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How to Improve Productivity through Delegation 

How to overcome your barriers to delegating

Improve delegation skills and become more successful!
Delegate tasks to improve efficiency

Delegation: dishing out the jobs, assigning people to tasks, entrusting a task to someone else where you remain accountable. Everyone seems to agree that delegation can be extremely beneficial for all concerned: the delegator, the delegatee and your organisation. Not only does it improve the efficiency and productivity of your team, it significantly expands the flexibility of operations leading to higher profitability.

So, having established that, why don’t we do it? During training, I usually ask 2 questions: who, in their current role, has the opportunity to delegate tasks (many hands raised)? And who actually does it (not so many hands this time)?

Why the reluctance?

Let’s take a look at some classic get-out clauses offered up when you know you should be delegating:

I can do it quicker myself

If true, it’s a very short-term truth. How does anybody learn to do anything? Given the opportunity to practice, the new skill becomes embedded and we pick up the pace.

I can do it better than you

Nice try! As above, with practice and repetition, not only will someone’s speed increase, but also the level of quality.

You might do it better than me

Some people are terrified of being embarrassed, but who cares who gets the job done, as long as it’s done well? It’s a team effort isn’t it? Identifying someone better than you to do it just makes you a good delegator.

It’s risky – you might do it wrong

Do we delegate the task, then abandon the staff member? No, we just need to agree on the monitoring/review process. Shall we meet up once a day for 5 minutes, to see how you’re doing? Agree on the process and stick to it. That way we can minimise the potential for disaster or catastrophe.

I won’t be needed any more

Some people believe they can delegate their way out of their job. Will their boss think they’re not needed anymore if they delegate all their tasks?

Which leads to an important question – should we try to delegate every item on our to do list? Of course not – the theory is to delegate everything that can be, so we can focus on those tasks which cannot. This includes anything for a manager’s eyes only, like who gets promoted, who gets a pay rise, planning, disciplinary matters, setting goals etc.

I’ll be unpopular – only dishing out the dull jobs

Dull according to whom? Usually the manager, who has had to do the job every 10 minutes for the last 3 years and is sick of it. Don’t assume too much here – your team may be keen to try some new jobs, so always have the conversation and discuss possibilities.

Conclusion

If you were feeling like the most reluctant delegator ever, you might give the above reasons to justify your lack of delegation. But all these arguments can be overcome by adopting a different, more positive perspective.

Overall, and if done correctly, the process of delegation can be extremely beneficial for everyone involved. Give delegating a chance, and you will see productivity wins immediately!

 

 

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Seven Tips for Successful Business Writing

Avoid Confusion With These Seven Success Tips For Business Writing

“This email makes no sense at all…”

How many times have you received an email/message read it and had this thought? Quite likely more than once! And that’s a problem. How many different documents do we churn out at work? Lots of emails, plus reports, proposals, minutes etc. Every single one of them needs to be accurate in terms of spelling, punctuation and grammar. But that is just the start, in this article we’ll look at seven simple steps we can take to producing writing that reads well and communicates the points intended saving us from misunderstandings and lost productivity.

History is littered with examples of major fails due to poor communication, an oft used example being the Charge of The Light Brigade and the breakdown of understanding between Lord Raglan and Sir George Cathcart at a critical intersect of the battle. Remember that every message sent acts as an ambassador for you and your company. It creates an impression not just of you, but of the whole organisation. So let’s get it right!

Improve communication through efficient business writing
Business writing course
  1. Proofreading & checking
    Wehn we raed wrods, we dno’t raed each and evrey letetr. Our brains have a talent for making sense from nonsense. We don’t look inside words, we just look at the shape of the word. If the first and last letters look right, we can work out what the word is. If any letters are in the wrong order, without thinking we unscramble them – we don’t see the mistake!

I recommend proofreading and checking, although often, people just use spellchecker. But it won’t always save you. If I’m typing quickly, ‘from’ becomes ‘form’. And I’ve met plenty of managers who are definitely not ‘mangers’! Here are some top tips to help with your proofreading:

  1. Take a break! Allow time between writing and proofreading. Give yourself a chance to forget what you wrote. If you proofread immediately, you’ll just see what you think is on the page. Or, find a proofreading buddy. A fresh pair of eyes checking your work will pick up mistakes you’ve missed.
  2. Use a pointer. Running your pen or finger along each line underneath the words will force you to slow down, look inside the words and spot the errors.
  3. Check spelling, punctuation and grammar. If you find a mistake, correct it then rewind a little to the beginning of the sentence. There may be 2 mistakes right next to each other, and you might miss the second one.
  4. Use a cover to limit what you can read. Use a ruler or a piece of paper and place it over the document. As you proofread, move it down the page, revealing the lines one by one.
  5. Read it backwards! This is a very useful proofreading technique. Start at the end of each paragraph and read backwards. The message will be lost, so you can focus on checking the words.
  6. Final check – is the message intact? You’ve made changes – does the document still say what you want it to say?

In summary, we should be proofreading and checking every document we create. Think of it as short-term sacrifice for long-term benefits like efficiency and productivity not only for you but for the recipients of your messages. Remember how you feel when you’re reading an unintelligible email – what impression do you have of the writer? Good lcuk!