From the Ask Tom mailbag.
Question
I’m in a situation where I manage three different groups; however, I am not really the manager but actually in the same job category as the people I “supposedly” manage. The problem is my boss has given me the responsibility of all of these jobs, however, I do not have the authority to delegate to any of the people I manage. They all go crying to my boss. My tendency then is to try to “do it all”. I’ve spoken to my boss about the way I feel, “responsibility but no authority” and he does not know what I mean. He says just give it to him and he’ll find someone to do it. I feel unrespected, overworked and my self-respect is rapidly diminishing. What approach would be my effective for me to take?
Response
There are a number of dynamics going on here that are working against you. First there is the resistance from your co-workers to “assignments” for which they feel no accountability. Second is your boss, who wants to get things done, but is not willing to spend the time you need to work through this resistance. The third dynamic is you.
We could spend all kinds of time working on some technique or trick to subtly coerce your fellow team members into compliance or we could beat our head against the wall whining about how your boss just doesn’t understand. Or…
Or we can start with you. The biggest change that has to occur is not an approach. The biggest change that has to occur is with you.
I am going to throw this open to our readers for response. Here is the question.
What has to change in the mindset and the self-talk that will begin the slow development process of what being a manager is all about?
I have a fresh out-of-the-box copy of Jaynie Smith’s new book, Creating Competitive Advantage for the most insightful comment. -TF
I am personally not in favour of mindset and self-talk being the core areas a person should work on. This just provides a person with a short term buyonancy which in most cases does not last. At best mindset and self talk can be fillers in the bigger picture.
The key thing that needs to be added in the mixture here is ACTIONS and APPROACH. They need to be incorporated along with the positive mindset and self talk to be successful in adapting to the role that has been given to you.
If we look at it in another way we can say that the “mindset” has to be action oriented and the “self talk” has to be about the approach that you are going to follow and visualizing the positive effects it shall bring in.
I have been in a very similar situation. And while mindset and self talk is what will help them get through the situation; without the support of their manager and the authority to make changes or delegate if needed the individual will have many struggles and may very well fail at the task. One of the things I found was that my manager felt I had the authority however I never felt that support was there – so in that case the mindset that they do not have the authority could be wrong and therefore more conversation with their manager should take place. Communication is the key – instead of sitting there feeling as if they do not have the authority and doing nothing they must take action and assume the role as the authority figure and communicate with their manager – but don’t whine go in with solutions and backup. If the manager is not supporting that role and allowing the co-workers to come to him vs going through the responsible party it will not be successful.
The mindset that every successful manager has is ‘leading’. The first step in gaining trust and loyalty is a devotion to your peers/subordinates. Questions to ask yourself in delegating tasks:
-1- Have I explained the task or tasks well enough for someone to be successful in the undertaking? Does the individual have a clear understanding of when the task or tasks is/are “successfully” accomplished?
-2- Have I granted the authority as well as the responsibility of the work to the individual?
-3- Have I cleared assigning the task with upper management (boss)?
-4- Have I made sure to identify the benefits of completing the task to the individual? What does it mean to the whole when the task or tasks is/are successfully accomplished? Will there be a sense of accomplishment for the assignee?
-5- Last and most importantly, share the credit. The most successful leaders spread the credit to their peers and subordinates. The greatest and most remembered leaders having the largest loyalty base are those that accept the responsiblity for the failures and not place blame onto others. People will follow a ‘leader’ that protects them.
Thank you for the challenge of assessing the scenario presented in your blog, “Biggest Change is You.” Before answering your question, I want to first state something that is often learned through life and work experiences–we cannot control the behaviors of others, but we CAN control the way we respond to and/or influence those behaviors–hence the absolute necessity of looking at ourselves and engaging in self-assessment on a regular basis, as well as the effects of our behaviors on the way others behave.
That being stated–our approach and the reflection of our own self-image and confidence level will directly affect perception and the way others respond to our actions. The narrator is locked in a paradigm with the belief that without the proper authority, his colleagues have no reason to respond to his requests. This narrator needs to step back and consider the fact that his supervisor saw something in him–perhaps a hint of the leadership required to engage his peers and motivate them to perform.
One approach might be to partner with his peers to attack the tasks at hand as a team. Working together to complete the required “jobs” will provide a motivational environment energized by the narrator, while eliminating the “delegation” factor.
True leadership begins with modeling high standards and appropriate behaviors, and setting high expectations for others to mirror those high standards. The narrator needs to embrace his supervisor’s faith in him to perform, and convey those expectations to his peers in an effort to accomplish the tasks at hand. He needs to first believe in himself to take on the challenge at hand, then communicate with his peers to convey rationale and gain buy-in from them. The narrator must respect himself and respect those that he works with.
I often put my faith in any one of my Directors, requiring that they “head up” a project and gain support and manpower from the rest of the team. Because each is confident and capable, the others willingly contribute to the task at hand, no questions asked.
If it is to be…
Share the benefits (for them), show enthusiasm about the project, share the benefits (not just the “what,” but the “why”), let others know you’ll need their strength and … share the recognition.
The answer here is really kind of simple in terms of “oneself”.
First one has to recognise that there is a difference between an reason and an excuse. A ‘reason’ is an accounting of a set of circumstances or occurances – indicating what happened. An excuse is an attempt to not stand accountable for what happened.
There lies the important word – accountability. In order for me to change I need to shed the ‘victim’ stance and transform it into an accounting of events and a declaration of what I can do to move things forward. I ask myself questions like – “What do I need to do to turn this situatition around” – “What can I do to improve the sales process” – What will I do to ….. etc etc etc.
When you stop being the victim of – you release yourself to solve the problem yourself – It’s all about personal accountability.
At Procter and Gamble they taught us that there are 3 components to effective delegation, the three E’s. Envision – set a clear goal for the person/people taking the task on; Empower – give them the authority to be able to execute successfully and last Enable – give them the tools and the resources they need to do the task. I like this simple summary and it has stuck with me so now when I look back at times when I haven’t been so successful at delegating something I can usually see where I set the delegee up for failure. Typically I haven’t given them all the parameters for a task or one of the other key elements.