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Motivation

The Skill of Delegation – Part 2

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Who should we delegate to?

I’m going to take this in two steps.  The first is when you are just beginning to delegate or have never delegated before and the second is the use of delegation for development, when delegation is used widely already in your team.

Step one – When someone never or rarely delegates

Firstly, as delegation is a new activity for the team, you will need to explain and sell it to them, which will settle those suspicious minds from the start.  Be careful not to allocate work to one or two people in the team regardless of how capable they are.  They may feel unfairly put upon, or others in the team may become envious.  Select the person to fit the task.  However do take time to consider the impact on others and any repercussions that may come from your decision and deal with those issues up front.

Thinking of what tasks or duties would be valuable for you to delegate to your team member – for both yourself and for them – you then need to choose the best person for the job.  The main aim here is to match the task to the person.  Catalogue all the team members’ skills and then analyse using the questions below:

  • What are the key strengths and weaknesses of each team member?
  • Who currently has the ability to complete the task or be trained up to do it?
  • What does each person in the team enjoy doing?
  • Who has the motivation and confidence to undertake the task/duty?
  • How will the added responsibility fit in with their current duties?   If you don’t seriously consider this then you are dumping on your team.
  • Which tasks/duties make the least contribution to your personal objectives?
  • How many milestones/checkpoints should be used in the task?

Remember:

The more involved you are the less effectively you are delegating.  So don’t have more milestones than are truly needed.

Intervene only as a last resort if something goes wrong.

It is through mistakes that we learn the most; so make sure your team do not fear failure as this will affect their enthusiasm for future delegated tasks!

Don’t forget if something has gone wrong this is your mistake as you chose the task, the person and the milestones.

You must acknowledge the person’s achievements through verbal and written praise, with possibly a small gift etc.  Also encourage your line managers to get involved with the praise.  This builds confidence, loyalty and job satisfaction.

Step two – delegate to whole team to enhance development

Once you and the team are comfortable with delegation, you can use the above method to start to develop the team into being interdependent, rather than working independently of others.  This again needs to be sold to the team as this is working on the interpersonal/behavioural side of the individuals involved as well as the tasks  

Using the same criteria as above, now add in:

  • What weaknesses of an individual could be strengthened by undertaking certain tasks?
  • What training or coaching would be needed to help the individual?
  • Who could provide the Training or coaching?
  • Who could work in synergy on joint projects where the strengths and weaknesses are combined in learning from each other too?
  • What development plans are in place for each individual and what task/duty or behaviour needs development – how could this addressed?

Once you have delegated everything it’s not as easy as sitting back and thinking ‘that’s me finished’.  You need to monitor the delegated tasks and continually develop your staff to exercise their authority.

However there are certain managerial roles that you should never ever delegate: motivation, praising, performance reviews, promotions, reprimanding or team-building.

Pitfalls to Avoid

  • Failing to provide the information, help, support and advice needed.
  • Allowing the person you have delegated to, to dump the task or other parts of their work back on you or others.
  • Tasks should be given to the most effective individual, not the longest serving members of the team.
  • Delegating the work without providing the necessary and complete authority.
  • Interfering, as this shows your lack of confidence in the individual.
  • Neglect the follow-up on milestones.
  • Abdicating overall responsibility – NEVER blame someone else for what is your responsibility.

Bud In Hand

Delegation is just another way of creating opportunity and developing and growing your people. That is your responsibility as a manager!

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Burnout Through Stress

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Stress is the mental and physical condition that results from strains that exceed our capabilities at the time.

However excessive stress, which remains over a consistent period of time, can produce mental and physical disorders.

Burnout Occurs When We Lose Motivation

…because work/activity ceases to be meaningful. This leads to frustration, fatigue and a lack of desire, as well as guilt.

The cost of burnout and stress to employers and employees alike is enormous. Think loss of earnings, low work output and medical expenses…and that’s just for starters.

There are many factors that may cause burnout, but they fall into four main categories:

Burnout
  • Work
  • Family
  • Personal
  • Social

These will be common to most of us, and potentially, we could all be susceptible to their pressures.

