Consider ‘delegation’ – a task we all need to do at regular times in our role. Use this table to think about your own approach to delegation and see if you can plot the qualities you adopt naturally. Some will have more of a leadership approach and some more managerial. Reflect on how this affected the success of the delegation activity.
| Delegation task | Delegation of weekly drug stock check to a member of the team. I told the staff member it was an important responsibility that I believed they would be good at because they are meticulously good with paperwork. Rather than telling them they had to do it, I asked if they would like to do it. They said they didn’t feel very confident about doing it, so I said that I would do it with them until they felt confident enough to do it on their own. After I had helped remove some of their doubts, they agreed to do it. |
| Natural qualities demonstrated | Offering choice Negotiation Coaching Building confidence in others Positive reinforcement |
| Outcome of delegation task | I showed them how to do it the first time, then observed them do it themselves the second time. They then felt confident enough to do it by themselves but I made sure they were aware that I was available to contact if they had any difficulties. |
| How would a different approach have improved the outcome further? | I could have delegated the task of training the staff member in doing the drug stock check to another staff member that already knew how to do it, therefore freeing up more time for myself. I could have trained all staff members to do the drug stock check at the same time and made the task a team responsibility. |