TIME MANAGEMENT: TIPS FOR BETTER DELEGATING by Harold Taylor Don't always delegate to your most capable employees. Use delegation to develop all your people, forming a strong team with no weak links. Every task you delegate should not be a simple, boring, repetitive task. Share some of the more enjoyable tasks with your staff members. Let your people make a few mistakes, don't expect perfection, and don't jump on them every time they slip up. Encourage your staff to find better ways of performing a task once they have mastered it. Give credit for jobs well done; but absorb the blame when criticized from above. Act as a buffer and provide feedback in the form of suggestions for improvement rather than criticism. Ask for solutions, not problems. Encourage your staff to think for themselves by asking for their suggestions rather than presenting them with answers to their questions. Trust your Employees; don't oversupervise. Initially be willing to accept less than you would have accomplished yourself. Be prepared to trade short-term errors for long-term results. Endeavor to provide as much information as needed to perform the task. Communicate clearly your expectations, including deadlines and type of feedback required. Don' t rush the delegation process. The most important requirement in motivation is to know your people. What are their personal goals? What is important to them? You cannot assume your employees are motivated by money, nor can you assume they are not motivated by money. Each individual is unique in some respects. However, they are basically goal-oriented, whether they realize it or not. If you can help them achieve their goals, you're likely to have motivated employees. Find out where your people stand. Talk to them, observe them and above all, listen to them. If their goals are compatible with the organization, great. And if their personal goals can be achieved through the job they are performing in the organization, terrific! You may have to change the nature of the job, reassign them, or even replace them. The most important factor in job motivation is the job itself. And the job is enriched through delegation. Select people carefully. Be aware of their needs, and delegate which jobs provide the sense of achievement, challenge or recognition which meet those needs. Provide sufficient extrinsic rewards such as salary, fringe benefits, working conditions etc. so they will not be distracted. Then help them to motivate themselves by training them, guiding them, encouraging them, evaluating them, helping them, and commending them. Commending reaps greater results than commanding. Excerpted from the best-selling book, MAKING TIME WORK FOR YOU, by Harold L. Taylor © 1998 by Harold L. Taylor www.TaylorOnTime.com