LEAD/LEARN
Successful Management Skills
for Laboratory
When a Technical Person
Becomes a Manager
Module 4
Presented by:
Mary Kay LaBrie
Mastering Delegation in a Chaotic Environment
Introduction
No doubt, the health care environment is changing. Concerns about quality could frustrate important changes in health care delivery and financing. Policymakers, payers, managers, and others must deal with these changes effectively without creating chaos in the workplace.
Delegation is the act of entrusting people with completing tasks for which you remain responsible. Delegation is essential for effective leadership; it saves you time, helps a manager to develop people, grooms successors, and motivates. When not done properly, delegation and lead to frustration, miscommunication, and even more chaos.
Why Managers Don’t Delegate
According to a recent Ezine Article , there are four major reasons why managers fail to delegate tasks and projects; four commonly held attitudes:
Fear- the worry that others will do a poor job or will make the manager look bad
Lack of Know How- The manager doesn’t know how to delegate properly
Playing it Safe – The manager thinks he or she can do it better themselves
It Takes too much Time- The manager doesn’t recognize the value of delegating
My Favorite Excuses
When we hold one of the four attitudes, symptoms often arise in the form of internal or external dialogue or “excuses.” Take a moment and read each of the following. Have you recently said or thought the any of these? Check all that apply. Next to each item, write down one of the four reasons just discussed if you think it might be the underlying cause of the “symptom.”
“If you want something done right, do it yourself.” ______
“Delegating often takes more time than doing it yourself.”______
“When I delegate, I often have trouble getting an accurate progress report” ____
“My subordinates ask for every detail of a delegated project.”______
“My subordinates often don’t want to take ownership.” ______
“Some of the people I supervise can’t say ‘no’ or take on too much.” ______
“I tend to be a perfectionist and that often frustrates those to whom I delegate.” ______
“Delegation is often difficult as I have trouble setting expectations.” ______
“I’d like to delegate more, but my team needs training. ______
Other - writeyour own favorite excuse here ______
DOS - Your Operating System for Effective Delegation
The first step is to understand which tasks are suitable for delegation and which are not. You never want to be perceived as only delegating the “dirty work,” nor do you have time as a supervisor to do everything on your own.
Determine which types of tasks/projects you can delegate (and which you can’t)
Organize and plan using the right level of authority
Select the proper delegation style given the individual(s) you are delegating to
DOS: Sound antiquated? While technology is ever-changing, this is one area where proven, tried and true techniques never go out of style. The reason we call this approach DOS is, like the analogy for “Disk Operating System’ which was actually used in the past to describe different types of related an unrelated systems and machines (ANDOS; AppleDOS, etc.), these best practices allow the manager plenty of flexibility. That is why this proven approach works so well even in times of chaos and disorder.
When the manager determines the types of tasks or projects which can be delegating, he or she must think about the task or the project in detail to see if it’s appropriate. In addition, there are certain types of tasks which should not be delegated. Those will be covered in the next section.
When the manager organizes, he or she looks at the individual(s) who the task or project can be delegated to. Then begins the challenge; now the manager must decide how to go about the process of delegating and setting expectations, or risk creating confusion.
Finally, when the manager selects proper delegation style, he or she takes into account who is working on the task and how much control he or she needs to maintain – or give up.
Determine which Tasks/Projects can be Delegated
Here is a quick guide to help you decide what you can delegate and what you can’t.
Tasks suitable for Delegation:
Routine
Noncritical
Within the ability of your employees
Easy to learn
Provide opportunities for development
Not time sensitive (or have a realistic deadline)
Tasks not suitable for delegation:
Leadership tasks
Strategic planning
Employee matters
Confidential or sensitive issues
Tasks specifically delegated to you
The Seven Levels of Authority
You’ve determined that a task or a project can be delegated. Now you must determine who to delegate tobut also what level of authority you should pursue when delegating.
Internationally recognized trainer, writer and speaker Jurgen Appelo developed a game called “Delegation Poker,” which he uses his delegation workshops to explain the following concepts about delegation in the workplace:
Delegation is not a binary thing. There are plenty of “shades of grey” between being a dictator and being an anarchist.
Delegation is a step-by-step process. You hand over accountability to other people, in a controlled and gradual way.
Delegation is context-dependent. You want to delegate as much as possible; but if you go too far, chaos might unfold.
The game revolves around the “Seven Levels of Authority”
Tell: make decision as the manager
Sell: convince people about decision
Consult: get input from team before decision
Agree: make decision together with team
Advise: influenced by decision made by the team
Inquire: ask for feedback after decision is made by team
Delegate: no influence, let team work it out
The Lab/LIS Delegation Game – The Rules
Read each scenario carefully and “lock in your response” by selecting one of the “cards” from the next page. The goal is to select the highest level of authority possible (meaning the most control which you could relinquish in the situation) without going overboard.
Scenario #1
You are going through an upgrade and you need to test the system. You have identified three members of your team who could take on the project, but you are not sure about the employees’ level of comfort in doing this with minimal supervision. What level of authority should you use?
Card selected
Scenario # 2
You need to conduct a mock CAP inspection to deal with a real upcoming CAP inspection. The person best suited to take charge of this is a med tech who ran the mock inspection last year. This employee is going through personal issues and has been somewhat unreliable in her performance as of late.
There are two other people in your department who could take on this project; one high-performing tech you would like to groom for management, but she lacks confidence and will possibly require more supervision and guidance. The other is a new employee who claims she ran a mock inspection on her previous job. She wants the assignment, as she is gunning for a supervisory position at a new site your lab is opening, but you have not seen any evidence as to her success or failure with the task. What level of authority should you use to make the decision?
Card selected
Scenario # 3
You need to conduct yearly validation of the calculations in your system, but you also need to conduct a yearly validation of the remote faxing numbers. You can handle one project personally but not both. You are new to your position, and you are not sure which project to give away, although you are strongly leaning toward giving away the calculations project as it’s more time consuming and it would free up your time to work on other issues. What level of authority should you use?
Card selected
TELL
/
SELL
/
CONSULT
/
AGREE
ADVISE
/
INQUIRE
/
DELEGATE
Four Delegation Styles
As a manager, you need to realize that you are not a regular employee; you are a coach. An effective coach must know how to teach and to motivate. You must also learn to take pride in the work that your employees produce with you as a team, without taking all of the credit
Delegation Style / When to UseControlling / When delegating tasks to an employee with limited experience;requires that you thoroughly explain the task from start to finish
Coaching / When delegating tasks to an employee with a moderate amount of experience. Requires that you closely supervise the employee, but less so than with the controlling style
Consulting / When delegating tasks to an employee who has had previous experience; involves giving the employee more freedom than with the controlling or coaching styles
Coordinating / When delegating tasks to an experienced employee;
involves assigning full responsibility for the completion of the task
List specific behaviors for each style:
Controlling:
Coaching:
Consulting:
Coordinating:
Marrying the Approaches
You have a project which needs to be done within a realistic deadline but is well within the ability of your team members. What is the likely level of authority from which you could approach delegating, and which delegation style could you use?
While this scenario sounds easy, many are not? So what are some tips you can use to decide how to confront each situation by using the DOS approach?
Your favorite Suggestions:
SNUG 2013 Presentation TitlePage 1