Responsible delegation
Responsible delegation
There are several key elements to responsible delegation. Work through this action list to ensure you and your team get the best outcome possible:
- Use your task lists to assess reactive and proactive activities – you could add another column to the original table to complete this more efficiently
- Ensure all proactive work is planned into a timetable that team members have access to
- Go back to the competency section of the module and match tasks > skills > team member
- Have standard operating procedures in place that are easily understood by everyone
- Work collaboratively to assess clear lines of responsibility and consistent delegation protocols
- Understand where responsibility ends and accountability begins – ‘where does the buck stop?’
Finally, think about what behaviour traits might be required to build self-confidence in your team members and for you to have confidence in them.
Behaviour traits required
Honesty requires us to speak and act truthfully, but we are not always completely truthful in our daily lives. In the context of effective and safe delegation, honesty is essential. It builds trust, is simple to understand and shows respect for the other person.
Communication skills allow you to understand and be understood by others. These can include but are not limited to communicating ideas to others clearly, a friendly and confident demeanour and respecting other points of view. Some aspects of communication are listed below:
- Adapting your communication style
- Confidence
- Offering and taking feedback
- Clarity
- Empathy
- Respect
- Understanding body language
- Responsiveness.
The dictionary describes self-discipline as the ability to control yourself and to make yourself work hard or behave in a particular way without needing to be told.
It is a learned behaviour which helps establish better behaviour patterns and work disciplines. It encourages trust in one’s own abilities and skills. Supporting your team members to develop this will significantly improve working practices.
Self-awareness is really about knowing yourself, knowing what you’re good at and what you’re not – and being honest about it.
We all have different levels of self-awareness. You might know your strengths and weaknesses, but some of your colleagues might not. It is important to support team members to become more self-aware through honest and constructive feedback.
According to Harvard Business School, a high-trust organisation “is one in which employees feel safe to take risks, express themselves freely, and innovate. When trust is instilled in an organisation, tasks get accomplished with less difficulty because people are more likely to collaborate and communicate with each other in productive ways”.
All of the above need to be in place to build self confidence in both you and your team, with self-confidence defined as a feeling of trust in one’s abilities, qualities and judgement.
Final word
Be brave. If you can find time to work through this module to support you and your team’s future development, you won’t regret it.
Pause to reflect
Using all the information you have gained completing the previous activities, consider this: what are the things that only you can do? Be brave and challenge yourself.