Delegation & Supervision by Brian Tracy
Our marketing team at work continues to grow and so one of the goals I’ve set myself this
year is to improve my delegation skills.
For a (reformed, almost) perfectionist like me, delegation can be a tricky skill to master. You might assign a task and then find yourself ‘checking in’ too regularly, or worse still redoing the task because you think it needs to be done a different way! This book was a handy reminder of all the things that we usually know (common sense!) but in practice, often forget when working with teams.
Some very useful tactics and reminders!
Tips for becoming a master delegator
(headings = mine, quotes directly from the book)
It’s not about giving orders
“They may say something like, “Do this and have it done by such and such a time.” They equate this order-giving with delegation. But it is not. It is abdication.”
Why delegate
“Delegation allows you to expand your work scope from what you can do to what you can control or manage. That means you can concentrate on doing the few things in the course of your workday that only you can do for your company.”
“Delegation is a wonderful tool to challenge your people and cause them to stretch, achieving greater results and making a greater contribution.”
Allow your team to make mistakes
“Very often, managers underestimate the ability of their people. But the only way you can test the true competence of individuals is by giving them more to do than they have ever done before, and then allowing them the latitude to make mistakes and to learn from them.”
What stuff do I delegate?
“The rule here is fairly simple. You should delegate whatever you have mastered and can now do easily, and move on to something else.”
“Practice the “70 percent rule.” If someone else can do the task 70 percent as well as you, delegate the task to that person. Free yourself up to do those few tasks that only you can do.”
Delegate externally and internally
“Another assumption that managers make is that, whatever the task, it has to be done by someone within the company. Today, however, there are companies that specialize in certain activities and you can outsource an entire task to them and get it done faster, better, and cheaper than if you did it internally.”
Praise often!
“In terms of motivation, what does every person want? The answer is that every person wants to be a “winner.” People want to feel excellent about themselves; simultaneously, they want to be recognized by other people around them as being excellent at what they do.”
Happy reading,
C x
The Marketer's Bookshelf 
Clare I love your blog! What a simple yet powerful idea to capture the learnings of all the books you read. I’ve definitely picked up a few for the wish list – thanks!