019: The Gift of Delegation: Empowering and Trusting Your Team

[00:01:03] Hey, what's going on everybody? David Noe with SpeakEasy HR presented by Payroll Partners.

[00:01:08] We are at the last episode before the end of the year. So I have an awesome guest with me to round out

[00:01:15] the 2024 year, Nicole Roberts. Welcome to SpeakEasy HR. Hello. Thank you so much for inviting me. I

[00:01:24] greatly appreciate it. I'm really excited to be here and maybe even have some cameos of baby

[00:01:29] kittens join us. Who knows? David Noe Yeah. And we're live on Facebook and YouTube.

[00:01:34] So I'm sorry. Well, your Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube with SpeakEasy HR, you can find everything

[00:01:41] that I've done in the past on SpeakEasyHR.com. So if you have not, jump over there, watch any

[00:01:49] previous episodes. I have a new blog. So SpeakEasyHR.com. And if you obviously listen to podcasts

[00:01:57] on Spotify or wherever else you will find this episode on there on demand. So we have, like I said,

[00:02:05] this is the last episode before the end of the year. So if you are watching live, we'd love to hear from

[00:02:10] you. Ask questions, chime in where you're watching. If you have any just comments about the holidays,

[00:02:17] if you're ready for the holidays, I've got a couple of theme, you know, just some fun additions to the

[00:02:23] background for the holidays. I feel like I'm kind of ready for the holidays to be here. Like,

[00:02:29] I don't know, I've pretty much done with the shopping and I don't know. Are you ready to go

[00:02:35] with the holidays? Yeah. So my kids are 16 going on 17 and 19 or yeah, and 19 going on 20 or 18 going on.

[00:02:45] No, 19 going on 20. That's doesn't even sound like it's realistic to me. That's why I had to

[00:02:51] stop myself. I'm like, wait, nope, no, he's not. Yes, he is. And so gifts and Christmas and stuff

[00:03:00] like that for them is becoming more and more about the quality time and less about how many presents

[00:03:08] did I buy you? How many presents did I buy you? What does the tree look like underneath? Normally this

[00:03:15] time I would have had everything wrapped to be under the tree already. And that's just simply not the

[00:03:19] case this year. We're focusing on experiences and you know, we've have these two new little baby

[00:03:26] kittens in the house and my son is in school at Miami. So he's really good at being a college student.

[00:03:33] I don't even know when I'm going to see him next. So I mean, my daughter doesn't have a choice because

[00:03:37] she lives here, but yeah, it's just, it's, it's different than when they were little and it was

[00:03:45] counting down to all these different kind of milestone things to do with the holidays.

[00:03:50] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's for us. It's obviously we've got kids teenage years now and

[00:03:56] the gifts they want are a little bit more expensive, so they don't get as much.

[00:04:02] And my family's in Michigan. So we always travel on Christmas day to Michigan,

[00:04:07] which is a really easy day to travel. I mean, I've been doing it when I moved down here for college

[00:04:13] in 2000, geez, 2001. Yeah. It's pretty much every year I've gone up there other than 2020 during COVID.

[00:04:20] So it was like going up on Christmas day, driving through Ohio. There's like no traffic.

[00:04:26] There's just gas stations open and we just time it. We, you know, we time it. We go to my wife's

[00:04:31] family for lunch, kind of brunch, and then we hit the road and we're up there for dinner. So

[00:04:37] it's really good. We went to my, my daughter and I took my sister to Frankenmuth for her birthday,

[00:04:46] the day after Thanksgiving. Traffic wasn't bad then either though. I mean, it was snowing up there,

[00:04:52] but I mean, it still wasn't bad. So yeah. Yeah. Well, we got a lot to get to Nicole. So I wanted to,

[00:05:00] obviously we're going to do the envelope icebreaker game, which everybody seems to enjoy that are on

[00:05:06] this. So I have a couple of questions. I'm not going to talk during this because I have seen that

[00:05:12] sometimes it does not really come through on the recording. So I'm just going to play it. Hopefully

[00:05:17] it'll work. So if people are watching, they can see this awesome commercial about payroll partners.

[00:05:24] Thanks.

[00:05:50] So yes, to learn more about payroll partners, go to payroll partners.net say no more,

[00:05:55] no more to hotlines and hold times you get humans, you know, the, the human element,

[00:06:01] the, the personal touch and connection that you get with our team. And it's amazing. All right.

