Delegate
Not everyone who works in your company wants to punch a clock and go home. There are employees working around you who want to help your company and take on more responsibility.
If you aren’t challenging them by delegating responsibility and empowering them to make decisions, you run the risk of boring them and losing them to someone who will.
“You give them the opportunity to be responsible for what their job is in the company, and you give them the support that they know that they’re not in it by themselves,” she says.
You want to express to the people whom you are delegating to that you trust them, much like you would with your management team.
However, while employees want more responsibility, they don’t want to be thrown on an island with no tools or resources to get back to the mainland. You have to monitor what you’ve delegated and find out if they need a hand.
“It’s about asking them in a prodding way or reminding them in a prodding way that you are interested and you’re there to be helpful,” she says.
Shanahan isn’t looking for information merely to judge it. In fact, all she wants is for the person to keep her in the loop. When she asks about something, she keeps it in a file and every other Sunday goes through it. If something isn’t answered, she is reminded to check back in with the involved parties. If the employee isn’t coming to you with information, you have to seek that person out to close that file in your head.
“Until somebody comes back and says either A, B or C — ‘We’re pursuing, it’s on hold, or it’s just not for us’ — it stays open,” she says. “I’m always like, ‘Just close the box in my head. I don’t care. I’m not going to go back and second-guess whatever your decision is about whether it’s a potential client or the right process on a project site.’”
When following up, don’t assume that the person isn’t doing his or her job, and that’s why he or she hasn’t gotten back to you.
“I always approach it like, ‘I’m sure it’s resolved, and I’m sure you just need to tell me so I can close the file in my head,’” she says. “Nine times out of 10 it is — they’ve taken care of it, they sent whatever they needed to or they decided they’re not going to pursue the job. I don’t micromanage their final recommendation because they are the professionals. I just want to know that it was closed.”
Don’t feel like you are micromanaging employees by checking in every once in a while. As long as you aren’t on their backs every hour, employees will understand you need to stay informed.
“Micromanaging would be every day sending people, basically, tasks that they need to get done,” she says.
To avoid that, just follow up on conversations or team meetings once a month or every other week and ask about the status of the project so you can stay informed.
When you delegate something, you can’t be so closed-minded to think there is only one way to a solution. There are many different ways to solve a problem, even if you don’t agree with all of them.
“It’s not about how you get there,” she says. “They can tell me there can be 10 different paths to get to the solution or to get to their recommendat
io
n. You don’t have to micromanage their process, you just need to ask a question and then get a response.”
That simple process of delegating to employees, and then following up, will go a long way in empowering them.
“It allows the individual to be responsible and to be empowered, but they can only be empowered and responsible if they are held accountable,” she says. “So, it’s sort of like the yin and the yang. Some people rise to the occasion and some people need to be prodded.”