“Every manager first thinks of delegation as a Time Management tool,” I said. “And it is powerful, but not if you think about it in terms of Time Management.”

Julio nodded that he was listening but I could see the skepticism in his eyes.

“You think you can save an hour here or there, but that is chump change compared to the leverage available. Julio, tell me, what are the major benefits to you, as a manager, when you are able to effectively delegate?”

“Okay,” Julio started. “If I can delegate, I can spend more time working on more important things. I can get more done. I may be able to get enough done to take off a little early, maybe take a full half-hour for lunch. I would have time to start on projects that have been sitting on the back burner. I would have more time for coaching and planning.”

“And that’s the problem.” -TF
__
Working Leadership Online
April 6 – Delegation Skills – Ultimate Leverage
Register today.

Apr 27 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops
May 18 – Managing Time – Managing Yourself
Jun 8 – Team Problem Solving – Power of Team

Thanks to all of you who responded yesterday about the beta test for Management Myths and Time Span. We got our test group by around 11:00a. For those of you who responded after that, we started another list and we will let you know when we release the program (1-2 weeks).
_
Julio continued to resist. “The biggest problem with delegation is that it takes too long to explain what I want done. In less time, I can finish the project myself and I don’t have to worry about any loose ends dangling.”

“What is the purpose for delegation?” I asked. “Why am I so insistent that you should delegate more often?”

“That’s easy. Delegation is all about Time Management. But, that’s not my experience. I spend a half hour explaining something that takes me fifteen minutes to do. How is that Time Management?”

“What kind of leverage are you trying to get when you delegate?”

“Well, if I can unload something that takes me an hour to do, then that saves an hour,” he explained. “But if it takes me a half hour to explain, or review the work, then that leverage is 2 to 1.”

“That’s a good start, but you should be looking to gain more leverage. You should be able to work for one hour and get five hours productivity. A better target would be to work for one hour and get ten hours productivity.”

Julio looked puzzled.
__
Working Leadership Online
April 6 – Delegation Skills – Ultimate Leverage
Register today.

Apr 27 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops
May 18 – Managing Time – Managing Yourself
Jun 8 – Team Problem Solving – Power of Team

“I don’t know,” Julio replied. “I try to delegate as often as I can, but it always ends up, back in my lap.”

“Does it seem like you delegate things to your team on Monday and then your team delegates back to you on Wednesday?” I asked.

“I never thought about it that way, but you’re right. It’s almost like reverse delegation. They get stuck with a problem, come to me for help and before you know it, they are out the door with the project on my desk.”

“How does that happen?”
__
Working Leadership Online
April 6 – Delegation Skills – Ultimate Leverage
Register today.

Apr 27 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops
May 18 – Managing Time – Managing Yourself
Jun 8 – Team Problem Solving – Power of Team

“I know I need to delegate more often, and I try, but I gotta tell you, I am not happy with some of the results,” Julio explained. “It takes longer to delegate than to do it myself. And half the time, I have to come back in, take over the project and begin again. It’s frustrating.”

“And what else?” I asked.

“You want me to go on?” he replied.

I nodded.

“I don’t trust them. I have a great team, but they let me down too often. We have a mission critical project and I try to get some help and it’s always me having to save the day.”

“Why do you think that happens?” -TF
__
Working Leadership Online
April 6 – Delegation Skills – Ultimate Leverage
Register today.

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

This question from Jan was in response to a post about Delegation from March 30, 2007 (seems a lot of people are reading the archives.)

Question:

Hi! I’m a bit puzzled with delegation as the most powerful time management tool. It could well be the most powerful learning and development tool, but the former I need some thoughts on this.

Response:

Delegation serves both purposes. As a Time Management tool, anytime someone else is performing tasks on our behalf, it frees our time up to do something else. And if that is our purpose, then we can free up a couple of hours every day.

But the real power for Time Management only comes when your purpose for Delegation is People Development. When you develop someone, you may be able to move significant tasks (that take a lot of time) off your plate. Instead of freeing up one or two hours, you may free up 50 or 100 hours.

Working with managers, I always ask, “How can you work for one hour and gain two hours productivity?”

But the real question is, “How can you work for one hour and gain 50 hours of productivity?” Only when your purpose for Delegation is People Development. -TF

“So, what has to change?” I asked again. The schedule was staring at Miguel. The blank squares were screaming to be filled with someone’s name.

“I know, as the manager, I should be doing other things. But I can’t get to them until I get this schedule done. And no one else can do this schedule,” Miguel fired back.

“And why can’t anyone else do this schedule?”

Now, that was a barn stopper.

Miguel sat back again. “Because.” He stopped. “Because, I haven’t trusted anybody to do it.” He stopped again. “But, if I am going to have a life, and if I am going to run an 18 hour shift with double the headcount, I am going to have to trust someone.”

“Here’s the challenge,” I responded. “You haven’t had a heart attack yet, so you can work more than two hours a day. But I don’t want to see you scheduled for more than 45 hours per week, and I want to see your personal schedule. And on that schedule better be some time to coach two other people on putting the team schedule together.” -TF
__
Thanks for those who responded to our survey. It only takes about a minute. We will keep the survey open until October 19. The results will help us finalize an online program we are set to release in the next three weeks. -TF

http://www.managementblog.org/survey-oct2007/

Miguel sat back in his chair. “If you are not going to hire another manager to take over the additional chores, to make sure this place runs the way it’s supposed to, then I have to change some things around here.”

“Miguel, if you had a heart attack (which is the way you are headed, by the way), and the doctor said you could only work two hours per day, and only from your hospital bed, how would you keep this place up and running?”

Miguel almost snorted, stifling a laugh. “There’s no way,” he chided, shaking his head from side to side.

“I know. But if there was a way, how would you do it?”

“Well, first of all, I would have to have some eyes and ears in here, watching and monitoring. I would have to get the daily production numbers, to make sure things were okay.” Miguel stopped. He knew this was impossible, but he had started to think.

“And if you had spent your two hours for the day, and your doctor had shut off the phone, and there was a problem on the plant floor, what would have to happen?”

“Well, someone would have to be able to make a decision, and the team would have to be trained to handle the most likely problems.”

“So, Miguel. Look down at your desk. What are you working on? Are you working on a person, to help them learn how to make decisions? Are you figuring out how to get your team trained to handle a little chaos?”

Miguel looked down at the ballpoint pen, laying across an unfinished work schedule. He looked sad. “No, I can’t get to stuff like that until I get this schedule done.”
__
Thanks for those who responded to our survey. It only takes about a minute. We will keep the survey open until October 19. The results will help us finalize an online program we are set to release in the next three weeks. -TF

http://www.managementblog.org/survey-oct2007/

Miguel was stunned. At some point, he thought I was a nice guy, but now he was not so sure. He was already working twelve hour days running a 10 hour staggered shift. We were about to expand to an 18 hour swing shift and expected Miguel to run the whole thing. Welcome to management.

“But I am already working as hard as I can,” Miguel protested. “How can you possibly expect more?”

“I expect more, because you are capable of more,” I replied. Miguel’s face turned blank. He was tired of fighting. He was tired of fighting the twelve hour days, he was tired of fighting me, but mostly he was tired of fighting his own thinking.

“I can’t work this way any longer,” he resigned. “Something has to give. I am already in trouble with my wife. I hardly get to play with my kids. My golf clubs have rust on them.”

“And I want you to manage a longer work process with about double the headcount you have now. What are you going to change?” -TF