Successful delegation is the key to productivity and quality

By Andrea Hill

You probably know at least one helicopter parent. She or he hovers over the children, advocating, instructing, and otherwise inserting herself into the child’s every activity. The problem with helicopter parenting isn’t so much that it is annoying, but rather that it sends such a strong message that the parent doesn’t trust the child’s abilities to navigate the world, solve problems, and accomplish things on his or her own. This leads to children who are generally less capable and confident.

We see the same behavior in business, but we call it micromanagement. Micromanagement stems from an employer’s or manager’s fear that the work will not be done exactly the way he would do the work himself, and sometimes from a need to assert himself as the main expert in an area of work. Unfortunately, this leads to employees who are generally less capable, confident, and willing to own the work and solve problems on their own.

Everyone is capable of micromanaging in some area, so it’s important as business owners to identify those things you are most likely to micromanage, and question whether or not doing so is in your ultimate best interests. Here are two critical questions you can ask to lay the groundwork for a more effective management approach:

Is this area of work specifically my responsibility? 
• If yes, you have a responsibility to excel at the task yourself.
• If no, you have a responsibility to lay the groundwork (expectations, training, and some reasonable amount of monitoring) for the task, but not to micro-manage it.

Is this area of work critical to the presentation of our brand or to achieving our strategy?
• If yes, performance of this task/work should be carefully defined and performed within very specific parameters. It probably requires fairly close monitoring.
• If no, performance of this task/work can probably be done in a variety of ways, as long as the desired outcome in terms of timing and quality is achieved.

One Method, One Outcome

In the case of work that is critical to the brand and strategy of the company, it may be necessary for you to very carefully define the work that is to be done, including the way in which it must be performed. One good example of this might be a stone setting technique. If you have a design aesthetic that involves a unique use of gemstones or a unique setting approach (or both), it may not be acceptable for some of your jewelers to use a power tool while others use a manual approach. You may need to define the setting steps to include which tools to use.

Another example of this may be a unique finish or polish. If the effect is something that is closely associated with your brand, you may insist not only that the finished result look exactly the same time after time, but also that the process used to achieve the finish be done exactly the same way.

Many Methods, One Outcome

On the other hand, there may be many other elements of your manufacturing process that can be done as the jewelers wish, as long as they are achieving similar results in terms of time and quality. Tool selection and physical process can be as unique as the individual jewelers themselves, and many times a jeweler has chosen a specific technique because she knows that she can be more successful with it than she would be using another.

Learning to differentiate between things that can be done in different ways versus things that absolutely must be done in a set way is one of the first steps to managing a more efficient, more effective workplace. The more things you determine must be done in precisely the same way as you would do them, the less efficient and less creative your work environment will be. Why? Because human beings think differently, use their muscles differently, and observe the world differently than one another, and we become very adept at using our unique sets of attributes to best navigate the world. When another human insists that we do things precisely the way he or she would do things, we have to put our own developed abilities to the side. This has the effect of putting blinders and hobbles on us.

Expectations and Training

The best thing you can provide your employees is a clear set of expectations. Speed, quality, cost, customer satisfaction ratings—if you can’t define these things, you can’t expect your employees to achieve them.

Once expectations are clear, isolate that small percentage of things that absolutely must be done a specific way (because of their brand or strategic impact), and highlight them. Point out that not all things have to be done a specific way, but on certain things there is no flexibility. Then train, train, train to be sure your employees can do the processes you have laid out for them. Give them time to perfect those processes, while providing useful monitoring along the way. Then get out of the way and let them do their work, which will free up your time to focus on the things you’re supposed to be doing.

The Power of Labels

Last, remember that labels have a lot of power. The term “micromanager” is seen as a sort of acceptable trait—one some bosses even embrace with a bit of pride. What if we called them “helicopter bosses,” instead? I’m not so sure most managers would ever want to admit to that one.