[00:06:07] So the envelope icebreaker game, I have given everybody the questions beforehand and we have

[00:06:17] gone through this a lot of people, if they've watched it, you know, I, I try to shift around

[00:06:23] the questions in the, in the envelopes. So obviously whichever number you pick is going to

[00:06:30] possibly reflect the same number as another question that have come up, but you know, we'll,

[00:06:35] we'll get to it here and I just want to pull this up, see if it'll work. Come on,

[00:06:43] come on, restream work with me. Come on. It's trying. It looked like it was trying.

[00:06:52] It's trying to load. It's playing. There we go. There we go. Got to do that before the

[00:07:02] actual game. So again, if you're watching live, we'll get to these awesome questions that you put

[00:07:09] in the comment section about this topic that everyone will hear more about in a minute,

[00:07:14] but we're going to do the envelope icebreaker game one through 15. I've got the envelope.

[00:07:18] So you have a number in mind, Nicole. I do. Uh, I think it was six, six. All right. Yes.

[00:07:28] I think that's the one that I, okay. I mean, start strong, right? So yeah, I want to,

[00:07:34] let's start with six. All right. What is the top place to go on your bucket list?

[00:07:41] So the top place to go on my bucket list, um, is actually Australia. Uh, because I have,

[00:07:50] I have a great friend, Ben Watts and sell Watts, uh, from what's next HR, um, have a home in Australia

[00:07:58] and Ben lives there. I don't know, 10, 15, 20, 95% of the year, but he sends us beautiful photos of it.

[00:08:04] And I've always wanted to go. Uh, so yeah, Australia for sure is, is on the top of my list. I've,

[00:08:10] I've been to Europe. I love it. It's beautiful. Um, I would like to go to Ireland, but, uh, Australia

[00:08:17] is definitely on the bucket list. Yeah. There's a lot of, I haven't really gone out of the country a

[00:08:23] lot. It's, you know, I've gone to Mexico and Hawaii, which has been great, but going over to like

[00:08:29] Scotland and I'm a big golfer. So playing some of the old golf courses in St. Andrews, some of the

[00:08:37] parts of the, yeah. I mean, one day, yeah, Australia, Greece, there's, there's a few places

[00:08:45] we want to go and, and raising, raising kids to take them is probably a little bit more expensive

[00:08:51] than just taking yourself. So hopefully one day we'll get to some of those places. So, all right,

[00:08:56] let's do one more question before we round this out. What other than six, what number you got?

[00:09:01] Other than three, three, one, two, three. All right. Last one of the year. Number three is

[00:09:12] what was your first job that you earned a paycheck with taxes deducted?

[00:09:19] My first job that was an actual paycheck with taxes deducted. I worked for TJ Maxx.

[00:09:27] Oh yeah.

[00:09:28] I was in high school and I worked for TJ Maxx and there was a bank in the strip mall where the TJ Maxx was

[00:09:40] and I would literally get my check, go down, cash it, come back and pay for any of the stuff that I had

[00:09:46] picked out while I was working that week. And it was totally fair to my parents because they're like,

[00:09:51] Hey, at least we're not buying it. Right. So I had, I had a job, I made money. It just never left

[00:09:57] the store. So I was both the best customer and a great worker. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure you weren't alone

[00:10:05] at doing it that way, you know? I'm sure. Yeah.

[00:10:09] Well, for those who have not watched Speakeasy HR before and that are familiar with Nicole and her

[00:10:15] background and her services, this podcast I started over the summer. Really, it was something that I

[00:10:21] would watch myself as an HR professional to talk about the easy and not so easy things in business

[00:10:26] and HR. So the Speakeasy HR, the name kind of came from where I live. I live in Kentucky. We make 95% of

[00:10:34] the world's bourbon. I'm a big bourbon fan. So just it all kind of blended together and kind of came

[00:10:41] together in this, in this fun environment that people like Nicole come on and talk about a topic

[00:10:46] that's relevant to them. They're passionate about. So everybody that I bring on, I ask them the same

[00:10:51] question. What are you most passionate about? And so when I asked you, Nicole, it's been a few months

[00:10:58] since we connected and I, and you were on my, my list that was the shorter list earlier this year

[00:11:04] and just some of the work you've done in hacking HR and some of the other functions disrupt HR I've

[00:11:09] seen. And so I was like, you'd be a great guest. And you were kindly enough in, in, in your time and

[00:11:16] everything you got going on to come on and, and talk about something, which we're going to get to,

[00:11:21] because I think you will have a lot of perspective and background and, and sharing your ideas and,

[00:11:28] and about delegation. So this, this kind of goes into the world of, of business owners and leaders

