Delegation skills training

helping yourself and others get ahead

Delegating and Empowering

Delegating is not the same as dumping work. Instead, it’s a two-way street. One objective is to free up time for the person delegating but the other is to empower the person they delegated to. This means they learn and grow from the experience. When managers delegate with emotional intelligence (EI or EQ), they build strong and confident teams.

Participants on this delegation skills training course will learn how to delegate tasks and empower their team members.

They will understand that it is not just about themselves or getting something done as quickly as possible. They will learn how delegation training courses builds capability for the wider team. Course participants will also become aware of what might hold them back in empowering their team members and what to do to delegate, how and when.

  • Team leaders, supervisors and managers who want to improve their delegation skills training course and aim to empower their team members
  • Full-day training course. Half-day and shorter course options available
  • Training delivered at your offices or virtual classroom

training goals are to:

  • learn the value of delegating for the delegator
  • understand how empowering team members is a sign of great leadership
  • identify why they may hesitate to delegate – and why they shouldn’t
  • improve effective delegation training skills – know how, what, when, where and who to delegate to
  • learn to better manage priorities.

Our facilitator for this delegation skills course will adapt the content and workshop style to the needs of the group.

introduction and workshop overview

Participants will review the agenda and will discuss their training objectives.

empowering the team – good for you and good for others

Delegating tasks does not come easy to everybody. Participants discuss at the start of this course why it is important that they learn how to delegate effectively. They will discover it helps them achieve so much more in their role and with their team. They will discover how they can be much more effective by using other people’s help. This will fuel them to make this investment in their own time and the investment in their team.

delegation blockers

Participants may be familiar with the feeling that it is quicker to do something themselves than to delegate the task to someone else.  Or that feeling when they have delegated work and it has come back to bite them, with long, stressful hours spent fixing up a task that was not completed to standard. The group will look at common delegation blockers. They will develop their EQ by becoming aware of their emotions when delegating. And they will discover compelling reasons to get past this and become delegation pros.

empowering – it requires effort

Delegation is not the same as handballing. Some people think the only one to gain is the person doing the delegating. Nevertheless, part of the deal is that team leaders support and coach the team members who get delegated to. Participants review their own experiences. They will come up with examples of how having work delegated to them has helped them in their careers so they can draw on this to empower their team members.

how to delegate? It depends on who and what

There are several ways to delegate and your choice depends on the situation. What is the skill level of the team member for this task? How motivated is this person? Participants learn to flex their delegation style from holding tight reins, to fully empowering team members.

They will do this by spending some time looking closely at the delegation skill/will matrix and learn how, depending on the other person’s level of skill and will, the way they explain, and assign work differs.

coaching skills

Coaching skills are integral to good delegating skills. Coaching styles will differ according to the ‘skill and will’ of the team member. A team leader looking to delegate work needs good Emotional Intelligence skills: listening, patience, optimism.

During this section the attendees will learn how to use the GROW model to coach team members: set Goals, assess Reality, generate Options and determine the Will/way forward.

delegating with emotional intelligence

So, having agreed that delegating work is a good idea, what does successful delegation look like? Is there such thing as a delegation process? The participants will workshop what kinds of tasks they can delegate, to whom, and how. Delegating effectively means giving clear instructions and using excellent communication skills to question appropriately and listen carefully. This is where emotional intelligence helps participants adjust how they delegate tasks to different people. The group will also learn about different levels of delegation, how to stay across their delegated tasks, plan ahead and measure the end result.

helping your team prioritise

When you manage a team, you may be asked to help prioritise tasks with team members. Participants will discover when and how to assist and when it may not be a good idea. They will discuss different ways to approach helping, so they empower their team members to find their own solutions when they can.

action plan

The most important thing about this delegation skills training is putting things learnt into practice. The participants will therefore work on an action plan during the course. Participants write down what tasks they want to delegate, to whom and how, as well as the steps they will take to delegate with success. With the skills they gain, they will feel empowered to delegate and win back some time to their day as well as develop their team.

why is emotional intelligence important for delegating and empowering others?

Delegating in a professional and sensitive way requires emotional intelligence. Brashly giving out work to others with no consideration of what they have on their plates already or how capable they are or how they will feel about the work, will end in a less than successful end result – or a very put-off individual.

Delegating is much more effective when you are considerate to the other person and ‘frame’ the delegated work in a positive and relevant way for the other person. You need to take the time when necessary to explain exactly why you are delegating the work and how it can help them towards their goals. It is important to assess the reactions of the person you delegate to and adapt your approach. It requires emotional intelligence to deliver the message in a personalised way. This is why we focus in this delegation skills course on delegating with EQ.

"You don’t have to do everything! Even Batman had Robin."

Emotional intelligence (EI or EQ) - the capability of individuals to recognise and manage their emotions and those of others.

Being aware of the concept of EQ and then developing it is essential for employees, regardless of their role. High EQ is no longer an add-on but a ‘must-have.’

Effective Delegation Skills Training Course in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth & Australia Wide

Delegation styles

Delegating is regarded as an important skill for people in leadership. As you progress through your career the tasks that you delegate become more complex. Being able to delegate and empower others also become more important to be successful.
Delegation Skills Training

It is important for the team’s performance that work is delegated appropriately to make best use of how people spend their time. New or junior staff need to be delegated work to for them to learn, develop and feel empowered.

We mentioned in the course description that there is a skill in how to delegate work with emotional intelligence. Delegating should be tailored to the situation and specifically depending on the WILL and SKILL of the person who is delegated to. This is where the Skill/Will matrix comes in.

The Skill/Will matrix shows 4 quadrants with each a different delegating style:

  • where employees have low skill, low will, then as a delegator you need to keep close control and act as instructor
  • where employees have low skill, but high will, you need to enable them to learn by reducing obstacles and acting as a guide when you delegate.
  • where employees have high skill, but low will, find out why they are disinterested and spark interest/excitement and act as a motivator.
  • where employees have high skill, high will (ideal!), you can truly delegate, allowing room for them to approach the task independently and coach them with this stretch opportunity. Here you are empowering your team.