I recently came across this great post in Women in Leadership and Management Australasia (wilma) and thought it was worth a share. If we are going to assist our staff and teams to engage in “above the line” behaviour and embrace accountability, responsibility and problem solving, then we need to embrace a leadership style that provides an environment for this to occur.
If you’re not offering your people the opportunity to grow – to increase their responsibility and learn new skills – you are going to lose them.
According to a large-scale study conducted by INSEAD, millennials in the workplace care most about the opportunity for growth, meaning and relationships. They will even take a job that pays less for these opportunities.
But increasing responsibility without also delegating authority is a recipe for disaster. People feel like you’re just piling more work on them and resent it.
And simply delegating is not always the answer either. Sometimes it’s not the right thing to do. You wouldn’t expect someone to jump out of an airplane without a parachute. Yet that’s what many managers metaphorically do without realizing it. They assign responsibility and then disappear. Once there’s a splat, they jump back in – going back and forth on a seesaw.
Before you increase responsibilities and delegate, make sure these three conditions for success are in place:
Attitude
What do they want to do? Are they motivated to increase their responsibilities? Is there an area of work they are particularly interested in?
Skills
What skills are required? What do you need to do to help them develop the skills? Do they need some training? Do they need opportunity to expand their experience?
Resources
What resources do they need to do the job? How can they get access to the information they will need? Will they require financial resources? Put together a budget they can manage on their own. What support will they need from others?
7 Fail-Safe Steps to Increase Responsibility
1. Ensure expectations are clear.
Be specific, clear, and complete about the task, goals, responsibilities, constraints, what a good job looks like and how performance will be evaluated. Clarify at the beginning the amount and type of supervision you will provide and how the progress will be monitored.
2. Grant authority.
Grant the authority needed to do the job. Let all who will be affected know about the delegation.
3. Provide needed support and resources.
Provide all information that is available and relevant; pass on other information as it becomes available. Give public credit when they succeed, but deal with mistakes discretely.
4. Inform others.
Make sure everyone involved knows that you have delegated responsibility and that this person has the authority to make decisions. If others come to you with questions, instead of answering, refer them to the person in charge.
5. Get out of the way.
Do not interfere or take the delegation back unless it is clear that corrective action is necessary. Do not supervise too closely. “Post-delegation hovering” is demoralising and will interfere with their commitment and effectiveness.
6. Don’t take it back.
If they are struggling, be available to give advice or act as a sounding board. If they need resources, help them get what they need. But let them maintain responsibility.
7. Maintain accountability.
It should be clear that your direct report has the responsibility for seeing the job well done. But remember that the ultimate accountability remains with you.
See the original post here.
Want to know more about increasing your team’s responsibility and enhancing leadership capability? Send me an email at michelle@bakjacconsulting.com to enquire about “Leaders as Coaches” training.
Michelle Bakjac is an experienced Psychologist, Organisational Consultant, Coach, Speaker and Facilitator. As Director of Bakjac Consulting, she is a credentialed Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a member of Mental Toughness Partners and an MTQ48 accredited Mental Toughness practitioner. Michelle assists individuals and organisations to develop their Mental Toughness to improve performance, leadership, behaviour and wellbeing. You can find her at www.bakjacconsulting.com or michelle@bakjacconsulting.com