So How Do You Overcome These Stresses?

Well, the most important thing is to be self-aware. Tune into your mind and body and notice if they’re telling you you’re tired, angry or anxious. Realising these things can be half the battle.

If you notice that you’ve suddenly turned into an insomniac, your appetite has gone or you’re skin looks awful, the chances are your mind or body is telling you to slow down. To help prevent burnout and stress re-structure your job/life to make it less stressful:

  • Look at what you really want from the particular area of your life that is causing you stress;
  • Re-assess your alternatives so that you get what you really want;
  • Look after yourself physically as well as mentally (construct a wellness programme for yourself);
  • Contact a counsellor/coach (use a stress specialist) to help you achieve your new goal of contentment and peace with yourself;
  • Devise and use your own counselling techniques to help yourself whenever you need to.

Whatever you choose to do about stress, just make sure that you do something. And do it now! Don’t ignore it until burnout takes place. Trust me, that’s a much harder place to come back from.

That Winning Feeling

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Did you notice that when the Olympics were on, the media was leading with positive stories?  So what has made the big difference? The reason is investment, pure and simple.   I’m not just talking about investment in the athletes themselves, but also in the best trainers, coaches, nutritionists, physiotherapists etc. to support them.

Medal CeremonyYou see, if we don’t invest in our people we will not get the best that we or they can give.  And that means investing time as well as finance!  We always make excuses for spending time and money on other activities that will never pay off for us in performance, and in turn financially, rather than spending time and money on the development and growth of our people.

You can see, over the years we have been watching the Olympics, that we had become hopeful but not expecting of our athletes.  They had very few inspiring athletes before them.  However, the GOLD medals will have many effects on: the athletes who are part of the team – hence we are seeing some very unexpected results too; the nation as a whole, who start to feel pride; and on the youngsters who now have even more inspirations to be guided by – our future Olympic champions.

Without hope, inspiration, or expectation

…it is impossible to achieve.  These athletes don’t always win, but they know how it feels to win and they know how to learn from not winning but improving on their last results.

If you see everything as a result – some results which we wanted and expected, others which we didn’t want and didn’t expect – then we learn from all our results, especially the ones we didn’t want.  It is in allowing mistakes (which is happening less and less these days) that we learn the most and can then go on to achieve great things!

The team aspect is mega-important here too.  When you have a group of individuals, some of whom may even be the only athlete competing in a certain discipline, but they feel part of a bigger movement all working towards the same common goal (winning more Gold Medals in this case), then the individuals work harder to achieve for others than they would just for themselves.

How many times have you heard a winner say, “this is for my…mum and dad, my coach, the team….”?  Lewis Hamilton, the young Formula 1 driver, says thanks to his team every time he wins.  You see it always takes a team of people to win; and this is true even if you are an individual running a company, because you need other people to give you business, you need others to supply you.  Never under-estimate the power of that team spirit for giving momentum to that winning feeling, as has been shown in Beijing!

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When Did You Last Praise Your Staff?

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It is amazing how we…

Underestimate The Power Of A Simple Thank You!

When we are so busy with work, the simple things can easily be forgotten. When we do have the time to think, like at appraisal time, we are so involved in trying to find things to help develop our staff that, again, we can easily forget the simple and easy ways of creating motivational environments for them.

If We Just Stop And Think About Ourselves For A Moment

When someone appreciates us by saying ‘thank you’ or showing it in some other way, we feel great and are given a real boost. Our performance soars and is easy to replicate as we feel fully appreciated for what we have done.

On the other hand, when our efforts are just taken for granted, or we hear others praised for what they have done while we go unnoticed, we can often feel hurt and unappreciated. Performance may suffer and it may become harder to produce our best work.

So Why Do We Think It Is Any Different For Others?

(This includes our family and friends too!) Who are you taking for granted?

However Be Warned

We need to make the praise, specific, true and timely.

What do I mean by that? Well…if we just go around saying ‘thanks’ or ‘that was good’, all the time and to everyone, it just becomes a nonsense and is unproductive.

