Deciding When and How to Delegate Work

Delegation is a crucial skill for effective management.

It empowers your team, frees up your time, and fosters growth.

Here's a breakdown of when and how to delegate effectively:

When to Delegate

• Overload: When you're consistently overwhelmed or unable to keep up with your workload.
• Skill Development: When you want to develop your team's capabilities and give them new challenges.
• Time Management: When you need to focus on higher-level tasks or strategic planning.
• Project Expansion: When a project requires additional resources or expertise.

How to Delegate Effectively

1. Identify the Right Task: Choose tasks that can be delegated without compromising quality or deadlines.
2. Select the Right Person: Consider the employee's skills, workload, and interest in the task.
3. Communicate Clearly: Clearly outline the task, expectations, deadlines, and desired outcomes.
4. Provide Necessary Resources: Ensure the employee has the tools and information needed to succeed.
5. Empower and Trust: Give the employee autonomy and authority to complete the task.
6. Offer Support: Be available for questions and guidance but avoid micromanaging.
7. Provide Feedback: Offer constructive feedback on the completed task.

Overcoming Delegation Challenges

• Fear of Losing Control: Trust your team's abilities and focus on the big picture.
• Lack of Time: Prioritize tasks and delegate effectively to create more time.
• Resistance from Employees: Clearly communicate the benefits of delegation and provide necessary training.
• Unclear Expectations: Be specific and provide clear guidelines.

Remember: Effective delegation is a skill that improves with practice. Start small and gradually increase the complexity of delegated tasks.

Tips for Motivating Your Staff

Motivating your staff is essential for a high-performing team.

Here are some effective strategies:

Focus on the Individual

• Understand Individual Needs: Everyone is different. Some may be motivated by recognition, others by challenge,and still others by growth opportunities.
• Set Clear Expectations: Ensure each team member understands their role, responsibilities, and goals.
• Provide Regular Feedback: Offer constructive criticism and praise to help employees improve.
• Recognize and Reward Achievements: Celebrate successes, both big and small.
• Offer Growth Opportunities: Provide opportunities for skill development and career advancement.

Foster a Positive Work Environment

• Build Trust: Create an open and honest atmosphere where employees feel valued.
• Encourage Collaboration: Promote teamwork and knowledge sharing.
• Empower Employees: Delegate tasks and responsibilities to foster autonomy.
• Lead by Example: Demonstrate the behaviors and attitudes you expect from your team.
• Work-Life Balance: Support employees in maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Align Employees with Company Goals

• Communicate the Vision: Clearly articulate the company's mission and goals.
• Show How Their Work Matters: Explain how each employee's role contributes to the bigger picture.
• Celebrate Successes: Recognize team achievements and contributions to overall goals.

Offer Support and Resources

• Provide Necessary Tools: Ensure employees have the resources they need to succeed.
• Address Challenges: Help employees overcome obstacles and find solutions.
• Offer Mentorship: Pair employees with experienced colleagues.
• Encourage Open Communication: Create a safe space for employees to share their ideas and concerns.

Remember, motivation is a complex issue. It's important to use a combination of approaches and to regularly assess what's working and what's not.

COVID Culture Change: Are You Ready?

I attended a webinar led by Jamie Notter, with Propel, on the subject of culture in our organizations.  He’s been doing this a long time and it is not the first I’ve heard him speak.

The following post are my notes from his presentation and some direct quotes from his PPT.

The culture at our organizations has changed over the past year.  He started by making two statements or observations:

 

• WHADITW – in 2019, we have always done it that way; and
• WHNDITW – in 2020, we have never done it this way.

 

In 2021, he discussed culture, culture patterns and culture plays.

 

Culture – “the collection of words, actions, thoughts, and stuff that clarifies and reinforces what is truly valued in an organization.”

 

Culture patterns – he discussed the things that are happening underneath in an organization not just on top and put some statistics to his comments.

 

He focused on three of eight of these patterns he’s identified, Innovation, Agility, and Collaboration.

 

Innovation – people embrace innovation but it’s unrealized.  He talked about concepts vs practices.  We make effort but don’t follow through.  His final comment on this was just do it!

 

Agility – he used the terms forward action vs effective action and stated we’re not good at stop doing things.  Think sacred cows and go HERE for a blog post I did on that subject.

 

Collaboration – we value it but we’re not building the processes and systems to bring them to fruition.  In this case, it’s individual vs groups.  This is where silos come in to play and have a negative effect on moving forward.

 

He went on to discuss the advantage of having a culture playbook.  What does he mean by that?  He mentioned six but focused on three: process; structure/design; and technology.  If you don’t have these three in place you won’t make much progress.

 

He identified three areas that have changed since COVID.

 

Increase Passive Transparency - when you’re in the office you get a sense of who does what, who’s meeting and who’s doing what.  In this remote work life, you need to find ways to show that by what we’re missing by not being in the office.

 

Share more from the top – we moved to bi-weekly all staff meetings to hear from the senior leadership team.  We did not have that when we were in-person.

 

Handle your difficult conversations – it’s important to not let these “prickly” issue fester when working remotely.

 

He ended with a suggestion - “if you want to change your culture you need to measure your successes.”  Be intentional about your culture and measure it.

 

Measure results!

3 Ways to Say Thank You to Your Staff

Yes, there are many articles written on the subject and from my standpoint one size does not fit all.

Your staff are unique and will respond differently to praise.

