Delegating Takes Trust, Gives Freedom

Question: I have a home office where two part-time assistants share a 40-hour work week. I hire very bright young people who want to learn the business and appear eager to grow with us, but after a few months they say they are not challenged and leave. I am terribly overworked and feel I cannot do it all, but I admit that I do hesitate to let the staff work on projects with our larger customers. My newest assistant of five months just resigned because she said she was disappointed in how little she was taught and that I did all the “fun” things myself. Here I am drowning in work and it doesn’t feel like fun. Do you have suggestions for how I might keep my staff for years instead of months? It’s logical to think, what could be better than giving away work and lightening my load. In fact, for many people, delegating doesn’t come as naturally as we might expect. It challenges our ability to trust and it takes a bit of courage, too. Most busy people say that it’s easier to do the work themselves than to spend the time showing someone else how to do it. Of course, they are right, but only in the short term. The time you take to educate and train staff is a major investment that will pay off, but not always immediately. Like the financial investments we make, there are potential risks and gains. The more effort you put into delegating, the more freedom you will get back in return. Employees feel challenged when they are given the tools to do a job accompanied by the responsibility and authority to carry it out. Delegating can conjure up confusing feelings or even fears about what it means to give away responsibility. To help clarify, delegating doesn’t mean giving up total responsibility. You are ultimately responsible for what happens, including the mistakes your assistant may make, but how you respond to those mistakes will help determine how your employees will progress. When a mistake is made, acknowledge it, deal with what went wrong openly so that the lesson is learned, and then move on. Risk-averse people tend to make poor delegaters. Challenge yourself to go beyond what may feel comfortable in order to experiment with giving up more complex work to an assistant. Remember that it is only natural to feel some discomfort when assigning new responsibilities or expanding the level of another person’s authority. After all, it is your business. (more)

Let your assistant know what you are expecting of him or her, and don’t assume that just because you said it, it is understood. Demonstrate when possible; try role playing or providing a script; then listen for how much is understood in order to build your confidence to assign more difficult work. Then observe, be open for questions, and don’t interfere unless it is essential. Ask your employees for feedback on how you are doing in challenging them, and do this periodically along the way – not after months have gone by. Trust your own instincts to know early on whether an employee will be successful, and don’t take too long accommodating a slow learner or someone who is a wrong personality match for your type of business. It is harder to try again when a lot of time has been wasted training the wrong person. Developing staff that you can rely on to do things in the style and with the attitude that you expect is a great goal. Things will not always be done exactly as you would do them, but ask yourself, is it acceptable? Is the job getting done? If it is, give employees positive reinforcement to produce greater confidence. Employees need and want to be trusted and acknowledged in order to accept more responsibility. Knowing there is a limit to what you can accomplish alone in your business is a strong motivator. Continue to stretch beyond your comfort zone and experiment with delegating more and see what happens. Have a question? The HR Coach is ready to answer your questions about people issues at work and the HR challenges facing small businesses today. This Q & A format will be based on your questions and those frequently asked by her clients. We reserve the right to edit questions for clarity and length. No names will be published. Send your questions to: TheHRCoach@aol.com Linda Lerner is an executive coach and a human resources consultant. She consults on best practices to a broad range of small businesses and coaches managers to make the most of their challenges and opportunities at work. Prior to founding Lerner Consulting Services, she was Chief HR Officer at USTrust. She can be reached at Linda@Lernerconsulting.com. Read more ‘The HR Coach’ columns:

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