Achieving through others

LEADING OTHERS

You effectively delegate and maintain oversight of work responsibilities to leverage the capability of people to deliver outcomes for the people we care for.

Quick tips

• Make sure that everyone understands the purpose, key dates and boundaries of mahi [work].

• When delegating mahi [work] to others, periodically follow up with them and offer support as needed.

• Delegate tasks or responsibilities that will provide people with a chance to ako [learn], develop their capability or practice important skills.

• Praise tāngata [people] when they complete delegated tasks or make positive contributions.

• Provide tautoko [support] while encouraging others to take ownership of delegated tasks.

Practice this behaviour

Here are some ways you can practice this behaviour:

• Give your kapa [team]/direct reports more autonomy in how they organise mahi [work].

• Identify successors to your role and grow their capability by assigning them some of your tasks.

• Think about how you carry out your role. Are you spending more time working on behalf of the business than checking in with tāngata [people]? Identify the tasks that other people should or could be doing, and delegate that mahi [work].

• Get some experience in an unfamiliar role or area of responsibility where you must draw on the expertise of others.

• Seek assignments that will require you to appropriately delegate tasks to complete the project on time.

What can hold you back

Here are some things that could get in the way of developing this behaviour:

• Not letting go of work responsibilities. This can be for a number of reasons:

  • You are uncomfortable with risk

  • You want to hold on to tasks that you enjoy and do well

  • You believe that you can complete tasks yourself faster or better than other people

• Being overly trusting. Effective delegation means maintaining some degree of oversight or accountability even for tāngata [people] you trust well.

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