Leadership Institute

Delegating for Results

Learning Format: Classroom

Skill Practice Course

Order No. IMEX119

While most leaders understand the need to delegate, they are often hesitant to invest the time and effort up front. They need to be catalysts who transfer responsibility and authority to achieve key results and enhance the capabilities of their teams.

In this course, leaders overcome their hesitation for delegation by learning skills for successfully matching people, responsibility, and authority. This allows them to maximize involvement, productivity, motivation, and growth for individuals, groups, and the organization.

Do You Face Any of These Issues?

  • Do leaders spend time on tasks and responsibilities that others could do?
  • Do leaders understand how to build team bench strength through effective developmental delegations?
  • Do leaders use methods for monitoring the progress of delegations that will allow them to stay in touch without getting in the way?

Performance Objectives

Helps leaders:

  • Identify tasks and responsibilities that can and should be delegated and determine the most effective method of allocating them.
  • Assess the scope of delegated tasks and identify the appropriate level of authority and support to give the people doing the work.
  • Use a set of criteria to select the best people for tasks and responsibilities.
  • Use the interaction process to conduct delegation discussions that meet personal and practical needs.
  • Determine methods for monitoring the progress of delegations that will allow you to stay in touch without getting in the way.
  • Identify barriers to delegation and tactics for overcoming them.

Primary Competency Developed

  • Delegating Responsibility

Secondary Competencies Developed

  • Coaching
  • Follow Up
  • Gaining Commitment

Course Overview

  • Delegation: What and Why: A video illustrates why leaders hesitate or miss opportunities to delegate. Leaders identify a real-life task for which they’ll determine tactics for overcoming their own hesitation to delegate. Leaders participate in an activity to decide the best method for allocating work. The similarity and differences between delegating and developing others are discussed.
  • The Right Person for the Job: In teams, leaders decide on the best candidates for particular assignments, discussing the criteria to consider before making a decision.
  • The Delegation Discussion: Leaders review the Interaction Process skills needed to conduct effective delegation discussions. Learners use Discussion Notes forms to analyze a positive model of a leader conducting a delegating discussion. They then provide feedback on the leader’s use of skills. Two skill practice rounds follow.
  • Following Up to Ensure Success: Leaders become familiar with how to monitor a person’s progress and measure results, which allows leaders to ascertain a delegation’s impact on business results. The special role of the Support Key Principle when delegating is explained. In teams, learners respond to and discuss the importance of providing the right level of support and authority as people take on delegated tasks.
  • Overcoming Barriers to Delegating: Leaders return to the real-life task they identified earlier and discuss tactics for overcoming barriers that prevent them from delegating these tasks. They close by sharing how they plan to approach delegating as a result of this workshop. Tools and resources that ensure application are reviewed.

Video Segment Summaries

  • A segment, entitled the House of Cards, shows the consequences of a leader’s inability to effectively delegate.
  • A positive model shows a leader meeting with a team member to take on responsibilities for handling client calls and gathering customer feedback.
  • (Optional) Several segments present difficult situations that a leader might face when delegating responsibility to others. Each scenario provides a difficult dilemma that learners analyze.
  • (Optional) Several more segments illustrate challenging situations that a leader might face after an initial delegation discussion. In these scenes, the leader is attempting to “stay in touch” without taking over.

Course Details

  • Target audience: Frontline leaders through mid-level managers.
  • Course length: 3 hours, 30 minutes. Course can be lengthened with optional activities.
  • Facilitator certification: DDI-certified facilitator required.
  • Prerequisites: Essentials of Leadership.
  • Series: Suitable for all environments.
  • Group size: 8 to 16 people.
  • Prework: Optional. (5-10 minutes)

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