NEW MANAGER

The Basics and More of Being a Great Leader

TEXTBOOK

DELEGATION

by Markus Amanto
This textbook is part of the online course “New Manager: The Basics and More of Being a Great Leader” by
Markus Amanto.
All rights reserved. © 2016-2020 Markus Amanto - markusamanto.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: The Story About the Village That Needed Water   3
Which Tasks to Delegate?   4
Who to Delegate to?   6
The Five Steps of Effective Delegation   7
How to Delegate - The Four Delegation Styles   9
Four Blocks to Delegation and How to Avoid Them   11
Three Important Tips to Delegate Like a Pro   13
Summary of Delegation   14
About the Author   14

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INTRODUCTION: THE STORY
ABOUT THE VILLAGE THAT
NEEDED WATER
Feel stressed or overloaded? Or your career seems stalled? Or your team is underperforming? Then you need
to brush up your delegation skills.
To help answer the question about why you need to learn delegate effectively, let’s use a story. Once upon a
time there was a small town in a desert that had only one well to supply it with water. One day the
townspeople realized that their well was about to dry up. The mayor of the town put out a request for
somebody to solve the town’s water crisis. Two brothers volunteered. The mayor said that whichever one of
them that had been able to sustainably supply the town with the largest amount of water in six months
would be awarded the contract as the town’s water supplier.
One brother went straight to
the hardware store and bought
two buckets. He then walked to
a river that was located three
kilometres, about two miles,
away from the town. Using the
two buckets he started carrying
water from the river to the town.
He was able to deliver the first
two buckets of water in 40
minutes time and then headed
straight back to the river to carry
two more buckets.
The other brother disappeared
and was not seen for more than
five months. Meanwhile the
brother with the buckets kept working hard carrying buckets of water from the river. He worked 12-14 hours
per day and only rested for one day a week. The townspeople were excited to have access to water again
even though they had to use it sparingly.
When five and half months had passed the mayor and the townspeople had almost forgotten about the other
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brother. To their surprise, that same day he showed up on a hill next to the town. They realized he was build-
ing a pipe which originated at the river. He spent the following week finishing the last bit of the pipeline into
the town square. Upon completion he turned on a faucet and water started gushing out. Another week later
he was awarded the contract to supply the town with water.
Delegation can be seen much as the building of the pipeline. It tends to take a lot of upfront effort where it
can seem like not that much gets done. Once you have established a structure for delegation, provided
support and training when needed and have good follow-up procedures in place, the result far exceeds
what you could accomplish on your own. You only have so many hours per day you can work.

THREE MAIN REASONS

FOR DELEGATION
The three main reasons for why you should delegate
can be summarized:
• Your team will reach better results
• It will lessen your own burden and allow you to use
more of your time for important strategic work
• It helps other people grow

WHICH TASKS TO
DELEGATE?
When it comes to deciding which task to delegate it can be helpful to divide tasks into four categories.
These categories are based on how much effort each task requires and how much skill. This gives us the
following four categories:
• Low effort - High skill
• High effort - High skill
• Low effort - High skill
• Low effort - Low skill 4
LOW EFFORT - HIGH SKILL
These are tasks you should consider doing yourself. They Effort
require little effort but a high skill and could be a good
investment of your time.
HIGH EFFORT HIGH EFFORT
LOW SKILL HIGH SKILL
HIGH EFFORT - HIGH SKILL Delegate to somebody
with low competence
Delegate to one or
more people with
level and extensive high competence level
time available as a project
These kinds of tasks are well suited for a longer project.
You delegate them to one or more people with a high skill
or who can acquire that skill with training or support. Ini- LOW EFFORT LOW EFFORT
tially these projects will likely require plenty of your time LOW SKILL HIGH SKILL
but in the long term people will become more indepen- Delegate as Do yourself
dent. Meaning you will be able to delegate these tasks often as possible to
somebody with low
(or delegate)

more effectively and free up more of your time. competence level

Skill

HIGH EFFORT - LOW SKILL

These are tasks you want to make sure to definitely delegate. You will have a bigger pool of people to choose
from as they require low skill. Getting stuck with these tasks on your own to-do list as a huge efficiency killer
and waste of your time.

LOW EFFORT - LOW SKILL

Delegate these tasks as often as possible to somebody with a lower competence level. They can be good
stepping stones for you to practice your delegation skills. And for the person you are delegating to, they can
be stepping stones to working more independently and effectively.

FOUR QUESTIONS
The following four questions can also be helpful to use a checklist to see if it is a good idea to delegate a
specific task.
• Is there somebody else on your team that has or can be given the required knowledge or experience to
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 complete the task?
• Does the task at hand offer an opportunity for another person to grow and develop their skills?
• Will this task recur in the future? Either in this form or a similar form?
• Can you create the time to delegate the task in an effective way? This includes time for training, support
in the form of questions and answers, checking in on progress and giving feedback when needed.
It is not necessary that you answer yes to all the questions but if you answer no to most of the questions it
may not be a good task to delegate at the given time.

