Have Smart Phones and WiFi Killed Delegation and Your Ability To Enjoy a Pina Colada on The Beach?
Have you ever noticed that we rarely see delegation notices anymore? There was a time when a business trip or taking a vacation was seen as a great opportunity for leaders to develop their direct reports. Without smartphones to keep us connected 24/7, leaders had the habit of assigning one of their subordinates as their replacement while they were away.
Delegation is a great way for leaders to demonstrate trust in their subordinates, develop their succession, and disconnect. The delegated employee is given the opportunity to deal with the day-to-day issues associated with managing the group, department, or division. This provides him/her a great opportunity to learn about the roles, responsibilities, and pressures of the next level job. It also gives the delegating manager a chance to evaluate a potential successor for future advancement by evaluating how well the employee performed when attending business meetings, dealing with decisions, setting priorities, resolving conflicts, and addressing customer issues. I always delegate one of my leaders when I am planning to be away from the office and they have always been very grateful to me for doing so. It showed them that I trusted their judgment and demystified my job for them. For delegation to be effective it must be properly communicated and certain rules must be established.
Here are my 12 simple rules for delegating while away from the office:
Clearly communicate to all concerned that you are assigning a delegate to act on your behalf while you are away. Tell your team members during your last staff meeting prior to your departure and send an email to all concerned, including your superior, colleagues, and subordinates.
Meet with the designated delegate prior to your trip to prepare him/her for what you consider to be the important issues that could come up while you are away. If you have an administrative assistant, include him/her in the meeting to ensure all is well coordinated.
If there are important meetings that the delegate must attend on your behalf, be sure to brief them on what you expect from the meeting and their participation.
If meetings are scheduled with your superiors, check with your superior ahead of time to confirm that a delegate can attend.
Give your delegate a clear definition of decisions he/she can make on your behalf, and when they must contact you in advance. Some examples where you might need to set thresholds or constraints can include: budgetary spending thresholds, employee behavior or performance issues such as termination or probation, key strategic issues, key strategic customer account decisions, major project milestones, etc…).
Prior to leaving, forward all your emails to your delegate and advise your peers and superiors that you are doing so. Set your email auto-reply rule with a short message stating that you are away and that your delegate will be forwarded the email and that he/she can be contacted at (give phone number & email).
Let your delegate do your job. Do not check on all your emails while away, and redirect people to deal with your delegate if they try to bypass him/her.
Before you leave, set up a meeting with your delegate for the day you are planning to be back at the office to be debriefed on what happened while you were away.
Upon your return to the office, meet your delegate for the debrief meeting.
Upon your return to the office, speak to your colleagues, superior, and subordinates to find out how well your delegate did and give the delegate the feedback, and give your delegate a chance to explain what they learned and how well they fared.
Enjoy the pina colada on the beach and the accolades from your spouse, friends, and children on vacation with you , who marvel at how little they saw you with your smartphone.
Ensure your subordinates learn from your example and encourage them to delegate when they plan to be away from the office.