[00:11:36] and managers. You know, I have seen it firsthand when, when smaller businesses that grow the owner

[00:11:45] and the people that are heavily involved, they, they have a hard time delegating and they just,

[00:11:50] they want to hold on to everything. Right. So I want to dive into this topic and first, you know,

[00:11:56] why, why did you pick this topic? Then it, you know, when it relates to the stuff that you're

[00:12:00] into these days. So I feel like more and more people are trying to do more with less. Right. And like you

[00:12:09] were saying, sometimes you hold on to too much and then you can't do the things that only you can do

[00:12:15] because you're still worried about taking care of things that you've maybe hired a team to do,

[00:12:22] or maybe you've got somebody there that you can, um, delegate to that you can grow, that you can

[00:12:29] develop. And you're, you have just such a, a unrealized opportunity if you're not truly using,

[00:12:38] and I call it the gift of delegation as a play on words with when, uh, Brené Brown's book,

[00:12:43] the gifts of imperfection and the timing of obviously the holiday, it really is a gift.

[00:12:49] Delegation is truly a gift and you just have to get your mindset into the right frame of what

[00:12:55] delegation really is. Yeah. Yeah. And we're going to, we're going to get into it and it kind of falls

[00:13:00] back into the work you do at people solutions group. So tell people about people solutions group that

[00:13:05] have not heard of it before. Sure. So I started people solutions group, um, in a time that, you

[00:13:13] know, anybody would think is a great time to start a business. Right. I had been diagnosed with breast

[00:13:18] cancer and I had been laid off from my, my job and I thought, well, single mom, you need to find a

[00:13:26] way to have an income. And so I, I started people solutions group, um, because I wanted to have an

[00:13:34] ability to help businesses, help business owners. I have a lot of friends that are entrepreneurs and

[00:13:41] are small business owners. And so we would be sitting around a dinner table or drinks or coffee or

[00:13:48] something, and they'd be sharing some challenge that they had. And, um, the reason why I called it

[00:13:54] people solutions group is because there are a myriad of business challenges and at the core of them,

[00:14:02] there is a people solution for that challenge. Very good. Yeah. That's makes a lot of sense. I mean,

[00:14:09] it, it really does. And so you do a lot of coaching leadership development programs, onboarding

[00:14:13] development, Felicia facilitation, building and developing people, teams, fractional executive

[00:14:20] people services. So a lot of things that you have probably seen over your years and can share that

[00:14:26] with other business owners. So, um, so that's great. Yeah. I, I think it's great. And, and I think

[00:14:36] why, so let me ask you a couple of questions and we are live. So if you are watching live,

[00:14:42] fire away your questions for Nicole and I will try to pull them up on the chat. So delegation, you know,

[00:14:49] what, why do you think it's, it's such a challenge for leaders to do this?

[00:14:56] I think it's twofold. I think one that people don't know how, right. Um, I also think that

[00:15:04] there is, if, especially if you're brand new to it, you're not confident enough in your ability to

[00:15:16] share the understanding and the expectation when you delegate. And also I was actually having a

[00:15:21] lunch with somebody yesterday and we were talking about this, she's a business owner.

[00:15:25] And we were talking about the challenges with delegation. And I said, uh, you know, what is

[00:15:31] a challenge with you? And she said, um, because I've built this business and it's my name on the

[00:15:36] line and it's my reputation and you know, all of those things. Right. But then also when you have

[00:15:42] done everything in the business, it's not always easy to then even know what is appropriate to

[00:15:51] delegate. Right. And the other piece to it is that a lot of times we make the decision. I know this was

[00:15:58] me early on when I was, um, first being a leader and a manager, I would make the decision for the

[00:16:03] other person early on of, oh, well, you wouldn't want to do that. Cause that's like my least favorite

[00:16:09] thing. So why would I want you to do that and teach you to do that and have that be your responsibility?

[00:16:14] You always want to give people the fun, exciting, challenging things. And what you fail to realize

[00:16:19] is every part of your job is a new and challenging thing to somebody when they've not done it before.

[00:16:28] And so if something seems like it is, um, commonplace and maybe not the most, uh, exciting or,

[00:16:36] or challenging or, um, you know, really going to just move the business forward piece of your job,

[00:16:43] it doesn't mean that it's not the first time for somebody and that it's not something that they'd be

[00:16:49] maybe excited and eager to learn. Yeah, no, that's very well said. Cause I've, I've seen that

[00:16:56] firsthand. So, uh, so what's the difference between delegating tasks and truly empowering your team?

