LearnaBytes

INTRODUCTION

Delegation is a process that can help managers be better team leaders. Not only does it hold many benefits for the managers but it is also very beneficial for team members too. When delegation is done effectively, it can help managers utilise their teams more effectively, develop team members and establish a culture of trust in the team. In this session, which can be part of a larger course on delegation, participants will explore the reasons why managers don’t delegate despite the benefits of delegation. They will also have the opportunity to reflect on their own attitude toward delegation.

DURATION (ESTIMATED)

• 40-minutes

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this session, participants will have:

• identified why managers don’t delegate, and
• had the opportunity to reflect on their own attitude towards delegation.

WORKBOOK

• Yes

PREPARATION

• None

PREREQUISITES

• Participants should know what delegation is and its benefits.

FACILITATION GUIDE

• Introduce the activity by sharing the learning objective with them. Display the slide titled – LEARNING OBJECTIVE.

• After displaying the slide, tell them that:
  • During this session, we want to identify reasons why managers don’t delegate.
  • Despite the benefits associated with delegation for both managers and team members some managers still don’t delegate.
  • Let’s have a chat discussion to explore our thoughts about why managers don’t delegate.
• Tell everyone to think about reasons why some managers delegate and type them into the chat window.
• When the 3-minutes are up, stop and appreciate them for doing it.
• Then let them know that you are going to read out their answers so everyone can hear.
• You can read through them like this – ‘Thanks David, you wrote that managers don’t delegate because… And Margaret you wrote that they don’t delegate because…Thank you.’
• When you finish reading their reasons, tell them you also have some reasons why managers don’t delegate to share with them.
• Display the slide titled – SOME REASONS WHY MANAGERS DON’T DELEGATE.

• When the slide displays it will be blank with just a title.
• Click on it once to display the first reason and tell them that:
  • Some managers have an ego and a belief that they can do all the work themselves.
• Click on the slide again to display the second reason. Tell them that:
  • Another reason is fear. Some managers believe that team members may not complete the task accurately or properly.
• Click on the slide again to display the third reason and tell them that:
  • Some managers are worried that if the task goes wrong, they will be held responsible so they will rather not delegate.
• Click on the slide to display the fourth reason. Tell them that:
  • This is a common one where managers believe that it takes too much time to delegate.
• Click on the slide for a fifth time and tell them that:
  • Some managers may also believe that their team members don’t have the necessary skills and they are not ready to spend time developing the team members to take on delegated tasks.
• Click on the slide for a final time and say that:
  • This is the final reason which is about trust. Some managers simply don’t trust their team members enough to delegate tasks to them.
• After that let them know that there is a handout in their workbook which explains the six reasons you just presented in more detail.

• Give them 3-minutes read the handout.
• After they finish reading, let them know that you want them to reflect on whether they have reasons that is preventing them from delegating.
• Direct them to the section in their workbooks titled – MY REASONS FOR NOT DELEGATING.

 

• Give them 6-minutes for the activity.
• After 6-minutes stop them and get everyone’s attention.
• Ask if anyone wants to voluntarily share some of the information from the activity. It’s personal information so they don’t necessarily have to share.
• If anybody does share, make sure you listen without making any comments and do thank them for having the courage to share information that is personal to them.
• After that let them know that it’s not enough to just know about reasons why some managers don’t delegate. You want to discuss some solutions to these things; actions managers can take to overcome the reasons why they may not be delegating.
• They will be working in small groups to discuss these solutions.
• Direct them to the section in their workbooks with instructions for the group discussion titled – DEALING WITH THE REASONS. Let each of them read the information there.

• When they finish reading the information, check that they are all clear about what they need to do. If necessary, clarify what they will be doing.
• Then use the ‘breakout room’ feature to put them into small groups. Ideally no group should have more than four people.
• Then give them 10-minutes for the activity.
• When their time is up, stop and bring everyone back to the main room.
• Tell them that you are now going to listen to each group’s feedback from their discussion but encourage them to listen to all the information being fed back and note down solutions presented that they could use.
• Then let the spokesperson from each group, share their screens and feedback what was discussed in their group.
• After they finish presenting the information, thank them for doing the activity.
• Let them know that you also have some ideas on the subject to share with them. Be clear that what you share might be similar to what they have already said but will just reinforce the solutions they came up with.
• Display the slide titled – DEALING WITH THE REASONS.

 

• When the slide displays, it will be blank with just a title.
• Click on it once to display some information and tell them that:
  • Start by delegating small tasks, especially those without serious consequences if things go wrong.
  • Small, delegated tasks allow you to start developing confidence in the delegation process and at the same time build trust with your team members and invest in their development.
  • And even if things don’t go according to plan, the implications are not serious and can easily be corrected.
• Click on the slide again to display more information and tell them that:
  • To start delegating we must shift our mindsets to see delegation as a way to develop team members.
  • By giving them tasks to do and supporting them, we are investing in their development.
  • We should also help our team members see delegation not as a way to dump tasks on them but to help them to develop.
• Click on the slide for a final time and tell them that:
  • One of the best things any manager can do when it comes to delegation is to use a structured delegation process.
  • While I can’t go into much detail about a structured delegation process in this session, know that a structured delegation processes focuses on key action steps to take before, during and after delegation.
  • A delegation process will cover actions such as deciding on what to delegate and who to delegate to, explaining tasks, clearly, giving task completion timelines, describing authority levels and checking-in on the progress of task completion with the person it was delegated to.
  • Following a structured process will help you overcome almost every single reason for not delegating that we explored earlier.
• After that, let them know there is a handout about what you just discussed in their workbooks titled – ACTIONS FOR OVERCOMING THE REASONS.

 

• After that review the session by telling them that:
  • In this session we discussed some of the reasons why managers don’t delegate.
  • You also spent some time thinking about the reasons why managers don’t delegate and reflected whether any of them apply to you.
  • Finally, we identified some solutions to help us overcome the reasons why managers don’t delegate.
• Thank them for their participation and end the session.

This is the end of the session.