Delegation works best with clear and frequent
communication, and that means listening
as well as talking. It also requires a
high level of trust, which is earned overtime by
both manager and employees. Building trust entails
giving employees room to succeed by delegating tasks
and then taking a step back. You as a manager, secure
confidence when you allow employees to bring their own expertise
to the table. So how do we gain trust? We want eye contact and
evidence that the other person is listening if we are to share our ideas
and our thoughts. Without this evidence,
we just shut down. So as a manager, you should
learn to listen actively. Active listening is actually
a three stage process. First stage, eye contact, head nodes, other non
verbal affirmations. Second stage, verbal cues
or phrases such as gone, really, and then
what, et cetera. Third stage, questions for clarification or summarizing
statements such as, do you mean they were charging $4 for just a cup of coffee? After you got a cab,
go to the store and found the right sales
clerk, what happened then? Well, listening, of course, you need to ask questions. There are two kinds of
questions open and closed. Closed questions are those that can be answered by either yes or no or with a specific bit
of data such as your name, date of birth,
occupation, et cetera. These questions restrict
our responses and give us little opportunity
to develop our thoughts. As a result, they require little effort and can even
close down a conversation. This type of question tends
to get overused partially because they require
very little effort on the questionnaires
part as well. They are easy to phrase
and we get quick answers. Unfortunately, such questions
also can lead us to assume and assumptions can be big barriers to
good communication. Open questions on the other hand, encourage
people to talk. These questions are
phrased so they cannot be answered with
a simple yes or no. Open questions often begin with the variation
of the five Ws, who, what, when, where, and why, or can ask how. Open questions are used to get information,
focus conversations, solicit opinions,
gain consensus, closed questions begin
the closing process. The unintentional use
of closed questions can often be overcome by following it with a
simple open question. For example, do you feel that
was the right thing to do? Yes, I do. Can you help me understand why
you feel that way? Let's say you have a trust and you are also a
supportive leader, but apart from
that, what methods can help prepare your
team for success? Well, start by developing clear roles, processes
and procedures. You need to identify tools and forms that support your efforts. To this end, clearly defined
processes and roles, so your employees
don't waste time guessing how to shape
their assignments. For every delegated project, a great leader should
see the destination and should be able to clearly
relay precise expectations, definite goals and outcomes, specific steps to be taken to see the
project to completion. To be clear, the delegator
shouldn't have to define how each step is to be
accomplished by the team member. Rather, the delegator decides what needs to be
accomplished and the team member can use their experience to best
complete the required steps. As a leader, your job is often to be chief
reminding officer. The chief reminding
officer's role is to ensure each team
member checks in at key milestones and deadlines so they can receive additional
guidance if needed, and so that every
individual is held accountable for their
part of the process. This is where the developing strong systems comes in handy. If your processes are durable, then the team isn't always
starting from scratch and every detail will not require
painstaking explanation. Having talented, well trained people who can
think on their own and work well independently ensures that when
work gets delegated, it can be done in a
streamlined manner.
7. Monitoring Delegation: Monitoring delegation. Monitoring is the evaluation of the delegated activity
to ensure it is completed in a safe
and competent manner with regards to the set
requirements and standards. Several strategies can
be used to monitor or evaluate the performance
of delegated tasks. So here are some strategies
to monitor delegation. Direct observation
of team members and their supervisors by the analytic hierarchy
process is essential as it ensures that the assigned
activity is completed appropriately and complies with the set standards
and instructions. Modification of activities or instructions is
done as required. Outcomes are as desired. Further or additional support is provided for task
completion or development. Any team feedback
is looked into and necessary action is taken to improve performance
and output. Use of mail, the level of automation goes up
a notch with mails. Most managers prefer
Outlook mail where delegation tasks are in the same spot as to do
list for easy review. The task field is set
with three columns, the first column bearing
the task category. The second column, the name of the person the task
is assigned to, and the task rows
on the last column. Due dates as shown here. Use of journals, compared to
other automated solutions, journals are the most low
tech and simplest solutions. Journal pages are divided
into three columns. The first column bears the
date the assignment was made. The second column is
the name of the person the task was assigned to and
the task to be fulfilled, and in the last
column, the due date. Use of task management system, compared to other
monitoring methods, the task manager is the
most recommended tool. Regardless of the project size, a good task management system should be concise,
direct and simple. It should also be able
to provide tools for analysis or computation,
collect relevant information, alert the manager
and the team members of the tasks nearing
completing or deadlines and those exceeding budgetary allocation
among other issues. Allow both the team
and the manager to input relevant data
for computation. When monitoring, it is
important not to micromanage. Instead, check out for
timelines and milestones, budgetary allocations, and
