In a previous blog article we identified that most managers find it hard to delegate to the 60-65% of their team who, according to Festo’s 3-Dimensions of Employee Engagement model, will not be engaged.
But where there is poor delegation then you can be sure that there will be a price to pay further down the line. This is because in most businesses the challenges and issues arrive faster than the manager can solve. So ultimately poor delegation will cause a breakdown in the team, overloading key people and overloading the manger.
Where a manager fails to engage the 60-65% of disengaged team members so that they form a productive and highly capable team, then there are potentially three aspects at fault.
1. The recruitment process has failed and someone with a poor attitude was recruited into the team. If someone starts with a poor attitude you will not engage them. A thorough review of all recruitment and induction procedures should be undertaken.
2. Something has happened in the team member’s personal environment that has severely impacted their behaviour and their attitude. In these situations the manager will need the skills to coach this team member to identify what has happened, or have access to a resource that could help.
3. The manager’s actions or in-actions created them that way. This is a hard one for the manager to accept and usually the external environment will be blamed for the team members lack of engagement. However, everything that you do or do not do as a manager will have consequences on how engaged your team members are. Managers who engage their teams unite them towards a common goal or against an external “enemy”. They put plans in place and delegate effectively so everyone is clear what needs to be achieved and why. They challenge and help shape the strategy of their organisation.
Support your managers by providing them with management training so that they have the knowledge, skills and behaviour needed for effective people management so that they, and their team, can thrive.