WHO TO DELEGATE TO?

There are three factors which help you decide who to delegate a task to.

1. COMPETENCE LEVEL
First of all you need to consider the competence
level of the person you are considering delegating
the specific task to. What knowledge, experience,
motivation and courage does the person already
have? Do you have the time and resources to pro-
vide any training and support needed?

2. CURRENT WORKLOAD
Does the person have time to take on more work? Or can you reshuffle other responsibilities and workloads
to make that person have time available?

3. LEVEL OF INDEPENDENCE AND AMBITIONS

Is the person able to work independently, taking initiatives when needed? What does he or she want from his
or her job? What are his or her interests and long-term goals? How do these align with the proposed task?

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SOMETHING TO KEEP IN MIND
Keep in mind that when you first start delegating to a person he or she may take longer than you would to
complete the task at hand. This is normal and simply means the person is still learning. Patience is key here
and provided you have chosen the right person to delegate to, and you are delegating in a proven and effec-
tive way, you will likely discover that they soon become more competent and reliable.

THE FIVE STEPS OF EFFECTIVE

DELEGATION
When you are delegating a task
to one or more people, here
are the steps to process. Make
sure you prepare all the steps
beforehand and preferably have
key points written down for the
person to review at a later time
after your meeting.

1. SPECIFY
OUTCOME
Be clear and specific with your
desired result. Begin with the
end in mind. Explain the task clearly and describe goals, not actions.
Ask the person you are delegating to explain how they have understood the desired result. This will help
avoid common misunderstandings and later frustration.
Also set a clear timeline including deadlines.

2. GUIDELINES (FRAMEWORK)
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Establish controls and limits to the work. Clearly identify boundaries and constraints. Are there
organizational or financial limitations that need to be adhered to? Also clarify what responsibilities and
what authorities come with the performance of this task? Should the person wait to be told what to do? Ask
what to do? Recommend what should be done and then act? Take action and the report periodically?

3. RESOURCES
What kind of support can they expect from
you? From other people? Provide sufficient
support, but resist upward delegation. If
there is a problem, don’t let the person shift
responsibility for the task back to you, instead
ask them for recommended solutions and
don’t simply provide an answer.
What other resources are available for them
for the solving of this task? This could include
things such as courses or books to study, ma-
chines to use or available softwares.

4. EVALUATION/
MONITORING
As you delegate the task, agree on a schedule of checkpoints at which you will check in with and review
progress.
When the person or persons have started work on the delegated task, keep up to date with progress. When
you do check in focus on results rather than procedures. Make adjustments as needed.

5. FEEDBACK/RECOGNITION
When work is done, give recognition where it is deserved. This step is easily missed in the everyday
business of things, so do not be sloppy here. It makes a big difference for future motivation and productive
behavior.

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If there were aspects of the results or the work that did not meet your expectations, provide constructive
feedback or coach them on how they can improve in the future.

HOW TO DELEGATE - THE FOUR

DELEGATION STYLES
You have decided which task to delegate. You have
decided who to delegate that task to. You have
prepared the five steps of effective delegation
ahead of your meeting with that person. What
is left now is to pick the right one of the four
delegation styles to use. One style does not fit
everyone and to be effective you need to pick
the one that will best suit the person you are
delegating to for the specific task.
Which style that will be effective is based on the
competence of the person you are delegating
to. Their competence related to the specific task
you are delegating that is. Competence is made up of Skill and Will. Skill is made up of Knowledge and
Experience. Will is made up of Motivation and Courage.
Failure to use these four styles appropriately is a major reason delegation fails for many managers. Let’s
look at the four styles so you can pick the right one.

DELEGATION STYLE 1 - INSTRUCT

This style is best used with a person with a low skill for the specific task. Their will may be high, they may be
enthusiastic, but their skill is low.
Apart from a clear, specific outcome they will also need a lot of clear, concrete instruction on how to do
things.

DELEGATION STYLE 2 - TRAIN

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This style is best used with a person that has some more skill for the task at hand. Their will might be lower
but their knowledge and experience is stronger.
On top of the specific outcome they will still need a lot of your instruction and support to reach a good result.
To help this person grow further you can start including some parts of delegation style three, meaning you
communicate specifically WHAT you want the end result to be, but leave the part of HOW to get there to the
other person or persons.

DELEGATION STYLE 3 - COACH

This style is best used with a person
with a higher competence for the given
task.
Their skill is strong, but their will may
vary day to day.
They can figure out by themselves how
to solve the task and what needs to be
done together there.
They will still need your support every
now and then, mainly with questions
and suggestions that help them move
forward.

DELEGATION STYLE
4 - MONITOR
This style is best used with a person on the highest competence level. Their skill is strong and their will too.
Let your team members decide how the task should be solved, give them freedom to find their own ways.
Delegate only results, not methods. Specify what you want done, not how to do it.
For example “I want you to achieve this amount in sales” instead of “follow up on those leads”. Set up a
schedule to check-in on progress.