the quality of work output. But all in accordance to the
agreed and set parameters, a good manager identifies issues that cannot be handled
and provide solutions. Again, always inquire about work progress and instead
of surprise inspections, make regular
monitoring sessions. Most importantly, do not
be a nagging manager. Your role is to oversee
the bigger picture. Smaller details
should be left to the supervisors
for own judgments. To monitor delegation, you need to stick to
the regular check in points you originally set
up in your monitoring plan. After delegation,
responsibility and authority are transferred
to another person who will remain accountable
on everything that happens in relation to the
design project or tasks, meddling too much
in designed work is not appropriate as that
will be micromanaging. For successful monitoring,
a balance should therefore be obtained between abdication
and micromanagement. Now, let's quickly look
at this case study. Barry delegated an assignment
to John and later found out that John hesitated to ask for help when he was
having difficulties. Barry and John set up performance
standards for the task, but the system for
monitoring was ineffective. On his weekly activity reports, John never indicated
there were problems. Yet he couldn't finish the assignment on time
because he was having trouble getting
necessary information from other departments. John didn't want to
mention the problem to Barry because he thought Barry would think
he was incapable. Just before the project was due, Barry found out
it would be late. Why didn't you let me know
sooner, Barry asked John? I thought I could
work it out myself, and I didn't want to bother
you with another problem. John replied. What do you think in this
case? Who failed here? What do you consider when
you are figuring out how much control or
monitoring is necessary? You might think now that
you've delegated your task. All you have to do is to read your regular reports and ensure
that the deadline is met. However, as a manager, the most important aspect of
this reporting is openness. This will be shown by
your willingness to be objective when
facts are reported to you and to support the person
you've delegated the task to with additional resources
and support as needed. It is up to you to
ensure that you maximize the opportunity to show this openness during your
regular review sessions. You can achieve this by truly listening what
you are being told and by identifying
the signs that someone is not being
totally open with you. For example, by not maintaining eye contact or through
similar other signs. This could be due to the
fact that they don't want to disappoint
you with bad news. So to delegate effectively, here are some more tips for you. Use assignment log, identify milestones in the
project or task and then develop a system for
tracking what tasks are assigned to whom and when
they are to be completed. Use personal follow up. Studies show that
informal methods of follow up are most effective. An assignment you ask about
frequently is more important than one you mentioned
once but never monitor, but your interest must be
sincere to be effective. It's time consuming, but
the very fact that you take the time tells the team member that completion is important. Use sampling techniques,
depending on the type of work, you may ask for a simple of
the work to monitor quality, such as a report or sitting on a meeting with
employee is chairing. Use progress reports, similar to tracking
log, except this time, the onus is on the
employee to include steps taken and
difficulties in execution, and don't forget to ask questions like we've
discussed in previous lesson. By using your
questioning skills, you will also be able to identify inconsistencies
that may provide you with
early warning signs of potential or real problems. These questions need to be
asked in such a way that the person the task
has been delegated to or others involved
in the process, don't regard it as interference.
8. Practicing Delegation: Practicing delegation,
your role, assume you're recently
promoted manager, this management position
is new for you. Up until now, you primarily had technical
responsibilities. You have performed so well in the technical role, however, that Senior management, particularly the
senior vice president of the company wants
to reward you. She also feels you
have the ability to take on this important
management responsibility. You want the new
responsibilities, although you aren't
comfortable in your role yet. As manager, you will
be confronted with basic delegation functions like deciding what to
delegate and to whom. Delegating a task,
monitoring a delegated task. As this story unfolds, you will find yourself
in a variety of situations that call for the different
delegation decisions. You have a description of your employees to
consider as you try to decide which one would be the most suited for each situation. You ask to reflect on how you would handle
each situation. Each employee has
the education and experience to do any of
the jobs required of them. But as you will see, all have different
modes of operating. Employees. Pat is on the
charities committee and the softball team
and is trying to organize a card game
for lunchtime players. Pat loves to be with people, to be doing things
and to be involved. Although Pat is not necessarily
the life of the party, Pat does enjoy a good time. Pat excels in
marketing and sales. Everyone Pat meets feels
like a potential friend. Pat tends to say
whatever comes to mind and then think
about how it sounds. Pat may occasionally
be heard saying, Yes, I said it, but
I didn't mean it. Chris is also in sales. Chris takes pride in
thorough knowledge of the product and
troubleshooting abilities. Whenever there is a problem, you can email Chris
for a quick solution. Chris prefers to do sales and troubleshooting work
from the computer, which Chris says is
much more efficient. That way, Chris can
meet with people from all over the world without having to move from the office. When Chris does
take a lunch break, Chris can be seen with one of his two best friends
in the office. Although Chris is friendly, gives generously to