[00:17:05] So delegating it can be very transactional, right? Like these are the things that I have to do. And

[00:17:10] this is a task versus if you're truly empowering your team, you say, Hey team, these are the things

[00:17:17] that we have been entrusted by the organization to deliver. So these are the results that are expected

[00:17:23] of us. This is the timeline that we have to have those results delivered in. And I know that

[00:17:33] bringing this to the team, even if it's just you and one other person, right? Even if you're just having

[00:17:37] a one-on-one with somebody, Hey, this is what our team is expected to deliver. What ideas do you have?

[00:17:44] Cause two heads are better than one, three heads, four heads, five heads, however many,

[00:17:49] what are your ideas of how we could do this? Because I know how I would approach it and I'll take my 21

[00:17:56] years of HR experience, right? And I will tell you how I would approach it and make sure that you have the

[00:18:04] tools, support resources that you need. But at the end of the day, I would be really excited to see how you

[00:18:10] not only view the problem, but what resources and what strategies that you would implement

[00:18:16] to deliver this objective. And I mean, just stand back and let people amaze you because

[00:18:24] everybody has a different experience and perspective that they're going to bring to your challenge or your

[00:18:31] problem. And you don't have to give them a step-by-step tutorial with screenshots in order to

[00:18:38] accomplish that given objective tasks. That's when it's great to have. I get made fun of by one of my

[00:18:46] friends. Cause I, I use scribe as a verb. So I say, Oh yeah, I scribed that and made the step-by-step

[00:18:52] tutorial. Right. Yeah. When it, when you were delegating a project and when you have a objective

[00:19:01] and end result, that's not the time for that step-by-step tutorial. Yeah. Yep. So what steps can

[00:19:09] leaders take to empower their team members without micromanaging? Cause a lot of people would not

[00:19:18] want to be micromanaged. And that's one of the words that people try to stay away from. So what

[00:19:24] would you say are some of the steps for leaders? I mean, nothing makes somebody feel less like you

[00:19:30] believe in them than by micromanaging them. And I think that any time that you are a leader,

[00:19:38] if you're going to invest in yourself and on your skillset and what you need to do better,

[00:19:43] not one person has, has mastered, uh, not at any point in time, accidentally micromanaging somebody

[00:19:52] when you had no intent to. Right. And so the, the basics is first, you start with really clearly

[00:19:58] defined expectations and desired outcomes. Like I said, with the meeting, right? Like this is what

[00:20:04] is expected of us. This is what we're supposed to deliver. This is what good looks like. Uh, this is

[00:20:10] the, the tools, the resources, what training do you need? Right. Maybe you've got an idea, but you don't

[00:20:16] quite know how to execute it. Right. That's when me as your leader, as your manager, that's where my job

[00:20:22] comes in because you've come up with this wonderful idea, but maybe you just don't know how to get it

[00:20:27] started or what resources are available to you. That's when I come in. And so I am support. I'm

[00:20:34] guidance. We're checking in if it's a, uh, a, um, like a triage situation and we're fixing something,

[00:20:44] we're going to check in a whole lot more often than if it's something that is now in kind of

[00:20:49] maintenance mode, then maybe we're checking in monthly or bi-weekly on the status of this.

[00:20:55] If it's something really urgent in the beginning, maybe we're checking in every morning or every

[00:20:59] afternoon, because I want to make sure that you don't get to a point where you're going to go,

[00:21:03] you know, off the path and we're operating in parallel and you're not going to get to the

[00:21:09] desired result. And at the end of the day, people feel good about being trusted to use their

[00:21:18] education and experience and expertise to solve a problem.

[00:21:23] Yeah. You bring up the one word that I think is for me and for a lot of people,

[00:21:29] how you trust them when you are hiring, when you're hiring people and you're trying to build a business

[00:21:36] and you're delegating or trying to figure out, navigate through what to delegate and

[00:21:41] to, to what extent you do that without just making everybody do your job. It's like,

[00:21:47] you got to hire people that are smart and that you can trust and to trust them. You've got to give

[00:21:53] them the ability to prove that to you with making mistakes. But like you said, just being available

[00:21:59] to help people navigate through those, those decision-making steps. And, and so,

[00:22:06] you know, trusting people, I think that's, that's where we see not in, in my workplace,

[00:22:14] but I've heard, it's just like, people don't want all of their staff to be working from home

[00:22:19] because they may not trust them to do their job. So it's like, we want you in the office and it's

[00:22:25] going to make me trust you more. It's like, is that really going to make me, you know, feel like

[00:22:30] more trustworthy or not? Like, it's just so. But when I hear that, I think, you know, the thing in

[00:22:36] the princess bride, when it says, you keep saying that word, I don't think it means what you think

[00:22:40] it means. That is what I think when people say, well, I don't know if I can, if I can trust them.