There is no need to overdo praise, just mean it! We need to keep looking for the good and productive things that everyone does. That way we can follow the 3 Steps to Great Praise.

3 Steps To Great Praise

  • 1 Look and listen out for specific excellent, quality, productive results from all staff. Everyone does something well every day, so it’s easy to spot if we try.
  • 2 We must really mean it. Our body language needs to be congruent with what we say. If not it will be picked up and it will feel awkward to deliver.
  • 3 Make sure that we praise as soon after the specific event as possible to make the best impact.

If we use the 3 Steps to Great Praise, our staff will definitely feel appreciated and production will be the result of a very simple act from you!

Where Do Your Fantasies Lead You?

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Now Let Me State This Right Up Front!

I am not referring to those naughty fantasies that you may have thought about when you read this title! I’m referring to those thoughts that grow arms and legs from a single comment, facial expression or part of a gesture.

You Know What I’m Talking About!

…when a colleague, client, friend or family member says something innocently, then we start to dissect it in our heads. Or their facial expression changes and unsettles us and we begin to try and work out what they actually meant by that?

That little voice inside our heads can spin a look, word or phrase, maybe even a gesture into something positive – or, more often, negative.

So, is it a positive or a negative spin that you apply to what you see or hear? Maybe that depends on the person delivering it?

If you find you are getting caught up in a negative spiral about someone or that you seem to be reading things into gestures and looks that make you feel bad, annoyed, frustrated or angry, then the 5 Point Guide to breaking the negative spiral, below, might be just what you need.

Breaking The Negative Spiral – A 5 Point Guide

  • 1 The first thing to do is ask yourself what real evidence is there to back up what has just been interpreted – concentrate on facts only, not subjectivity.
  • 2 Could the person you are dealing with have something else on their minds other than what you are discussing? Could this be affecting their communication with you?
  • 3 Look out for repeated behavioural patterns: vary times and places of meetings. In case this could be affecting the interactions. (It could be that the person you are dealing with isn’t a ‘mornings person’ and may communicate more easily in the afternoons. Or maybe the physical barrier of a big desk between you is causing psychological barrier too, and a chat over coffee in the staffroom would be more positive.)
  • 4 Discuss with the person what you have observed and the impact it had on you. Be very factual and specific – not general – in your comments. So prepare.
  • 5 Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. What did you say and how did you say it? Could you have put it differently? Could your tone of voice have affected their response?

Sometimes we are so wrapped up in what we are doing or saying that we don’t always notice the things that maybe affecting others. Prepare yourself, by using the 5 Point Guide, and discuss your observations openly and honestly. You may be very surprised by the discussions you have and in the end you will find common ground…. if you look for it!

Positive Belief – The Practicalities

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A Quick Mention On Positive Belief

As Bruce Lipton talks about in his book, The Biology of Belief, the conscious and subconscious are interdependent, the conscious mind is creative and able to summon up positive thought, whereas the subconscious is strictly habitual and works through our instinct and life learning experiences.

What most people don’t know is that the subconscious mind is millions of times more powerful than the conscious mind (we are talking about neurological processing here).

Just Think Back To When You Were Talking About New Year Resolutions.

In the majority of cases the subconscious has already won – those old habits are back. We are very good at self-sabotage.

But We Can Overcome The Worst Habits And Experiences.

And the conscious mind can win through. You only need to think of the mother whose hands lifted the one-ton car off her child to release them from danger. She needed to totally override those subconscious thoughts that tell her she is ‘too weak’, ‘too small’, ‘just a woman’, ‘doesn’t have the strength’. To overcome all her previous behavioural thinking and feelings and focus on the life of her child, her thoughts control her body by producing the adrenaline needed to create the strength to lift such a weight.

So no one could ever convince me that our beliefs don’t have a massive impact on our lives.

How Healthy Are Your Beliefs At The Moment?

A good friend of mine introduced me to this book and I’m so grateful. Thanks B!

Your belief become your thoughts
Your thoughts become your words
Your words become your actions
Your actions become your habits
Your habit becomes your values
Your values become your destiny.

– Mahatma Gandhi