the charities campaign and can be outspoken at times. Chris projects and I
want to be alone image. Sandy, Sandy has been
called a number cruncher. Sandy has been heard to say, you can't trust your eyes, ears, and sense of touch. Let me feel it and count it. I know what's real that way. Sandy is a manager whose
hobby is collecting coins. Sandy likes to shine and feel of the cool metal and the
history they represent. Sandy also likes to look and the speed of new
computers and software. Although change is
hard to adapt to, Sandy notices when things
are out of place in the office and likes to keep an accurate count of
employees sick days, vacation days, and comp time. Employees see Sandy as strict, a bit fuzzy on
details, but fair. Leslie is head of the marketing
department and constantly amazes workers with
creative ideas for the company's products. Leslie's work in graphic
design has won several awards. Although the marketing
department's budget doesn't always balance. That's what accountants
are for response Leslie. The people who work for Leslie
sense a commitment to them and appreciate how
much freedom they are given to work on their own. Leslie once said, I
just didn't notice when someone at the meeting
pointed out that Leslie's stockings didn't match. Lee started working for the company years
ago as a clerk and is now administrative assistant to the Vice President
of Operations. Lee takes the job
very seriously. Lee is constantly
asked for advice from the younger support
staff and helps them by relying on two pillars, tradition and the policy book. His motto is, you are
either right or wrong, and it is up to me
to discover which. Whenever a knotty
problem arises, Lee thinks back on how the old founder would
have responded, and then he cancels
the policy book. If there isn't a policy, Lie initiates the procedures for implementing a new policy
so that there won't be any confusion
in the next time the issue comes
up. Rain or shine. Li makes sure that things are clearly defined
and run fairly. I have no favorites,
Lie frequently claims. Everyone knows exactly
where I stand. Terry, who prefers to make decisions by taking the
human element into account, runs the human
resources department. Well, I don't really run it. Terry laughs. It runs.
It's more like it. Even though we have policies
for human resources, you really have to
use your heart. Just because someone's
late a few times, you have to be understanding. Heck, they may have a
sick kit or something. I really think Lee is a little
rough on folks sometimes, but I understand that Lee
feels that's his job. Terry has been in charge of human resources for ten years. The employees there
have high morale and the department has had the lowest turnover in the company. Terry rarely misses a day, except one for
ulcer surgery which occurred after a small
downsizing had to be managed. CRs performance
appraisals are a dream. CR is well organized, conscientious and consistently
exceeds standards. CRs system is to use a
day planner correctly. CR writes lists and then
gets an enormous sense of satisfaction out of scratching things off when
they are completed. CR schedules appointments
for the sales crew and makes arrangements for
periodic sales fairs that the company sponsors. Many written work is always neat and complete on time every time. CR's biggest problem is that the sales force doesn't
appreciate that work. CR has to get on their cases
when they don't follow the schedules or
when they forget to do things that CR has
asked them to do. They are children,
really, CR often says. Brook resents CR's
condescension. Who says that life runs
according to schedule. Sometimes I have to
wait for a client. Sometimes we decide
to go out for lunch. Not everything can be planned, and besides, it takes
the fan out of life. Indeed, Brook's flexibility
has been a great asset to the company as new technology has demanded changes
in the products. Brook outsells every other
salesperson in the company, but is constantly
late for meetings and cannot be pinned down for
planning long term goals. Hey, we will see how it
looks when we get there, Brook replies with a wink. These scenarios will help
you analyze your employees, identify some delegation
challenges to overcome, and see some of the
mistakes you might make. Take time to understand
the environment, the people, and the
circumstances presented. Place yourself in the
position of the manager and try to evaluate how you would
decide for each decision. Decision information. Please check the appropriate
column for each job. The no column means you believe
you should do that job. The yes column
means that you will delegate the task
to a team member. You may need to help them, but they will do the most
of the work themselves. Decision two, you
have determined general guidelines as to what you are and are not
going to delegate. Now it's time to decide
which staff member would be the best person to actually
delegate a particular job to. Which one of your
staff will you ask to head up the social committee, and why would you
choose that person? Which one of your
staff would you ask to respond to customer
requests for information, demonstrations, et
cetera, and why? Which one of your
staff would you ask to head up materials purchasing? Why? Which one of your staff will you ask to
chair routine staff meetings? Why? Which one of your staff will you be
most likely to ask to see that weekly
department reports and completed and in on time? Decision three, now
you need to decide what level of authority to give each employee
in order for him, her to accomplish this task. Use the scale we discussed
in session seven. Decision four, you have delegated to recommended
level of authority. Now it's time to decide how
to monitor the delegation. Let's say you don't
monitor the project, you left the employee alone, assuming he or she was competent enough to complete
the task on his own. To your dismay, things go awry. How are you going
to handle this? Circle one, let it go. Chalk it up to experience, meet with the employee and
discuss what went wrong. Let it go for now, but mention the delay in the employee's
next performance appraisal. Which one did you choose? Why?
