Delegating: Three Easy Things to Remember
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by Penny Kern
I found this great site by Shar McBee, who posts short articles on volunteerism and gives permission to reprint them.
The one I downloaded was called “How to Delegate: The 3 L’s”. To summarize, because you can download the entire article yourself, if you’d like:
Look for Good People - You don’t want people to be growling through their tasks. You want people who will gleefully participate. Pay attention at meetings. Stand off to the side and see who is energetic in one direction or another and who just wants to get through with it.
Listen to Them - Learn what people need from you before you try to delegate to them. By listening first, you learn what they like to do and what they want to do. Then delegate things to them that they like and want to do.
Let them Shine - Give credit to others.
On Shar McBee’s website, she has this quote that I love - “Your job is not to get people to perform. Your job is to make it possible for them to succeed.”
Great stuff out there.
Penny Kern is a retired volunteer manager from Aroostook County.
March 27th, 2008 at 6:47 am
You make really good points, Penny. I am always surprised to hear people grumbling about not being able to find people to volunteer. They say “I want them to do this, and this, and this.” And they can’t seem to figure out that a volunteer has the remarkable option to just ’say no’. And they will. If you don’t follow the lead of the person you quote.
March 31st, 2008 at 10:56 am
I love that quote too, Penny. So many managers in all fields seem to miss that point in their leadership tactics. It really puts a positive spin on the information exchange between supervisor and volunteer(or employee for that matter).