Latam at GroupM

Federico Demarin

The basics for effective delegation should be the same for HR leaders as for any other function in a company, and there is plenty of material that could help a CHRO understand the theory and basics, including workshops with examples. 

You need to let go of the micromanagement resulting from perfectionism. You could fall for the trap of believing you can do everything better and faster than anyone in your team, and you would only let go if someone is "worthy.” This is not leadership; this is cloning, and it would only create tunnel vision and little innovation for you. Some mistakes and risks are part of the journey, and people need to suffer them to discover their own skills and styles. 

Know yourself. I would suggest starting with a thorough self-assessment. If you were promoted to an HR lead role at one point, you probably have a good set of skills and experiences across all HR practices, partnering with different stakeholders and hierarchical levels, interacting with different functions, business acumen, organizational knowledge, etc. If you really want to get serious at this, you could use a spider web graph to acknowledge your level of mastery vs. the level you would consider top on each dimension. This should help you visualize which areas are the ones where you may need people with deeper expertise. Heads up: those you score high on may show you where your micromanaging risks may sit. Plan a way to tolerate mistakes in deliverables that are not critical; build general guidelines (not a book) explaining your top-quality measures so people can remain independent; and exercise your coaching skills, not critique skills. 

Assess your preferences. People tend to get rid of the things they are not interested in or find tedious, and you should not be any different, whether you are conscious of it or not. Be honest with yourself and your team; they will figure it out eventually, which could take a toll on your credibility.   

Assess your team,skills, specific experience, attitude towards growth opportunities, and engagement. The situational Leadership method from Blanchard may come in handy. 

Understand your company’s expectations.Small local companies are not staffed like large multinationals. I will not fall into the rabbit hole of defining how big your team should be, as this would require analyzing many variables. Instead, I will share my bullet points when I need to decide if delegating is the best answer:

- Does the task clearly belong to a specialist area in my team, or does it affect multiple ones? If the latter, you may need to keep your hands on it, at least following up and reviewing coordination in your team, as well as acting as the single point of contact for your internal “client”. 

- Is the task simple in terms of what the need is and what the solution could be? The highest level of complexity lies in situations where the problem is unclear, and there is no straightforward solution. Those should also sit with you. It should be your responsibility to simplify it, which you could do by gathering thoughts from your team. This is a great opportunity to develop your team members, so make sure you have your coaching hat on. 

- What is the combination of urgency, importance, and difficulty to explain? You may need to keep the ones that score high in 2 and three of these areas. 

- Is there a sub function in your team without a head? If so, you may need to stretch your reach from strategy to execution, although making sure you do not commit to the full extent of what that function could offer with dedicated specialists. This could lead to overload or poor quality. Your “service level agreement” should be clear for the organization in these areas before you commit to any deliverable. Some things you may need to keep regardless, such as interviewing for senior roles, working on leadership programs, presenting high-level talent maps, etc. 

- Will the topic involve your senior peers or other team members? If you will be called in for precise details or updates, you may want to keep it to yourself. If not, this could be another opportunity to generate exposure for someone in your team, although make sure you remain fully responsible and accountable for anything. If you throw your people under the bus when something goes wrong, you are not a good leader or delegating effectively. 

Prove and error.Give yourself and your team the chance to find the right fit, but be mindful not to keep the good stuff and dump the rest on them. Great leaders delegate to develop, not just to get things done.