9. Giving Feedback: Giving feedback. Giving feedback is one of the most important, yet trickiest and most
difficult management tasks. Yet it is an essential element for everyone in an organization. It's like breathing,
people needed to survive. Think of feedback this way. It serves those who need to perform and reach goals at work, much like a compass
helps a hiker moving through difficult
or unchartered terrain. It is useful for indicating
when things are going in the right direction and a useful tool for redirecting
problem performance. Withholding that
feedback is like sending people out
without that compass. We sometimes miss
opportunities to give supportive feedback
because we think people know when
they are doing well. However, people often don't know if they are on the right
track unless you tell them. Supportive feedback reinforces
that the decisions or choices they made are right
and are noticed by you. We also miss
opportunities to give corrective feedback
because we are afraid that giving unpleasant
feedback could result in a difficult to handle response
or harm a relationship. In reality, delaying
that feedback can do more harm in the long
run. Think about it. If you are giving an
employee positive feedback, what should you keep in mind? If you are giving an employee
constructive feedback, what should you keep in mind? The performance feedback you
provide to people may be on a group level in terms
of how well they are meeting targets
compared to other groups, or it may be about
individual performance towards attainable goals. But just as feedback
is necessary to keep a rocket on target and
interest in a sport alive, so too, it is an
important way of keeping employees
interested in their work. Some criteria for
useful feedback. Feedback is positive first. One technique is to
say what you like first before you mention
what your concerns are. Being positive gets the person
in a better frame of mind. To hear the other side, feedback should be
asked for or agreed upon ahead of time,
rather than imposed. Effective feedback
is well timed. In general, feedback
is most useful at the earliest opportunity
after the given behavior. Feedback should be specific
rather than general. To be told that one is dominating would not be as
useful as to be told that. Now, when we were
deciding the issue, you didn't listen
what others said, and I felt forced to accept your argument or face
attack from you. Feedback should be
descriptive rather than evaluative or judgmental. Describing one's own reaction
leaves the other person free to use that information
or not as they see fit. Feedback should be
directed toward behavior the receiver
can do something about. Feedback should take into
account the needs of both the giver and
receiver of feedback. Feedback is destructive
when it serves only the giver's needs and fails to consider the
needs of the other person. Check that your feedback
is clear to the receiver. One way of doing this
is to have the receiver give back the feedback
in his own words. Let's have a look at
these case studies. Case study number one. One of your employees in
the maintenance department, Art Lebron seems to be having difficulty meeting some
of his work assignments. According to standards that
were set several years ago, all work orders are to be
completed within 48 hours. However, he seems to spend a lot of time on the phone
ordering supplies. You know, this is a job
that needs to be done, but you have a just in time
policy for ordering supplies. As you have a
really tight budget and no place to store supplies, what will you do to
handle this situation? Case study number two. Misses Stanfield is responsible for housekeeping for
the entire facility. She and her two part time staff get through a tremendous
volume of work, pride herself on a high level cleanliness throughout
the building, and is always cheerful and
ready to stop and help others. Every time you pass
her in the hall, you tell yourself you should stop and tell her she is one of the reasons the facility has such a good reputation
for quality. But you are always
late for a meeting when you run into her
and the moment passes. Over the last two weeks, she has been looking
a little worn and has making more mistakes than
usual. What do you need to do? Case study number three, four months have now passed since you sat down
with each staff member and established
performance expectations and the support plan
for each of them. You have finally found a few
minutes to update files. You come to Yvonne
Dressers file. Yvonne is responsible for
managing your computer systems. Her objective at the
outset was to improve her own ability to meet
deadlines by delegating more. You know she has made an effort. She has taken the course on delegating that you
recommended and she has been delegating some of the more routine software
support work to her two staff. But these two people complain about not knowing what
they are supposed to be doing and
whether what they're doing is the right thing.
What do you need to do?
Mackenzie Wilson