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FOUR BLOCKS TO DELEGATION
AND HOW TO AVOID THEM
1. IT TAKES A LOT OF UPFRONT EFFORT
The biggest and most common reason for not delegating is that it takes a lot of up-front effort. Like in the
story about the village that needed water, you need to put in substantial work before you start seeing the
results of your delegation.
This illustration illustrates that challenge. It also shows that once you get over to the right hand side you
will reap the benefits of your delegation for a longer time.

The Delegation Challenge

Leader’s Time Team’s Output
and Effort and Results

Time

The key here is to work proactively with your time so you are able to schedule time for delegating tasks
initially and providing the support needed. Becoming a master of time management. Also remind yourself of
the big picture, that the rewards will come later.
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2. NEED FOR INSTANT REWARD/GRATIFICATION
The need for instant reward or gratification is ever present in our society.
It is common to want the quick fix or grab the unhealthy snack because it
is right in front of you. This is also why many people never get to realize
their long term dreams. Instead of putting money away for their long term
dreams they spend the money right away.
To be effective at delegation you need to be able to postpone reward.
It takes patience to let other people grow into the role. Remind yourself
whatever way you can of things such as the words by Leo Tolstoy:
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”

3. FEAR OF OTHERS DOING IT

BETTER THAN YOU
A common reason managers fail to delegate is that they secretly envy the
skills of their employee.
They are afraid that the other will do too good of a job and get all the reward for it.
This can be a conscious or unconscious fear of competition from your own team members.
Talk to yourself and simply get over it. Even laugh at your envy if that is what needs to happen. Give full credit
to your team members when it is due. Making one of your team members look good, actually makes you look
good.

4. YOU ARE A CONTROL FREAK

If you let your control freak run your daily leadership will hold you back and condemn you to continually
operating instead of leading and managing.
Ask yourself if this is truly a characteristic of your personality, that you are a control freak, or is it just a
habit?
Ask yourself what the fear is that is stopping you from demonstrating your trust in others?

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THREE IMPORTANT TIPS TO
DELEGATE LIKE A PRO
Here are three additional tips to help you get started with effective delegation.

1. EXPLAIN WHY YOU ARE DELEGATING

Connecting the task you are delegating to a bigger picture helps build motivation. The bigger picture
in this case can be about why you are delegating to that specific person. How does this task fit in with
their growth in their role and in your organization? How will it improve their skills and knowledge? The
bigger picture can also be about how this task that you are delegating fits with the overall goals of your
organization and your team. What effect will the completion of this task have on the bottom line and the
success of the organization?

2. BUILD MOTIVATION AND COMMITMENT

Discuss how success with the task you are delegating will impact things such as financial rewards, future
opportunities, informal recognition and other desirable consequences. Rewards of different kinds by
themselves have proven to not be the most effective motivator, but together with the previous tip about
explaining why you are delegating it will prove a useful combo.

3. USE THE TELL - SHOW

- TRY - DO FORMULA
This is a proven and tested formula for teaching
somebody something new. Therefore it also works
great when you are delegating a task to somebody
who needs to learn to do that task, and you know
how to do it. Use it as part of your delegation to
people with a lower competence level.

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First you Tell them how to do it. Then you Show them how to do it. This is followed by letting them Try to do
it, while you are still around to give feedback and support when needed. Then let them Do it by themselves.

SUMMARY OF DELEGATION
Delegation will open up the channel for communication. It will invite opportunities for getting to know each
other, problem solving together as well as giving and receiving feedback.
Decide which task to delegate and who to delegate it to.
Use the five steps of effective delegation and remember to use the delegation style that fits the person’s
competence.
Have faith in other people’s abilities and dare to let go of control.
Strive for the growth of others and support them in daring to take responsibility.
Remember that delegation takes time initially and that the results when you make it work are totally worth it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Markus Amanto is a well renowned author, speaker and trainer from Sweden.
He has worked with improving leaders, teams and organizations in Asia, Europe
and North America for over 25 years.

His books include “The Leadership School - Who’s Really in the Driver’s Seat” and
“The Basics of Group Dynamics” (currently available in Swedish only).

He has held multiple positions as a manager. When he worked as a sales repre-

sentative he built a sales team of over 400 people spanning the Nordic countries.

He started his own consulting business in 1998 and has worked as a certified
trainer for UGL-trainings for several years. He is also a certified user of TotalSDI®
(Strength Deployment Inventory). He is also trained in emotional debriefing, psychosynthesis and has also
participated in Anthony Robbins Mastery University.

Clients have included The University of Stockholm, Nasdaq, Kongsberg Automotive, Pitney Bowes, Tetra
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Pak, AstraZeneca, KPMG, ALMI and International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR).

Markus is fluent in Swedish, English, Finnish and Spanish. He is also able to communicate well in Danish
and Norwegian.
Website: markusamanto.com

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