Financial Advisors/Leaders: Improve Team Delegation. Pass the Baton.

As the leader of a financial advisory team, or as a financial advisory working within a team, effective delegation is a valuable (and learned) skill. Not only does better delegation free up space on your proverbial plate, it quite possibly leads to better outcomes and results for the team as a whole.

Actually, when you delegate to others, there are three likely consequences. All of them good ones.

1. Their solution is better than yours. (Nice!)
2. Their solution is equivalent to yours. (Nicer! Because you didn’t have to do it.)
3. It’s not as good as you expected. (Not bad either. After taking the time to teach/coach your teammate up to your expectations and what to do differently next time, you’ll have learned more about this person and they’ll have learned something from you.)

Barriers to Delegation

Here's the thing. The biggest barrier to better team delegation may have an obvious fix. It might be you.

Are you not delegating as much as you should, or would like to?  The good news is that these barriers to delegation are often perceptual. To overcome these barriers, you must first identify them.

Do any of the following points ring a bell?

• Not Enough Time. One of the biggest barriers to delegation is the perception that you do not have enough time to either adequately explain the task or teach your team member the skills necessary for a delegated task. Even though it may take you less time to complete that task now where does that put you the next time the task must be completed? This feeling is paradoxical, because one of the main benefits of delegation is saving time.

• Losing Control. People new to delegation often feel as though they are giving up their control. It is a little frightening to allow a team member to complete a task for which you are ultimately responsible. Communicating with those to whom you've delegated frequently to check the progress of the task can help decrease this fear and give you some sense of control.

• Not Getting Credit. Some leaders feel that if they do not complete the task, they will not get credit. As your team grows, it’s important to learn to share the credit with others, especially your team members. Remember, the better your team looks, the better you look.

• Losing Tasks You Enjoy. You may occasionally have to delegate tasks that you enjoy doing. Remember, as a leader your job is to ‘think big,’ not to be bogged down in recurring tasks. Seeing others succeed because of your coaching will also be enjoyable.

• You Can Do it Better. You may think that you are the only person who can complete the job successfully. Especially because you and your team are part of a prestigious scholarship program, that is probably not true. Your teammates are highly capable!

• No Confidence in Team Members. Some leaders resist delegation because they don’t have faith in their team members. If this is true of you, start by taking small risks. Early successes will encourage you to delegate more. Learn to see the potential in your team and make sure that you have adequately prepared your team members for the tasks you assign. The more prepared they are, the less worried you will be.

Coaching Questions: 

1. Within your team, where could delegation be most improved?
2. If these changes were made, how can you see the team working differently?
3. What issues, learning, gaps, strengths...does the team need to discuss in order to improve delegation?
4. What are the next steps?

We trust this helps.

One way to identify your blind spots with respect to delegation, or to improve delegation skills overall, is to work with a credentialed coach. Learn more by downloading the following ClientWise complimentary white paper: