Tag: Delegation

Put Junior People in Charge to Build High-Level Team Players

Train your teams by putting junior people in charge so they become more experienced and knowledgeable.

The best way to transfer knowledge and to build experience in a new team member is to put them in a leadership position. Put them in a position where they must make decisions and where they can make mistakes.

Ideally they are put in charge of a project that is outside of their comfort zone (but not excessively so). It should be challenging, but they should still ultimately succeed. You should continue to be there for support and instruction when necessary.

Putting junior people in charge makes them better. It makes them understand what is going on way above their pay grades. It makes them understand how their jobs impact higher level business goals, and is one of the best ways to develop team members.

  • Put them in charge
  • Give them responsibilities
  • Train them by their mistakes.

Additional Reading

Stewardship Delegation

“Stewardship” delegation is focused on results instead of methods; on the What and not the How. It allows the individual to own the work and communicate progress and results at agreed upon intervals.

The ability to effectively delegate is a valuable skill: Delegation enables you to devote more of your time to higher level important activities.

Stewardship Delegation often requires training and development of the people that you are delegating to. This ensures that they are competent enough to rise to the level of trust required to delegate.

The Five key elements of Stewardship Delegation

1. Desired Results & Timelines

Clearly specify the results that are expected and their timeline. Focus on RESULTS and not the methods.

Have the person communicate back to you the final results they will be delivering and when they will be delivering them.

2. Guidelines and Restrictions

Identify any guidelines and major restriction within which the person should operate. These should be as few as possible, but DO identify any paths to failure.

3. Available Resources

Identify all resources available to help in achieving the results: List any human, financial, technical, and organizational resources.

4. Evaluation and Performance Standards

Setup the performance standards that will be used in evaluating the results and the specific times when evaluation will take place. The individual is responsible for the evaluation and for ensuring it takes place.

5. Consequences of Success or Failure

Specify what will happen – both good and bad — as a result of the evaluation. (Financial rewards, psychic rewards, different job assignments, etc…)

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