[00:22:46] Do you not know if you can trust them or do you not know if you can trust you?

[00:22:49] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:50] Because the way that you establish trust is you set an expectation and the, and you

[00:23:00] do what you said you were going to do. So set an expectation with somebody, allow them to do what

[00:23:06] they said they were going to do. You don't have a work from home issue. You don't, I mean, it's not

[00:23:12] the geography of where the work is getting done. It's, are they self-directed? Can they do the work?

[00:23:17] Did you provide clear upfront specific language that was shared language, right? Like maybe

[00:23:25] somebody's newer to the organization and they don't actually know what you mean when you say

[00:23:30] whatever the company wide acronym is. And you've not established a relationship with that person and

[00:23:38] established safety with them that they even feel like they could ask. Right. And so then when they

[00:23:43] don't meet your expectations because they've not followed your predetermined, uh, script,

[00:23:51] which you, by the way, didn't give them a copy of, uh, then it leads to a lot of, um, you know,

[00:23:57] unmet expectations and frustration and all of that. When at the very beginning, if you would have said,

[00:24:03] this is what we need to do. This is the expectation. Um, you know, don't use acronyms that

[00:24:10] you're not certain are a household name. I mean, even things like, uh, in the benefits world,

[00:24:16] we all know that STD means short-term disability. No, it does not out in the non-benefits world.

[00:24:25] Right. I mean, I think 10 years ago in my career, I left a voicemail for someone about an STD claim.

[00:24:34] Uh, you better believe that person called me up and was like, um, I'm sorry, what are we talking

[00:24:39] about? And it's just a reminder. You need to have common language and be really clear up front

[00:24:45] of what your, what that end goal looks like. What is the expectation? Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you're

[00:24:51] supposed to hire five people by, you know, the end of next month. Then tell me your goal is to hire

[00:24:56] five people by the end of next month. Yeah. Don't tell me you want me to create some kind of

[00:25:01] strategy and do things on my own and, and give you, uh, what my vision is. If the actual goal

[00:25:09] is to hire five, just tell the person, Hey, yeah, our goal is hire five people. Okay. Now I would like

[00:25:15] to hear your strategy and how you would like to, you know, go about accomplishing that.

[00:25:24] I'm with Nicole Roberts, people solutions group. It's really, it's really fascinating that you

[00:25:30] bring up the communication because I think that goes beyond just delegating. I think it's, it's

[00:25:36] such a critical part for a leader or manager. So anybody that's in a managerial role, new to

[00:25:43] management, listening to this, if you are trying to focus on getting better in 2025,

[00:25:49] having clear communication, having clear expectations and trying to get to, to get a team member to take

[00:25:59] on more and delegate to them, it all works so well together and it can really make a huge impact on it

[00:26:06] and, and the impact of their improvement in progress and, and career growth. Because again,

[00:26:13] if you don't have clear communication, it's just, it's not going to end well. And that person may

[00:26:20] become frustrated. You might have a job opening because someone might leave because of your managerial

[00:26:27] style and how you did not communicate well. So that definitely is something that I've seen too,

[00:26:33] is just not clear communication. You have somebody delegating, but it's like every time you delegate

[00:26:40] something, someone shouldn't have 20 questions back and then they're questioning what they feel

[00:26:46] like is the right next thing to do. But then if it's like, well, what do they mean by that? Like,

[00:26:52] I have no idea. So what do I do? Do I go to somebody else? Do I ask the manager? Then will

[00:26:57] they get frustrated with me? So it's, it's really important to have that clear communication. So,

[00:27:04] so what impact do you think delegation has on fostering that innovation within a team?

