8 ingredients for clear instructions, effective communication

The dilemma about delegating anything is that when you do your work you probably do it effortlessly, quickly, and with a bit of pizzazz. This same work won’t be done as well or as fast by someone doing the task for the first or second time. Which means you may be reluctant to hand work to your team.

It helps to improve the odds by improving how you are delegating, which at its simplest, is about trust. If trust is in place, in terms of your team’s capability, you will feel comfortable delegating. If that trust isn’t in place, or you don’t have enough evidence of their capability, you may not delegate effectively.

Done well, delegation allows you tap into your potential as well as that of your team. Then everyone levels up. Being aware of what and how you need to communicate helps.

Change how you communicate with team members and how they communicate with you.

The 8 Ingredients for Clear Instructions – which I use extensively when teaching people how to delegate includes these checkpoints to help you delegate effectively:

1. Directions– Have you explained the task carefully and do you clearly understand what this task is? Have you checked in to be sure your team member understands what it is you have asked them to do? We may feel we have explained something well, yet the meaning of what we have said is dependent on what the other person understands.

2. Rationale– What is the reason for completing this. If you don’t understand why this work needs to be done, then it isn’t ready to delegate. Clearly explain why you are asking them to complete this.
3. Outcomes-When you delegate, knowing the outcome of the task or project you are assigning to someone else is crucial. Otherwise, neither you nor the person you are delegating to will know where this piece of work is going or when it is complete.
4. Authority-What is the range of decision making & responsibility, allowed? When you provide the necessary and appropriate level of authority your team feels more empowered, trusted and engaged. Effective delegation moves authority downward throughout the team and supports their development to be the future leaders they may aspire to be.
5. Deadline– When is the task to be completed? Setting a deadline is the key to a better way to focus on the important parts of your role or business and create competence and confidence in others. If you don’t provide a deadline when you delegate you’ll become frustrated, as will the person doing the work, because there may be no sign of completion.
6. Feedback-Do they understand what you are asking them to do? This means both giving feedback to the person doing the work and getting feedback from them about their understanding of what you have asked them to do. Feedback reduces or eliminates confusion, creates clarity, and motivates the person to do a good job. If it’s a large piece of work requiring controls and follow-up (see number 7 below) feedback should be regular and ongoing.
7. Controls/ follow up– Create milepost meetings for review of progress. What milestones have you jointly agreed to track, review and communicate progress? When you delegate something, ask the person doing the work to estimate the key stages of the work, and then determine what they can report on and when, to indicate whether the work is on time, in budget and within scope.
8. Support– What support is available to them to complete this work? When support is in place your team will stay on track and know they can check in with you at any time.

When you practise each ingredient described here, the way you communicate will change. You find that what you are saying and how it is interpreted by others will start to change. Your listening will change, and you will start to hear things that people are saying differently. You will experience more curiosity in how people are going about doing the work, rather than feeling anxious that it’s not being done as you would do it.

The confidence you have in your team, and each individual member, will change as your understanding of each of them grows. Your awareness of what each of them can contribute and their individual strengths and abilities will grow.

When you use delegation the right way productivity increases, team engagement and collaboration increases, and the team take can on extra responsibility. This is leading, which requires new skills, so be prepared to become a learner again.