Ananya was a young, dynamic professional handling digital marketing in a Reputed MNC. With her consistent good performance, she had bagged 2 contracts for her company. Looking at her consistent good performance, she was promoted as a team lead with a team size of 6 professionals. Ananya was excited with this new opportunity and was determined to make the most of it. She started conducting daily team meetings, personally got involved in every task, conducted 5-6 follow up calls and closely monitored the progress on upcoming projects. She left no stone unturned to meet the deadlines. however within a few weeks she was asked to step down as a team lead. Apparently, her team members gave a feedback of feeling pressurised, micro-managed. Due to lack of autonomy, and trust team felt claustrophobic.
Where did Ananya go wrong? She was successful as an individual contributor but failed as a leader. Do you relate to this scenario? Do you struggle with getting things done from your team? Do you have difficulty in drawing the line?
The key to the above problem is ‘Delegation’
5 Ways of effective delegation
1. Know your team :
2. Flexibility quotient :
As a leader you are working with different personalities. Your team members will have different ideas, perceptions, ways of working. Today, millennials have a different lingo, different way of thinking. As a leader one needs to open to their team’s ideas and accommodate their suggestions. Being flexible does not mean being lenient. Flexibility in selecting options like hybrid or work from home, or using new methods to achieve the deliverables can be exercised.
3. Buddy Master :
Often managers struggle with capitalising on new recruits. Since they lack experience or have less knowledge of company systems managers do not delegate tasks. The best way to prepare them is by pairing them with an experienced team member. Encourage the experienced team member to nurture the new joinees and add this task to their KPI. Not only will this make them accountable but will also shape them into future leaders.
4. Support in Prioritisation :
Managers resist to delegate when team members fail to meet the deadlines and conclude they are not serious about their work. The real reason is many team members do not have adequate knowledge about time management. Therefore managers can invest sometime after delegating the tasks by helping the team to learn about prioritisation. Introduction to urgency important matrix can help the team plan their schedules effectively.
5. Review Mechanisms :
Review performance quarterly is an outdated way of working. Depending on the projects and its intensity, conduct weekly or monthly reviews. Infuse different review mechanisms such as maker -checker, kano model to track the progress of the team members. Timely feedback, along with regular coaching will act as a catalyst for the employees growth, reducing their dependency on the managers.
Above all, for effective delegation managers requires patience, trusts and clear communication. It is an on-going process which becomes more effective with time and consistency. As experts say, a successful leader is someone who shapes their team into future leaders.
- Neha Lonari
Clinical Psychologist & Corporate Facilitator