[00:27:13] The best training that can just happen organically is having a team problem solve. I mean, you bring

[00:27:28] people in and they all have a different perspective, a diverse background, right? Like all from maybe a

[00:27:36] nonprofit or a public company, or, you know, I worked for a company that had 50 people. I worked

[00:27:42] for a company that had 500. I worked for one that had 10,000, right? There are so many different ways

[00:27:47] to approach a problem. And I mean, there's always new technology, right? I mean, I had never heard of

[00:27:54] monday.com when I joined Florida and I mean, they leaned into using it and I thought, Oh, well,

[00:28:00] this is, this is pretty cool. I like this. Likewise with, you know, scribe, I started using not that long

[00:28:05] ago. I mean, not even just from the tech side, but the different ways that people approach project

[00:28:13] management. I mean, some people, some people really want a Gantt chart. Some people really want,

[00:28:18] you know, like a Kanban board. Some people want, give me an Excel spreadsheet. So, I mean, it's

[00:28:23] all a matter of, it's not how you do it. It's, did you get to that end result? Did you stay in

[00:28:32] communication with people? And if you're bringing some new technology or process or system to the

[00:28:41] group, take the time and teach people what you're doing so that they can teach others.

[00:28:46] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's with technology changing and that's what for our team and what

[00:28:56] we do in the payroll technology world, it's like things are changing all the time and we have

[00:29:02] clients and customers that we communicate to about product updates and making sure they understand it.

[00:29:09] So there's not confusion. A lot of it is sensitive information that we have in a system. So making it

[00:29:16] secure, making sure people know the safety protocols and the security of it. So, you know, it, it comes

[00:29:22] with having to delegate to your team, having that communication and the why, and then having to

[00:29:29] potentially have that team member communicate it to a client. So it's like telephone. It's like,

[00:29:35] are they getting the same message that you gave to the team? So, you know, it, it, it can trickle

[00:29:41] down into other groups of individuals beyond just your team. So it's explaining the why it's making

[00:29:49] sure that those people understand what it is that you're trying to get across to them, whether it's

[00:29:55] training software changes, things like that, and just really making sure that they feel safe to make a

[00:30:04] mistake. Because I see that a lot. People don't want to make mistakes. And when they do, it's like,

[00:30:10] they don't want to say anything because they feel like they're going to get in trouble. So they'd

[00:30:13] rather just try to fix it themselves. And then it might become more of a problem.

[00:30:17] You can tell so much about the culture of an organization by the response to a mistake.

[00:30:25] Yeah. Definitely not going to name names, but we've all probably worked with a vendor

[00:30:30] in the past where, uh, a mistake happened and it is nothing but CYA. And the, you can tell that the

[00:30:41] person you're working with directly does not have safety to go above them and even above them to go

[00:30:49] and get help. When the first reaction to a mistake should be, how can we fix this? How can we help? Who

[00:30:55] can I get involved in this instead of hide, cover, don't let anybody know? I mean, you have got to bring

[00:31:04] light so that you can get help and get things remedied. And if it's not safe to make a mistake,

[00:31:11] it is immediately apparent by the way that somebody responds to whether it was a mistake, whether it was

[00:31:18] a glitch. I mean, it might not even have been a person mistake, right? It could have been a technology

[00:31:23] issue. And if that safety is not there, uh, it's not going to be resolved, even resolved in a timely

[00:31:29] manner because they're not going to talk about it. They're not going to get the resources that they

[00:31:32] need. Right. Yeah. So what are some practical strategies for overcoming the fear of delegation?

[00:31:44] Start small. I mean, if you've never delegated, uh, before, don't give somebody some,

[00:31:52] you know, big, start small, both from scope and also from, um, exposure, right? If you have the most

[00:32:02] important aspect of your job, that's probably not what you're going to delegate, uh, immediately. And

[00:32:08] also remember that you can delegate a task. You can delegate, um, something to deliver. You do not

[00:32:18] ever delegate the accountability and responsibility though, because you still own that. That still is

[00:32:23] going to, is going to fall back on you at the end of the day, which is, I think where people get tripped

[00:32:29] up with, well, but what if I, I delegate that to them and they do it wrong and then I have to redo it

[00:32:35] and what it's, well, then that's a learning opportunity. And you're checking in with somebody

[00:32:39] often enough, not in a micromanaging way, but in a way that you can help them course correct

[00:32:45] before you totally blow a deadline or before you, you know, have something. I mean, in very few

[00:32:53] instances, are there mistakes that happen that can't be corrected and can't be fixed, but you

[00:32:59] have got to stay close enough to it and not just say, oh, well, I delegated that. Now I'm going to go

[00:33:06] over here and do this. And if anybody has questions, just ask that person. It's like, no, you still have

[00:33:10] to be there and to support them and to make sure that they know that you have their back at the end

[00:33:17] of the day and that they can go to you with questions at any time and that they are not ever

[00:33:24] bothering you. And that is the most important part of your job is making sure that they are succeeding

[00:33:31] and that they feel supported in succeeding. Yeah. Yeah. It's when you have a manager that was not

