Delegation at the Coconut Horse

Wayback on February 11th, I had the honor to Q the Coconut Horse. We had runners and ruckers getting some miles in for an unseasonably warm winter morning. Following the COT, we went inside for Q-Source which is in the “freestyle” period. As the Q I selected a topic that I struggle with at work which is Delegation. I have a team of 11 people that work directly for me that I can best describe to those outside my place of work that we are a triage unit for problem appraisals at the bank. When we have a unique property that doesn’t easily fit into the guidelines or our policy doesn’t quite cover it, out team searches for a solution. Additionally, when someone doesn’t like their appraisal (i.e. their value), we dig into it. While everyone has their responsibilities, I as the manager have to delegate various projects, tasks or strategy.

In case you’re interested, I’ll give a brief summary, otherwise, feel free to close this out of your browser.

Delegation in leadership not only helps get things done, but it also empowers employees by giving them greater autonomy. No leader can do all things at all times, and delegation is a key tool for boosting team and organizational performance and efficiency.

Key methods why you would delegate:

• Frees up time – manager focuses on the strategy (in F3 lingo – the “Next 43 feet”)
• Encourages Prioritization of Tasks
• Empowers Employees
• Supports New Skill Development

One method to consider in better prioritization (and time management) is to divide tasks into 4 quadrants:

• Quadrant I (Urgent and Important): You feel you are constantly putting out fires and operating in emergency mode. Most of the projects you are working on demand your immediate attention due to a pressing deadline.
• Quadrant II (Not Urgent and Important): You feel like you are on top of things because of careful planning, preparation and prevention. Apart from planning and preparation, you focus your time on high-leverage projects, new opportunities, learning and relationship building.
• Quadrant III (Urgent and Not Important): Most of your time is spent with activities that require your immediate attention but are not necessarily related to your top priorities. You spend a lot of time in un-important meetings, being interrupted and dealing with non-critical phone calls and emails. You feel as if you are constantly dealing with issues that are important to others but not related to your own priorities.
• Quadrant IV (Not Urgent and Not Important): You often feel like you are wasting your time. You spend a lot of time on busy work that is not directly related to your goals, social media, videos, games and pointless web surfing.

According to surveys – the best leaders spend 80% of their time in Quadrant II – Not Urgent but Important.

As always, we had a lively discussion with sharing of information among our group.