Meetings are meant to bring people together to share ideas, solve issues and drive outcomes. However, they can eat up a significant portion of your time. Research from The Muse shows that middle managers spend about 35 percent of their workday in meetings, while senior directors are booked in meetings for 50 percent of their time—every day.
Every minute in meetings cuts into time you need for deep work. While you may need to be present in some meetings, there’s a responsible solution to going from meeting to meeting: delegation. Jacob Kaplan-Moss, co-creator of Django, says that most managers don’t delegate enough. You might think delegation is simply handing off a task to someone, but it’s not that that simple. He says it’s important to take the right approach to meeting delegation. We share his insight in this issue of Promotional Consultant Today.
Delegate the right meeting. Delegation shouldn’t just free up your time—it should also help the employee to whom you’re delegating. For example, if one of your sales reps aspires to become a manager, the meeting you delegate could help them learn some new skills and interact with other leaders in your company. Your delegate is someone you’re preparing for growth. If not, you’re just assigning a task—not delegating.
Kaplan-Moss adds that if you are truly delegating, you’ll choose a meeting you enjoy or feel is valuable to attend again. It’s great to get more time back in your day, but great delegation means giving up one of the better parts of your job.
Spend some time preparing your delegate. If you’re going to responsibly duck out of meetings you typically attend, you should set your delegate up for success. This means informing other attendees that your delegate will attend in your place. You could even send a Slack message with something like, “Hey, Ashley is going to attend this meeting instead of me. Whatever she decides is great with me.”
Kaplan-Moss says it’s important to be clear about the extent to which your delegate brings your authority with them. If decisions will be made at the meeting, everyone involved needs to know that your delegate is empowered to make the decision.
Brief and teach. Effective delegation requires a briefing, says Kaplan-Moss. When delegation involves a meeting, explain to your delegate that it’s an opportunity for them to lead. Say something like, “I’d like you to attend this meeting instead of me. Are you open to that?” If your team member agrees, provide some context on why the meeting is happening, who is attending and what their role will be during the meeting.
Explain any required pre-work and what outcome you’d like to see. Ask the employee what they need to feel confident going into the meeting and provide any additional materials. After the meeting, ask your delegate to report back to you.
If your workdays are usually split up into 30-minute segments between meetings, consider delegating some of these meetings. Not only will it help free up some of your time, but you’ll also be training your team members for leadership roles in the future.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Jacob Kaplan-Moss is a software developer, co-creator of Django, and engineering leader.