[00:33:40] at one point a manager and they get promoted and then they're managing their peers. Yes. That's

[00:33:47] another level of, you know, it's a little bit more, what's the word? Difficult or challenging for that

[00:33:58] person because, you know, everybody has to start somewhere. You don't just wake up and become a

[00:34:04] manager of a team. So you get promoted or you leave a company and you go to a job that is

[00:34:12] a managerial role. You know, there's, there's challenges with both of them, but it's, it's

[00:34:17] definitely challenging when you have a team and then you get promoted because you did so well

[00:34:24] in that job. Now what? It's like, you got to delegate to be their manager. And it's sometimes

[00:34:32] very difficult for people. So it's kind of like, you don't really know what kind of manager that

[00:34:37] person might be until you actually put them in that role. Right. So, um, for, for people listening

[00:34:48] to this, you know, what, if you could give one good piece of advice to leaders, you know, that are,

[00:34:54] that are hesitant to delegate, you know, what kind of advice would you, would you give them?

[00:35:04] Be really transparent with your team. If you've not delegated before, and this is, you know, I mean,

[00:35:11] I don't want to say an experiment, but this is something that's new to you because it's new to

[00:35:14] everybody wants, right? Right. If it's something that's new to you, be transparent with your team.

[00:35:19] Yeah. If there is like, do the work with yourself on what is it that's causing me to be uncomfortable

[00:35:28] about this, right? Like same thing with approaching, um, conflict. Yeah. What is it about

[00:35:35] this conflict that is just eating me up inside and that I just don't feel comfortable with? And

[00:35:41] what do I need to do for me to overcome the discomfort with it? Yeah. Because if you're

[00:35:48] afraid to give somebody feedback, for example, so especially in delegation, you're going to give

[00:35:54] feedback at some point in time. If you have not done the work for yourself to overcome what it is

[00:36:00] that's making you uncomfortable with delivering conflict, then you are missing out on the opportunity

[00:36:06] to help that person be better. Feedback is always helping somebody's future behavior. It's not about

[00:36:15] being punitive about the past. And so when it comes to delegation, being very clear on what you're

[00:36:22] hoping to accomplish with it, right? Like I can only do the things I should only be doing the things that

[00:36:30] only I can do. If I have the luxury and the privilege of having more people available to help,

[00:36:38] then I'm going to teach them how to do some things and I'm going to empower them. And I'm going to make

[00:36:44] sure that they have the resources to be able to do things. And maybe it's something you don't even

[00:36:49] yourself know how to do, but it's something that's been asked of the team. Um, and you want to make sure

[00:36:55] that they know that, I mean, this is the budget, right? This is how long this is expected to take.

[00:37:02] This is how long you're going to be doing it because the other pieces, you don't just delegate

[00:37:08] and walk away. And then the person finds out, oh, well, I was only supposed to do that for a short

[00:37:14] period of time. And now they've taken it back and now we're both doing it. Yeah, exactly. Rachel said,

[00:37:20] yes. I, I think it was one of your other, uh, previous, uh, responses, but it was coming through

[00:37:28] on the chat. So I wanted to bring that up. So thanks Rachel for, for watching and adding that,

[00:37:34] uh, feedback. So yeah, I mean, it's, it's just, you know, one of those things that there's no perfect

[00:37:40] solution. There's no, you know, one size fits all to delegating or really who to put in a

[00:37:48] responsibility to delegate as a manager because I've, I've seen people get promoted that probably

[00:37:56] were not the best person to promote. And then that becomes a bigger problem because people are like,

[00:38:01] well, they got promoted and I probably are better at my job than they are. And now they are going to

[00:38:09] delegate stuff to me and I don't respect them. And it just, so it is an important piece to run in the

[00:38:16] business is to pick who, who to delegate, who to promote, who to transform into a different role.

[00:38:23] That's a little bit more of a leadership lead kind of, uh, position within a company, especially one

[00:38:30] that's growing and, you know, becoming a bigger organization than they were. So, um, you know,

[00:38:36] in your, in your experience, do you feel like there's one group of companies that have like

[00:38:44] more of a challenge than others? Is it companies that are growing quickly or is it companies that

[00:38:52] might've had the same managers for a decade? You know, what just people might watch this might be

[00:38:59] like, Oh, we might fit in that category. Yeah. The, the growing quickly. Yes. Because there's

[00:39:07] really not anyone who has probably been in a role to have full mastery and understanding, uh, of even,

[00:39:17] you know, how, how things work maybe in that piece of the business. Um, but also with growing quickly,

[00:39:23] it's exciting because you're all tackling challenges maybe for the first time together. Um, when somebody

[00:39:31] has been a peer for years and then all of a sudden they're the leader, that's where I see the greatest

[00:39:41] challenge because they showed up differently as an individual contributor than they do as a leader.

