Delegating authority gradually based on increasing levels of trust.
This is the fourth in a series of blogs on delegation skills. This one focuses on delegating authority. Business owners often have high anxiety about employees’ ability to do the jobs they were hired to do.
The higher the bosses’ anxiety, the less employee authority and freedom.
Rick is an electrical contractor who had anxiety about his employee Roberto. He needed to trust Roberto to do day-to-day jobs as good or better than he could do them himself. He needed to trust Roberto.
No Authority: Rick gave Roberto no authority at the beginning. It was Rick who set up the responsibilities, goals, plans, and standards for each job. He checked the work closely, and Roberto consulted with Rick about any problems.
Minimal Authority: Rick kept tight control while he watched Roberto. Yet he let Roberto help set goals and performance standards and consult with him about difficult problems.
Medium Authority: As time went on, Rick set up the job the responsibilities, Roberto set up goals, plans and standards for his approval.
Complete Authority: Before long, Rick worked with Roberto to set up responsibilities. He let Roberto decide all other aspects of the task –goals, plans, and standards- and give Rick periodic status reports.
Rick began to trust Roberto, and Roberto acted in a way that encouraged Rick’s trust.
- Initially, he waited to be told what to do, because he didn’t know what the problems were or the solutions to those problems.
- Soon after, he asked what to do, because he now understood what the problems were.
- Then, he made suggestions, because he now knew what the problems were, and began to know potential solutions. He showed greater alignment with what Rick needed.
- Still later, he acted and reported immediately, as Rick gave him partial authority,
- Finally, he acted and reported routinely because he had gained Rick’s trust and complete authority.
QUESTION
What process might you follow that would allow your employees to prove that you could trust them to do the job you hired them to do?
Chuck Scharenberg is the Founder of More Profit More Freedom, a consultancy that supports the execution of large-scale growth for small businesses. His practice has successfully grown businesses with processes that identify potential roadblocks and mitigation schemes to accelerate realistic execution.
Solving the Right problems by asking the Right questions!