Do They Need You Too Much?
How to Get Your Staff to Work More Independently
Over time I’ve been presented with questions about how a leader or business owner can get their staff to work more independently so that they can focus more on growing their business… working ON it instead of IN it.
I can tell you that the solution is made up of a combination of things: a hard-working staff, good leadership skills, good delegation skills and more. While this is a complex topic, and there’s a lot more to it, I can suggest a few ways to lay the foundation so you can help your staff work more independently.
1.) Identify strengths and weaknesses. For the greatest success, everyone must identify and focus on their strengths rather than working on improving weaknesses. Weaknesses require attention, but the goal for employers is to delegate to an employee’s strengths. Do you know what they are for each employee? Do you know what they are for you? Delegating to employee strengths will boost confidence, motivation, productivity and independence.
2.) Make TIME for the delegation process. First you must verify that your employees know what they need to know in order for you to delegate to them. The rest is the delegation process itself. This takes time out of every week, so be prepared to give it or you will always have to do everything yourself.
The delegation process includes (1) the initial delegation / communication process with all relevant details, (2) tracking progress via meetings / other communication and (3) follow up at the end to assess outcomes.
The process does take time, but it is an essential step in getting your employees to be more independent. Only then will you know what your employee is thinking, how they are doing and if they are meeting expectations.
If they are doing well and you’re both communicating effectively, this will build their confidence in their abilities and your confidence in the delegation process.
3.) What Employees Need…
Employees can only become more confident, independent and productive if at least four things are in place:
i. They understand what’s expected of them. Employees need to know what mark to shoot for, including benchmarks, guidelines and deadlines. They must practice identifying the best use of their time from moment to moment and be accountable for prioritizing sensibly every day.
ii. They understand the range of actions and decisions they are empowered to make on their own without consulting you.
iii. They feel safe asking questions and getting guidance from you, even if they tell you in advance that a deadline cannot be met.
iv. They aren’t given all the answers to the test. Don’t answer all their questions right away! Quiz your employee on things you think know or should know. Quiz them even when they’re faced with an unfamiliar circumstance and you’ll get a sense of whether or not they’re on the right track when presented with a new situation. So test away!
