Happy Sunday Everyone:
When you start a Sunday Thoughts with “boring but necessary”, I wonder how many people continue to read on?
Boring but necessary:
I was speaking with a coaching student the other day and they were frustrated with one of their team members. He used a few different examples of timing on a request being late, not getting specific information he was looking for etc. I asked him how he requests information and how he delegates to his team. He basically said “he asks for the information”. Not a whole lot of clarity in that, and certainly not one that can be consistent. I brought up something I learned from my first coach on the art of delegation, which is to understand, who, what, why, when, where, and how. If you can assign a task to someone else and understand the who, what, why, when, where, and how, it’s close to impossible for them not to understand everything they need to know in order to be successful in whatever you assigned. I also understand this is not new information or a new concept but I can almost guarantee you that it is highly underutilized, including on my own team at times.
Example of failure: New employee: “go put paper in the copier”.
successful version:
Who: New employee
What: Paper in the copier
Why: so we can make more copies when the paper runs out of existing stack.
when: As soon as paper runs out.
Where: Paper is stored in the cabinets on the other side of the small kitchen upstairs (I’ll show you).
how: pull bottom drawer from the printer, load the paper in, reset, (I’ll show you the first time).
Is this the most simple example? yes. Does it set someone up for success when they’re new, and they’re nervous, and they don’t know anything yet, and they don’t want to ask questions, yes. I view one of my roles as helping other people succeed around me. When I’m conscious of that thought process I’m way more likely to delegate with who, what, why, when, where, and how. When I’m in a hurry, or busy, or in a bad mood, is when I’m more likely to request something with no clarity….and what comes back? usually the information I requested in the form of how I requested it, which just continues the cycle of frustration. I love the phrase “go slow to go fast”. If we take an extra minute or two to give clear instructions on the delegated task the likelihood of the recipient getting it just how we want it up front goes up a lot. It also holds you accountable to understand what the heck you’re asking for. It’s embarrassing but the amount of times I’ve gone through this exercise only to find out that I don’t truly understand what I’m requesting is more than a few, which in the end is actually helpful.
This isn’t just for the person delegating, it’s as important for the person being delegated to. Typically the same person that is giving you crappy instructions is also the same person that isn’t going to take the time to understand this concept. You need to set yourself up for success by asking if you can answer those questions when someone request something from you. My team doesn’t do it today but when we were starting on this concept initially we literally had sheets of paper that listed out who, what, why, when, where, and how. We brought the sheets into every team meeting as a point for various projects we were all working on. You have a right to ask for further instruction if you don’t understand what is being requested of you. Answering these questions will always give you the answers you need and set you up for success.