The first order of business is to find out what motivates each of your staff members.  You might just be surprised at the answers you get.

The key to finding out what each team member values, ask them!

I will mention three ways I say thank you since that's the title of this blog.

Empowerment - one of the easiest ways to say thank you is to let them know that you trust them.  Don't micro manage your staff.  Tell them what you want, give them a timeline, and let them deliver.

Recognition - everyone likes to be recognized.  When a staff member does something great, share it with other staff and with your volunteers. Give them the credit.  Make sure it's something worth recognizing.

Thank you - and it's also just saying the words thank you!  It's as simple as that.

What three things are you doing to thank your staff?

For a great blog post titled Top 10 Easy, No or Low Cost Ways to Tell Employees “Thank You” go HERE.

4 Tips For Onboarding New Staff

We all hire staff from time to time and how we onboard that employee into our chamber workplace is a critical first step!

Everyone is busy, but it's important to take the time to have a formal onboarding process that will position your new staff member to be successful.

Here are four areas I focus on:

• Job Description - what a great place to start.  Do you have a detailed job description for the new staff member of your chamber?  You might want to even have an operational manual of the duties that the previous staff member has created to help with your onboarding process.  This manual could be broken down into a day, week, and monthly list of tasks.

• Set Expectations - it's very important to set your expectations upfront. That way there will be no misunderstandings down the road.  I wrote a blog post HERE on that subject matter.  For me there are four: professionalism; positive attitude; strong work ethic; and results.

• Resources - give that new staff member the proper resources that will allow them to excel in their new job.  What do I mean by resources? Your time, the technology to accomplish the tasks at hand and the ability to learn your organizational structure (staff vs. volunteers) and the mission of your chamber.

• Feedback - it's critical to be honest and constructive in giving ongoing feedback on how your new employee is doing based on your expectations and the expectations of your members.

I'm reminded of a staffing concept laid out in Jim Collins' book Good to Great. The book talks about a lot of good stuff but I want to highlight where he talks about getting the right people on the bus.

Do you have the right people on your team (bus)?  And are they in the right position (seat)?

Something to think about!

For a great article by The Bridgespan Group on onboarding and supporting a new CEO go HERE.

Chamber Board and Staff Communications

It’s important that board members and the chief staff executive communicate on a regular basis.

Only you know what works best for your organization.

Here are a few examples that have worked for successful chamber executives over the years with their volunteers:

• Weekly call
• Weekly or monthly president’s letter
• Monthly or quarterly board meeting
• Annual Report

The list could go on.  The key is that you’ve set-up a mechanism that allows for an open dialogue between the board, the members and the staff.

In order to do that, I think communication and transparency are the key elements for you to be successful.

If all three are on the same page, the chamber and the community will be the beneficiaries.

And you’ll be seen as a leader in the community.  Put another way, that’s job security!

For resources on board and staff communications go HERE and HERE.

When Hiring Staff Set Your Expectations

What do you look for when hiring a new staff member to join our team?

There is no question that the wrong hire can be devastating to your chamber.

I’d like to share a general philosophy I’ve used over the years when hiring new staff members.

While this is only one aspect of what I look for in a new employee, it’s worth a review.

• Professional – very simply, this means to me, looking professional (dress), acting professional (treat others with respect).  We are a social society and what is one of the first questions you get when you meet someone new?  Where do you work?  That staff person is an extension of your organization 24/7.  We’re all always on!

• Positive Attitude – our staff’s are doing more with less over the past couple of years.  There is nothing worse than a negative attitude, the rumor mill that will make any chamber become dysfunctional, especially with the small staffs that many of us work under.

• Strong Work Ethic – while this is tough to detect in an interview, you want a person that is self-motivated and a smart hard worker.  These are the people who will always do the right thing whether anybody is watching or not.

• Results Oriented – are your staff members focused on the chambers bottom line?  Are they cognizant to the fact that the organization met its overall recruiting goal, retention goal, or met the number of attendees at your annual meeting?

If you hire people who have the above attributes and are results oriented I suggest you’re going to hire a winner.

And, your chamber will be better off because of it!

Volunteer/Staff Partnership: Create a Memo of Understanding

I remember early in my career creating a “Memo of Understanding” between my chairman and me as staff.

This allowed both of us to truly understand our roles and how we would work together in the coming year to advance the mission of the organization.

The items below are a suggested starting point for your “Memo of Understanding.” It’s important for you to tweak it to meet the specifics of your chamber or management style.

Responsibilities of the Chairman:

• Attend all meetings
• Accepts and supports the board’s charge
• Plans board meetings and agenda with chief staff executive
• Leadership of board
• Appointment of all committee chairs
• Evaluates board efforts and communicates accomplishments to the board and chamber members

Responsibilities of the Staff Executive:

• Maintain contact with the chair
• Provide support to the board
• Prepare meeting agendas with chairman’s approval
• Create the minutes with chairman’s approval
• Prepare board/annual reports to the membership at large (if/when needed)

Make sure you go over this “Memo of Understanding” document with your incoming chairman, get acceptance and make sure each of you have a copy. I kept mine on my desk every day!

This is a great tool to avoid any misunderstanding between the two of you throughout the chairman’s term. Your relationship should be a true partnership in advancing the goals of the organization.

Create your Memorandum of Understanding today.  Your chairman will appreciate it!

Sample Memorandum of Understanding.