By Dick Mooney

Even in the smallest of support groups there is a lot of work to be done. In larger groups, there is more work to be done than any one person can do. Typically, there are tasks related to governance, finances, membership building and relations, arranging meetings and speakers, conducting a peer visitation program, staging special events, and publishing a newsletter or Web page. If you want to view a surprisingly long list of jobs that need to be done at most mature groups, go to http://www.usinter.net/wasa/guidec2.html>.

Many support group leaders complain that they have to do everything themselves because it's just too difficult to find others to whom they can delegate part of the load and rely on to perform well. In my experience, part of the problem these leaders complain about is caused by poor delegating skills. This article will address the "right" way to delegate.

Simply put, the objective of delegation is not only to get the job done by someone else, but also to develop competent team members. The best of all things is that team members will eventually know everything the leader knows and will be able to share or take over the leadership role when necessary. Delegating the simple tasks of following instructions and completing assigned work won't do the trick. Through effective delegating, leaders teach team members to accept responsibility, to think, to make decisions, and to assure that desired results are attained independently of the delegator. 

Know your people's interests and capabilities - One of the best ways to demotivate team members and ultimately lose their participation altogether is to delegate to them tasks for which they have neither an interest nor the qualifications needed to perform well. If you don't understand your people's strengths, weaknesses, skills, and ambitions you will not be able to make effective matches between jobs and people. Mismatches invite failure, and no one benefits from failure.

Delegate the result, not the process - Assign the task, not the method to accomplish it. Define the desired outcome. Then let the person complete the task in the manner they choose as long as the results are as you have specified. If you tell someone to do the dishes you lose the ability to complain if the stove isn't clean. A much more effective assignment would be based on the result you really want, i.e., to keep the kitchen clean.

Whenever possible, delegate the whole job to one person - There is nothing as demoralizing as being responsible for only a fragment of a project and never being able to feel a full measure of pride when the job is done successfully. When it is determined that a job is too large to assign to one person, such as the production of a newsletter that requires more than one writer, desktop publishing, the sale of advertising, and time consuming printing and mailing operations, is to create a team with the editor as the team leader. Then the team can be rewarded for a job well done. (See the article, "How to Get People to Work Together," elsewhere in this issue.)

Provide enough information - One of the most common reasons delegation fails is that the leader does not take the time and energy necessary to provide complete information team members need to guide their performance. Take something potentially complicated like a newsletter. In delegating the authority and responsibility to publish a newsletter, the leader and the editor must develop a common mental image of precisely what qualities a successful newsletter will have. This is easy to say but difficult to accomplish. Publication of a newsletter touches almost every aspect of a group's existence. What to write about is affected by the group's overall mission and what the members like to read. There will be printing and mailing costs that must be in harmony with the group's finances. Even the definition of "professional look" will require lots of discussion. Ultimately, this is the kind of delegated task that will require the free flow of information between the editor and all members of the group's management team. 

As a practical matter, there will ultimately be several people performing delegated tasks simultaneously and many of these tasks will require coordination with others. This argues for having regular staff meetings (or Board meetings if the Board members are also working on delegated tasks) to give and receive the information needed to keep everything on track.

Stand ready to help but don't take the job back - Whoever says if you want a job done right do it yourself needs to go to delegating school. A leader must stand by to help team members over the rough spots, especially when the leader has knowledge and experience doing the job and when the team member asks for help. But the leader must do everything possible to avoid taking the job back. Remember, if you're not willing to live with a few mistakes here and there, your team members will never develop the experience and skill to stand on their own.

Maintain management control but don't nag - Management control is simply defined as comparing what is with what should be and taking corrective action when the two are not in sync. When a leader delegates, he or she actually transfers the authority and responsibility necessary to do the job to the team member. The important thing to remember, however, is that the leader still retains full responsibility and authority. In computer terms, it's like copying authority and responsibility, not cutting it from the leader and pasting it on the team member. Since the leader cannot avoid responsibility, he or she cannot avoid maintaining management control either.

There is a thin line between maintaining management control and nagging. Hovering over the team member's shoulder or constantly saying, "Is it done yet?" are clearly nagging. The best way to avoid nagging is for the leader and team member to agree up front when is a good time for the team member to report on progress.

What jobs should be delegated? - In general any job that isn't assigned to a specific officer by the bylaws is a candidate for delegation. Remember, every time you do a job that can be done by someone else, you do so at the expense of a job only you can do.

Break up big jobs - The key to delegating large, complex jobs or jobs which have never been done before (and, therefore, neither the leader nor the team member knows how to do them) is to delegate gradually. If you present someone with a task which is daunting, one with which that person doesn't feel able to cope, then the task will not be done, you will be frustrated and the team member will become demotivated. Instead, build-up gradually. First assign a small task leading to a little progress and then add another small task which builds upon the first. When that is achieved, add another stage; and so on.

Evaluate and reward good performance - Leaders should constantly evaluate the performance of team members on delegated jobs, making suggestions and providing support when necessary, and giving both private and public praise when jobs are done well.