Delegation – how do I do it effectively?

I’ve been pondering on delegation lately, as various coachees and supervisees have talked about their struggles with it. It was interesting that I found my reflections on my experience of being delegated to more meaningful than my those from being a leader and delegating to others. I heard someone say the other day, ‘lead how you would like to be led’, and it really resonated.

A key moment in my career was my transition from assistant head in a large primary school to deputy head in a large infants, which brought very clearly into view what good delegation looked like.

As an assistant head, I’d worked in quite a chaotic environment. It was a school with many issues, and very little leadership capacity. My job title was Assistant Head and SENCo but, in reality, roles and responsibilities were very blurred. I saw jobs that needed doing everywhere, and I just rolled up my sleeves on got on with them, sensing the urgency around prioritising safety and calm for pupils. There were a lot of costs to this, including the amount of progress I could make in my own areas and also to my emotional wellbeing and mental health!

Stepping into the deputy headship was a breeze after that experience. Don’t get me wrong, it was also a tough school with a tough catchment, and there was a lot going on. The difference was that everyone had their roles and responsibilities, and I went into the job knowing what mine was – I was Deputy Head, SENCo, KS1 lead and a Y1 class teacher 3 days a week. That was a big remit, but it was clearly defined, with guardrails around it. I had a huge sense of relief at being able to get on and do my own job, without constantly looking over my shoulder and wondering what else what happening. I was given clear objectives for my role, but I had the space and permission to innovate and make the necessary changes within my own responsibility areas.

My relationship with my boss, the headteacher, was good. She knew that I was on my way towards headship, and she embraced that. She gave me the space, time and opportunities to grow and develop. One of the courses she sent me on was the Associate Headteacher programme, which included residentials at the National College of School Leadership in Nottingham. Some of you might remember how brilliant that place was. I soaked it all up, every minute of it. I was so grateful to have been given the chance to do it.

I spent just 2 and a half years as a deputy before moving into my first headship, but I achieved a lot for the school in that time. I worked hard and we tackled a lot of changes together, including improvements in reading and the KS1 curriculum and the inclusion of some very complex children. Looking at it from the head’s perspective, she invested a lot in me, but also got a lot back.

The role of deputy is a challenging and frustrating one. Of course, there were lots of times when I wished the head had done things differently and been more decisive in certain areas. But for me, that deputy headship really helped to prepare me for my first headship, even though it still felt like a baptism of fire!

These contrasting experiences I had of delegation helped me to understand more about the most important work of leadership – empowering others. They also bear out the best advice I’ve read on delegation, which comes from L David Marquet’s book ‘Turn the Ship Around’. He describes 2 ‘pillars of delegation’: competence and clarity.

In terms of competence, he says there is a requirement ‘on the new decision makers to have a higher level of technical knowledge and a clearer sense of organisational purpose than ever before’.

The clarity means that leaders must be ‘honest about what [they] intend to achieve and communicating that all the time, at every level’.

From my own experience, I can see how I flourished when I was given clarity about what my role was and what I had to achieve, then given space and permission to get on with it and regular opportunities to build my knowledge and skills in the relevant areas.

It’s a really interesting exercise as a leader to reflect back on your career and remember your own experiences of being delegated to. Here are some question prompts to help:

·       Which leaders delegated to you most effectively?

·       What did they actually do and say?

·       How did they make you feel?

With this knowledge you can set your intentions for how you want to empower staff at different levels of your organisation to do great work. For each key person, ask yourself:

·       What do I need to be clearer about?

·       Where are the gaps in their knowledge and skills?

·       How can I support them to grow, learn and develop?

·       When do we have the opportunity for dialogue that’s focused on their competence and clarity in their role?

In the busy-ness of leadership, we sometimes get pulled into ‘firefighting’, often for good reasons such as tight resources or an influx of difficult and complex problems. It’s worth taking the time to step back and reflect on what you need to do as a leader to get the best out of your team, and make sure those actions are factored into your working week.

Headteacher supervision is a service I offer that provides regular opportunities to step back and reflect deeply on the important work of leadership. Delegation is a topic that frequently arises. A recent client said this about the impact of our work together: ‘Helen gently guided my thinking, asking the right questions to help me dig deeper, and encou

raged me to consider smarter ways of working and explore all available options. I left each session feeling more focused, more confident, and more capable.’

If you’d like to explore the options for supervision (or coaching, if you prefer that approach), please book in for a no-obligation chat.