“I guess I am feeling a little burned out,” said Cynthia. “There is just so much to do now that I am a manager. I feel stretched, way stretched.”

“How did the manager before you handle all of this workload?” I asked.

“Oh, that was different. I am still handling all my old job responsibilities plus handling my new responsibilities as manager.” Cynthia stopped. “So, I am working twice as hard. No wonder I feel burned out.”

“Who do you plan to give your old responsibilities to?”

“Well, I am trying,” Cynthia continued. “I just haven’t figured out how.”

“Wrong question,” I said.

“What?” Cynthia was startled.

“Wrong question. You will never make any headway figuring out how. You will only make headway when you figure out who. The solution is almost never a how, it’s almost always a who.”

“So, I should stop trying to figure out how I am going to get it all done and focus on who is going to do it?” Cynthia was surprised at her own question. She knew the answer. -TF

From the Ask Tom mailbag.

Question

I have just joined a new company as a project manager and have been assigned to report to another project manager. While this person has been with the company for a while, he is not that far ahead of me technically, though he knows some of the ins and outs of our clients. My problem is that I have been here for a week and a half and, though I have approached him several times about assignments, he continues to keep everything to himself. I am getting tired of staring at my computer screen. I don’t want to go around him, but I don’t know what I can do.

Response

Your manager is obviously more interested in task oriented work rather than management oriented work. You may even be his first direct report, so he may not even know what to do or how to manage you.

Whatever his reasons are, it really doesn’t matter. The first obstacle you have to overcome is trust. You have to get to know him. And I am not talking about warm and fuzzy stuff, this can be brilliantly professional. Grab him at a coffee break, before or after work and try these questions:

Where did you go to school?
How did that prepare you for your career as a project manager?
What attracted you to project management?
What is the most interesting project you have ever completed?
What part of your job do you find the most satisfying? (Hint, he is likely to also tell you the part he finds the least satisfying…which may be your entry into an assignment for some productive work).

Ask him what the most appropriate first assignment might be. Would it be a small project on your own, a segment of a larger project, or simply a small task in a larger segment?

Each day, ask him if there is some small thing that you could do for him that would be truly helpful. It doesn’t have to be a huge assignment, yet something you can successfully complete that begins to build the trust. It might even be an administrative task like collecting all the projects in a list and tagging the status of each project, who is working on it, etc. (This will be helpful to you, because you will know about projects in-house). Good luck, keep us updated on your progress. -TF

I was working with a group yesterday and the topic was delegation. I asked them to make a list of all the reasons that we don’t delegate more often. The first word spoken was “Fear.”

“Fear of what?” I asked.

“Fear that the person will fail.”

“Fear of losing control.”

“Fear that the project will not get finished.”

“Fear that the quality will not be up to my performance standards.”

So, the reason that we don’t delegate more often, has to do with a powerful human emotion. It is a wonder that we can delegate at all.

So, here is my question. How do you deal with the fear? When you do delegate, how do you ensure that the project will not fail, that you will not lose control, that the project will be finished, that the quality will be up to your performance standards? -TF

From the Mailbag at Ask Tom

Question

What are some delegation skills?

Response

Delegation is really a sequence of skills. The sequence starts with identifying the person for the delegation. As delegation is your most powerful people development tool, the selection process requires both coaching and mentoring skills.

Successful delegations involve skills in both planning and goal setting. Communication skills are important during the delegation meeting, to make sure that expectations are clearly understood. Follow-up and evaluation skills are important as the delegation progresses, to determine course adjustments toward the final delivery in the delegation.

So you see, delegation is not a single skill, but a sequence of separate skills put together for a specific purpose. -TF

If you would like to ask Tom a question, follow the link to the right that says -Ask Tom-.

“I know you wanted two pages of detail, but I could only get part way down one page. Maybe I am stuck.” Jeremy pulled himself closer to the table. We had been working on his project plan, a short range project due in 60 days. As a first step I had asked him to paint a picture of the project, as if it were already complete.

I studied what he had written. It was a good start, but needed some fleshing out. “Tell me, Jeremy, are you working by yourself on this plan? Or do you have some team members helping you?”

Jeremy shook his head. He was thinking of an excuse, but didn’t know which way to go.

“Look, Jeremy, one of the biggest reasons managers fail is they think they have to do everything themselves. But you don’t. Let your team in on this project. They will help you. You have four main ideas in this page. Take your team, split them into four small groups. Give each group one of the ideas and tell them they have five minutes to present their thoughts in a meeting next Monday. At the end of a half hour meeting, you should have more than enough detail.” -TF

Jeremy was having difficulty with one of his best team members. Louis had always been Jeremy’s “go to” guy, but lately, things were different.

“Jeremy, when you decide on a project to delegate, how do you decide who to give it to?”

“Well, that used to be easy. Louis was always my guy. He could handle almost anything. My dad used to say, if you need something done, give it to someone who is busy because they will get it done faster than anyone else.”

“How is that working for you?”

“Not so good. Lately, Louis has been, well, not slipping, but, he just isn’t hopping like he was, even six months ago. I am beginning to wonder if he even likes working here anymore.”

“Think about the last delegation you gave to Louis. How much of a challenge was it for him?”

“Well, for Louis it was piece of cake. He should have been able to do it in his sleep with one hand tied behind his back.”

“Jeremy, I want you to think about something. Is it possible that you should have given that delegation to someone else and considered something more challenging for Louis? For delegation to be successful, the team member must see the task as a challenge.” -TF

“What is the hardest part about delegation?” I asked. Matthew winced. The more we talked about delegation, the more he hated it.

“Giving it up,” he said. “I was the best technician in the field. I could handle two more stops than any of the other service trucks. At the end of the day, I put my numbers on the wall, and they were almost always at the top.”

After a moment, he continued, “Now, I have to wait. It is really tough to know whether or not what I do, as a Manager, is really having an impact. Numbers will be down for a service tech and I wonder if it is my fault or is he just having a bad day.”

“You are pretty results-oriented, aren’t you?” I asked.

“I guess so,” Matthew replied.

“It’s more than a guess, Matthew. That is why you really liked being a technician. You got results on a daily basis. You could stick them on the wall and look at them. If you wanted, you could even pull your results off the wall, take them home to show your wife. You are in a different game now. The results are not so tangible. The results have to do with growth and development of your team. Welcome to management.” -TF