Don’t Go It Alone: The art of delegation for project managers
Why delegation is important for projects to succeed
Delegation is often misunderstood. It should be thought less of as a tool to ‘offload work’ and more as a tool to ‘get the job done in the best possible way’. Part of building a project team is to bring in the necessary skills to deliver the solution or change. The people that come into a project possess a range of skills and experience, often those which the project manager does not have.
When a project manager simply takes challenges onto their own back without support, they put both themselves and the project at risk. Even if a project manager may have the skills for a job, they may not have the time without sacrificing other important functions of their role. If they don’t have the capabilities or experience to do this effectively, it’s the organisation that will end up with a less than optimal solution.
The effective delegation of key tasks throughout the team is a difference maker not just in quality but budgets being controlled carefully and milestones being hit on time.
And it’s crucial for project managers to win, too
A PM trying to do everything alone will eventually take its toll. With KPIs usually around timely delivery of effective solutions within an agreed budget, failure to delegate is going to directly affect these. These tasks left undelegated will grow in size and a bottleneck will inevitably occur putting significant pressure on the project manager.
The expectation of an organisation on their project manager should be to use the resources (human, technical and otherwise) to deliver the goal. Over a period of many years, the successful project manager will have honed this skill and find that they’re able to influence change and activity much more effectively.
Why do we resist delegation?
The lack of delegation can have a number of root causes. Sometimes it can be a matter of not knowing the best way to communicate. In other situations being hesitant to delegate can indicate a lack of trust in the team to get the job done properly – which in itself is an issue that should be addressed quickly.
There’s moments where a project team member will not be assigned a task if there’s a perception their workload is too large to take it on. It’s common for project managers to work under the premise that the ‘buck stops with them’, meaning if there’s not the resource for a task, the project manager will need to take it on for now.
Not delegating for reasons related to control or maintaining quality indicates a larger problem with the resourcing of the project delivery team. The solution may lie with bringing in the necessary skills, but it’s not for the PM to take it on themselves. We don’t see the coach of the All Blacks coming on the field to join a lineout – they’re needed in the coaching box to call the plays! The same goes for project managers – getting involved with completing technical or detailed tasks the team should usually be doing is time consuming and distracts from important PM activities like people management, reporting and stakeholder relationships.
Identifying the tasks that can be delegated in a project
One of the important steps to take when assigning tasks to the team is to have a clear understanding of what tasks are required to deliver a project milestone. Some tasks need to be owned by the project manager such as reporting and governance. Direct delivery on a project such as coding or designing is for the delivery team to complete.
Throughout the lifespan of a project, there will be new tasks that come into the team that need to be categorised in the same way. Oftentimes a project manager will be that first contact point for a task or change to be triaged before actively assigned to someone.
Determine the best person to delegate to
Once it’s clear the task is for the delivery team to complete, PMs will want to consider carefully the best member of the team to assign it to. This could be as simple as one person in the project team has the necessary skills to get the task done. But in many project teams there are multiple people with the skills to potentially complete tasks that come into the team. In these situations, project managers will need to determine who of their team is best suited based on things like:
- Current workload/capacity for tasks
Near future workload/capacity – if they’re able to do it this week, will they still be able to keep working on it next week? - Which of the team is in a good position to take on a task (e.g. just finished something)
- Who in the team has a development roadmap that would be helped by working on this task?
- Who in the team has the most interest and motivation to complete it (this can help it get done better, quicker).
In working with a delivery team over a period of time, project managers will start to learn more about the nuances of their team’s skill sets and become more proficient at choosing the right person for the right job.
Being clear about expectations
Lack of clarity does real damage to businesses every day. Without really clear expectations set and understood, there’s room for interpretation by the individual carrying it out. Delegating effectively is to provide the context and expectations on the result, without entering into a ‘micro managing’ state.
While we love New Zealand’s work culture, it can sometimes create conditions where expectations aren’t the clearest. This leads to assumptions which can be misguided. But expectation setting is as much about the care for the individual who’s taking on the task – with absolute certainty, they’re able to find the best way to deliver. This creates a more motivated, empowered project team.
Creating ownership in your people
As we’ve touched on earlier, the very idea of delegation is subject to plenty of conflicting interpretations. In our view, engaging others in a project team or business to better carry out tasks should be a positive thing. It’s an opportunity to not simply help the outcome be better, but creates a sense of ownership and accountability within the team. As this builds over various tasks and requirements, the confidence of your project team will grow as well. And when you can trust them to get the job done well, that trust will come back to you as a manager.
This can be especially valuable during challenging times or where adaptation is needed by everyone. Take it from us – it’s far easier to rally the team together in the face of adversity when they genuinely feel like they’re at least part of the solution!
Building long-term trust through feedback
Trust isn’t built through purely assigning tasks to the team. As a project manager, you can really cement this through constructive, safe feedback. While feedback deserves its own entire article, it’s worth noting a few things:
Feedback should be honest, but with a high duty of care. We’re yet to meet someone who prefers negative feedback over positive. If there is an area that needs to be discussed for improvement, we’d encourage the overall tenor of the conversation to be positive – including reinforcing the good things that are already happening. Showing some appreciation and care during feedback sessions sets an environment where the team member feels much more comfortable discussing areas of concern.
Creating trusting relationships means that feedback should flow freely in both directions. You can gain the respect and ongoing support of a project team when they feel like they can bring issues to the PM without fear of what the response might be. It’s here you have a chance to truly lead by example.
Leaning on technology to make delegating easier
Project management and collaboration tools are only improving every year, as remote teams find ways to stay on the same page as each other. Project managers inevitably spend a lot of time on these platforms, ensuring that everyone’s on track.
A key function of project and collaboration tools is the assigning of tasks to people within the team. While this shouldn’t be used as the sole delegation tool, coupled with a clear conversation it can help to formalise who is across what. Beyond that though, it’s important to use project management tools with delegation to ensure no single person is loaded up with more than they’re able to deliver.
Sometimes the challenge needs escalation, not delegation
While many deliverables can and should be delegated, it’s worth noting that in some cases the challenge is not a black and white ‘to–do’ item. In fact, delegating a task that is hiding a wider strategic or relationship issue can derail a team’s progress.
Before assigning tasks, make sure these are fit for a team member (or members) to take care of. If not, it’s something that you as the project manager will likely take care of – and if not, will need support from your sponsor or steering group to get help to resolve. While this is certainly not an everyday occurrence, these moments come up.
On the other hand, escalating matters that aren’t required can slow a project down as it can stall progress, so it’s a balancing act for project managers to hone!
It’s helpful to have a good project governance framework as well, which can be referenced to decide the best course of action.
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