Effective delegation requires clear expectations

In our work at the Succession Institute, we use the Situational Leadership® model of leadership, delegation and development with our CPA clients.

This tried-and-true model is based on the idea that there is no one-size-fits-all leadership approach. Instead, successful leaders adapt their leadership to meet the demands of individual situations. Situational Leadership® considers the relationship of:

• The nature and type of direction a leader gives.
• The support the leader provides.
• The readiness level an individual exhibits for a specific task, function or activity.

The model starts with the premise that effective delegation is a function of these key factors, the first of which centers on clarity of what actually is being delegated. For example, when you hand off a tax return to someone, you have delegated the task of tax return preparation, which includes a number of specific activities called for by that type of return. However, does the person to whom you are delegating the work know from experience all of the related steps that need to be completed in order to produce the results you’re looking for? If the answer is “no,” then you’re dumping - not delegating.

Effective leaders spend the necessary time to make sure people are clear about all of the work that must be performed. Once you’re clear on what you’re delegating, be equally clear about what your expectations are for the work. Staying with our tax return example, consider your expectations regarding:

• Scope: What work does this assignment involve? Preparation of a trial balance and workpapers, or something more or less?
• Deliverable: What is expected to be generated from this work? Will the entire tax return be ready in draft state for detailed review upon this person’s completion of the task?
• Due date: When does it need to be completed for detail review?
• Budget: About how much time might it take to complete it?
• Resources and support: Who will be available to provide assistance, and where should the associate go if more information is needed?

Use delegation as a developmental opportunity

If the person to whom you’re delegating the specific task has not done this type of work before, an effective leader provides a platform for developmental learning. This additional support includes these steps:

• Verify that the associate understands the assignment.
• Understand the associate’s experience with this type of work.
• Review the associate’s work along the way to determine sticking points.
• Repeat these steps until the person can perform the work correctly without your involvement. It’s up to you to monitor the individual’s progress on the job and be available to help the associate learn throughout this process. If someone has never performed a specific function or task, you must assume that the person doesn’t know how to do it. That requires you to walk the individual through it task-by-task or step-by-step until he is successfully accomplishing the work without your involvement.

This is what delegation is all about - following a developmental process that monitors, educates and teaches, driving people through a continuum from inability to ability. And do not mistake enthusiasm for the ability to do the work. While an enthusiastic attitude will help overcome many obstacles, it will not replace the actual practical experience needed to perform specific tasks and activities.

Dumping a project on an enthusiastic associate who has no experience doing that specific type of work typically results in less enthusiasm after the associate gets into the work - especially when it becomes clear that he’s been thrown into the deep end of the pool without a life jacket.

Factors to consider in determining supervisory needs

The type and amount of supervision effective leaders provide their people constantly changes to reflect the supervisory needs of each person on each task, project or activity they are provided. Two key factors to consider are:

• The person’s demonstrated capability of performing the delegated work.
• The person’s state of mind about doing the work.

When we speak of demonstrated capability of performing a particular task, we are suggesting that the person has been doing it correctly already on a consistent basis without needing supervision. It doesn’t mean that, simply in your opinion, the person should be able to do it, or could be able to do it. Nor does capability mean that someone can do the work when a supervisor is standing over him. These are critical distinctions to keep in mind.

When we refer to a person’s state of mind, we’re talking about how willing or unwilling someone is to perform the task you’ve delegated. Someone may be willing, or willing but insecure about doing it, or perhaps just unwilling to do it.

For example, if an associate is always late posting time for billing purposes, there’s a good chance that the person is simply unwilling to do that mundane, boring part of the job. Most people have been adequately trained to perform this simple task effectively, so consistent noncompliance suggests unwillingness.

The person who consistently fails to handle this task in a timely manner needs more attention from you to ensure follow-through than do others who comply with this requirement.

Developing leaders is smart business

Unless you can effectively delegate to, and develop, your people, you’re destined to continually need to look for more experienced people outside your firm as the solution to this problem. Firms often talk about the need to find better people.

However, the sustainable approach focuses on developing better managers and leaders within the firm - not looking for better people outside the firm. When you do this, your leaders can then develop better people throughout the organization. By learning how to apply Situational Leadership® effectively in your firm, you can close competency gaps between various levels of people, and create a developmental culture that consistently creates better, stronger and faster employees throughout the organization.

Can you improve your leadership style? Here are some common indicators of poor leadership styles in action:

• Complaints about the person in charge being a micromanager.
• Supervised parties feeling overwhelmed with an assignment.
• Frustration over inadequate follow-up and support from the leader.
• People becoming disengaged and less committed to the work.
• Leader feeling most of his or her people just don’t have what it takes to succeed.

Dana Nottingham – A case study

The following case study, derived from a variety of situations encountered at CPA firms, illustrates Situational Leadership® in action.

The problem:
Dana Nottingham is a tax manager with your firm. She works well with clients, her peers, the partners and staff. Over the years, she’s developed strong technical expertise and is your “go to” person for foreign corporation taxation issues. Besides being at or near the top of her technical game, Dana also has good instincts for dealing with people — and she’s a pleasant person to be around. The staff enjoys working with her, and she advocates for work-life balance, constantly watching out for her staff ’s best interests.

Dana’s life, however, is anything but balanced. She puts in as many hours as anyone, and usually more than most, finding it hard to say “no” to client requests. She has equal difficulty adding work to her already burdened (in her opinion) people. Consequently, she hangs on to too much work rather than delegating more lower-level activities to others. While she’s been able to manage this way so far, you and your partners know that this is a train wreck waiting to happen.

You recently sent Dana to a workshop to help build her skills in delegation and supervision. Unfortunately, you haven’t seen her implement that training since she’s been back. When one of your partners mentioned the training to her, she said it was good information but that she’s just “too busy” now to implement it.

The solution:
How would you approach this situation? Let’s start with an understanding of Dana’s supervisory needs from you. On the surface, she appears generally to be an expert and capable in her role, functioning well overall with a will to succeed and a good attitude. Therefore, the initial reaction of many CPAs reviewing this case study would be to agree that this person is both capable and motivated. Just look at the position she’s attained, as well as her overall success.

But let’s look closer. It’s true that she’s successful and capable, with a good attitude about many of her work responsibilities. But is that really true regarding delegation? Some CPAs would suggest that she’s been to training, so she is or should be capable of delegating properly. However, as leaders and managers, we are not looking at what she should be capable of doing, but what she actually is doing and demonstrating without supervision. So, what is she demonstrating in her delegation behavior right now? That she is not doing it.

Next, consider her attitude. Is she confident and motivated in her delegation? It’s hard to imagine this is the case. Actually, she is either unwilling or insecure about it, so she’s putting off the difficult task of changing her behavior (implementing what she learned in class). Usually, if you find an intelligent, otherwise motivated person like Dana who’s not doing what you’ve asked on a task like this, it’s probably not because she doesn’t want to, but more likely because she’s not confident doing it.

Dana needs more task-specific direction and support from you to delegate properly. If you originally diagnosed this situation as one where you just need to exhort and cajole her more (because after all, she is an experienced and “go to” manager), you are part of the 95 percent of people who make this same mistake. She is not presently delegating, and is either insecure or unwilling to get started. The Situational Leadership® model clearly prescribes the leadership style that is necessary for you to use with her if you want her to change her behavior.

Dominic Cingoranelli, CPA, CMC®, is executive vice-president and co-founder of the Succession Institute, LLC, which specializes in assisting CPA firms with leadership development, training in Situational Leadership® succession management and overall firm performance improvement and practice management issues. You can reach Dom at dom@successioninstitute.com.