Yearly Archives: 2015

Overcoming Procrastination

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Procrastination prohibits us from keeping commitments, being productive and achieving our goals. In my last article on delegation, I wrote about procrastination being an inhibitor to empowering employees.

Causes of procrastination

According to psychologist Judith Kolomeir here we procrastinate to avoid something that we fear or want to avoid. In the video for this article Kolomeir says that we procrastinate to protect ourselves from unpleasant emotions that we want to avoid. This could be having to confront someone or working on something that is difficult or that we just don’t like doing.

Other causes for procrastination are bad habits, rationalizing tasks to be unimportant or marginal, difficult projects, poor work ethic, lack of a deadline, feeling sorry for yourself, not caring, too busy and not being clear on what needs to be done.

Solutions for procrastination

Solutions for procrastinationThe stronger is the feeling of fear about tackling a project that may take longer than 30 minutes, the more important that project probably is.

The best way to attack these tasks or projects is to do it in steps. Rather than thinking of the whole project or task break it down into smaller tasks.

In his book Time Warrior author Steve Chandler suggests setting an action that you can do in the next three minutes towards completing the longer project. After the three minutes are up, set another three-minute action and so on.

Identifying the causes for procrastination will help you come up with solutions. First make a list of some important things that you’re procrastinating on. Identify the cause of procrastination for each of these items. Next write down what options you can take to address these causes for procrastinating. Don’t wait, do it now.

Stephen Goldberg

Managing Time for Effective Delegation and Employee Empowerment

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In order for any organization to scale leaders must be able to take on new responsibilities and have time for strategic planning and organization of resources.

In my last two articles,“Delegating Authority & Responsibility for Employee Empowerment” and “How to Delegate” I covered the steps to effective delegation including the importance of defining an employee’s level of authority in carrying out their tasks and making decisions.

I spoke to a client shortly after I published the last article and he expressed how it all makes sense but often he needs to choose to do tasks himself that he would like to delegate but can’t because of time restraints. He said it takes too long to explain and show someone how to do something so he ends up doing it himself.

Time Management Matrix

So how do you break that cycle of having to do things yourself because time doesn’t permit to show someone else how to do the tasks or take on the new responsibility?

In his best-selling book “First Things First”author Stephen Covey explains The Time Management Matrix and how to use it to analyse and better plan your time. Delegating in the diagram below falls into the quadrant of Important Not Urgent.

Table

By having a goal in mind you can more easily identify time wasters and take steps to eliminate them. Obviously if you look at the activities that fall into each of the quadrants on the Time Management Matrix you can take action to reduce time wasting activities and get more focused.Create Goals The question becomes how to spend more time in quadrant two in order to drive delegation and empowerment. The way to do this is to identify your delegation or empowerment projects and schedule time to execute them.

I’ll get into more depth about time management in upcoming articles and videos. One thing is to consider is procrastination and how to address that.

Time Analysis

time managementTo plan your time better you first need insight into how you’re spending your time now. You can track and record your activities manually using a weekly agenda form that you can download here. You can also use one of the numerous software programs or apps such as RescueTime or Toggl.

Once you have tracked and analysed how you use your time you can come back to the Time Management Matrix and take conscious to change your work habits. Of course changing habits is quite hard so you need to be motivated and visualize the benefits.

Whether you track your activities manually or using technology, the principles of time management and habit modification are the same. We all function within the same framework of a day of 24 hours. There is no magic pill that will make you more productive. It begins with awareness and a goal to improve.

Delegation is an essential leadership activity that every leader needs to develop in order to grow their department or business and leverage their largest asset, people.

Stephen Goldberg

Delegating Authority and Responsibility for EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT

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Employees who are empowered with clear authority for actions and decision-making are more motivated in their jobs, take more initiative and get more done. But it’s the responsibility of the leader to provide the leadership style and conditions that lead to empowered employees.

In my last article on delegation I described the mechanics of delegating work and responsibility to employees.

delegating authorityIn this article I will focus on delegating authority, which will ensure that employees are empowered to take responsibility and make decisions that go with the job.

To be effective in delegating and getting the results you want from employees you need to make sure that the employee understands their authority level relative to their job functions.

Levels of Authority

There are four levels of authority:

  1. complete authority
  2. act and report
  3. act only after consultation
  4. act only after approval
four levels of authority

Defining Authority Levels

To define the levels of authority, have the employee breakdown their key functions. Usually 20% of what an employee does are the most important in terms of contribution to goals and business results.

Have the employee rate the level of authority according to the four levels listed above. Do the same from your perspective. Meet with the employee and review the list to compare perceptions. Just doing this exercise will generate a good discussion and clarify any misconceptions.

A fairly new employee may have many of their job functions at levels three and four, but a long-time employee should have more functions rated at levels one and two.

You may need to answer the following questions in order to properly delegate new authority levels to your employees.

What needs to happen in order for the authority level to increase? What do I need to do? What does the employee need to do?

As in my previous article, follow-up is key in any delegation project. Once it is clear how to delegate new authority you must follow-up to make sure that it’s working well and decisions are being taken correctly.

Conducting this exercise with each of you direct reports will help you delegate, make you a better leader and develop empowered employees.

Stephen Goldberg

a better leader

 

How to Delegate Work to Employees

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Delegating workDelegating work is essential to the successful growth of any organization and thus it is imperative for leaders and managers to learn to delegate properly.

In a previous article I explained how to determine what to delegate and also the difference between assigning a task and delegating. You may want to refer back to that article before going ahead with these steps.

Step 1: Planning

Delegating work involves people taking on new responsibility and this requires training and coaching. When you assign work to someone it means they already have the skills and knowledge to get the task done.

PlaningThus you need to plan what training and coaching is required for the person to take on the new responsibility. Who will provide the training and coaching? When and how will it take place? The answer to these questions will depend on the complexity of the tasks involved and the person who you are delegating to.

For example you might want to give more responsibility and authority to someone looking after general office work.  Another person needs to be hired to take on some of the tasks. You want your employee to supervise the work of the new employee, but they have never supervised anyone before. Thus the scope of their job is changing and their role description should be revised. In this case there should be some training and coaching on supervision.

As part of your plan, set a date for when you want the employee to be fully autonomous n assuming the new responsibilities. You might consider using my goal planning worksheet to help you plan out the delegation project.

Step two: Meet with employee

employeeMeet with the employee and explain what you want to delegate to them. Tell them that you will be providing training and coaching and this is an opportunity for them to grow and to contribute to the evolution of the business.

Certain people tend to be cautious when faced with change as it means they could fail or become stressed. Point out their strengths and skills and let them know you feel confident to delegate the work to them.

Review the new job description with them so it is clear what you are expecting. Schedule the training sessions.

Step three: Train and coach

Train and coachWhen providing training and coaching it is important not only to explain what to do but to actually demonstrate it.  If possible have the person perform the task so you can observe, give feedback and adjust as necessary.

Step four: Follow-up

You must follow-up with the employee to ensure they are performing as expected and meeting your expectations. Be flexible in that the person’s style of work may be different from yours and they might do things in their own way but still produce the desired results.

Provide them with plenty of positive feedback to build their confidence and self-esteem. This will reinforce that they are doing the right thing and will keep them open to new delegation opportunities in the future.

Following the above steps will ensure that your next delegation project will be successful and meet your expectations. You will also be regarded as a highly effective leader who takes the time to train, develop and grow the skills of your team members.

Stephen Goldberg