[00:39:47] Right. And their team might not be ready for that. Right. And they, uh, you know, you see definitely

[00:39:55] the, um, where somebody will be like, Oh, Hey, but you know, I mean, we've known each other for years,

[00:40:02] right? Like you can do insert whatever, bend the rules thing, uh, here, the person wants, and you

[00:40:10] just have to say, you know what? I really can't. Um, because you wouldn't appreciate it if I did that

[00:40:15] for that person. Right. It's not about, uh, fair. Cause fair means, I mean, first of all,

[00:40:21] the fair is in the summertime and there's funnel cake and they're like in, in business, we're not

[00:40:28] looking for fairness. We're looking for consistency. And so in that example, you know, I really can't do

[00:40:34] this because you wouldn't appreciate if I did that for that other person in the exact same or in a

[00:40:40] similar situation. But in the case of, um, you know, when you were talking before about working

[00:40:46] remote, well, why does so-and-so get to work from home and so-and-so doesn't? Well,

[00:40:51] maybe that aspect of their job. And if you were in that exact same situation, you would appreciate

[00:41:00] that same flexibility, right? Versus, well, that person has a public facing client facing role.

[00:41:08] They can't do that from home, unfortunately, you know? So it's, it's not about, oh, well,

[00:41:13] I can't let you do it. Cause I can't let you do it. That's not it. It's in this same set of

[00:41:18] circumstances, understanding that I can only make decisions with the information I have in front of

[00:41:25] me and available to me. This is what I would do. Yeah. Uh, Trinity said that has been insightful.

[00:41:33] Thanks for watching Tom thumbs up. Um, Rachel said it is so important to set these new leaders who have

[00:41:43] been ICs for a long time for success, just like you would for a brand new leader coming into the

[00:41:49] organization, a hundred percent. So sounds like you are connecting with these folks watching and, and

[00:41:57] helping them, uh, kind of understand better. So thank you, Rachel. Um, yeah, I mean, this has been

[00:42:04] really, really impactful to me because, you know, I'm in a smaller organization and I, I want to help

[00:42:10] our team and grow a group of people that, that really are going to have to delegate more. And there are

[00:42:19] some companies that just struggle with that. And I'm, I'm definitely not perfect at what I do. And I

[00:42:27] think there are definitely strategies behind every business to, to delegate better and make sure that

[00:42:33] the right people are in those roles to help delegate to their team. And, um, so people that are watching

[00:42:41] that have not talked to Nicole, you can go out to, uh, people solutions group, and there's a QR code on

[00:42:48] the screen to get to her information. If you want to connect with Nicole, you can go and get some, uh, assessment

[00:42:57] 30 minutes and talk to her. I'm going to pull that up as a QR code as well. So it's a, uh, just invite to her

[00:43:05] calendar, but obviously check out her services on people solutions group. And, uh, she's involved in a lot of

[00:43:14] different, um, you know, environments and you also do some stuff with hacking HR. I wanted to bring that

[00:43:21] up. You're still, you're the founding member of the hacking HR. So people that haven't known of

[00:43:27] hacking HR, what, what is that in a nutshell? So hacking HR started quite, quite some time ago,

[00:43:34] and I'm, I'm a founding member of, um, kind of a council for hacking HR. And so it's a, uh,

[00:43:41] expert council for hacking HR. And in the beginning, hacking HR was designed to be a global, uh, platform

[00:43:51] where people could get, uh, free or, or low cost resources for development, for connection. And so, um,

[00:44:03] I used to, and still try to, but don't have as much bandwidth as I used to, uh, moderate panels or, or I would,

[00:44:11] um, speak as part of a panel and, um, um, hacking HR not, not too long ago shifted and now actually has,

[00:44:19] um, entire learning tracks. Yeah. And there's also going to be an in-person event, uh, coming up. So

[00:44:27] that's very exciting. Oh, wow. But for me, the reason why I got involved in hacking HR and I was in

[00:44:37] Ohio SHRM and I was in CINCI SHRM and, um, the Forbes HR council and, um, I can't even remember

[00:44:46] them all right now, but the reason why I get involved in things like that is because I believe

[00:44:52] very strongly that there's at no point in time in my career, did I ever get to a place that was not as a

[00:45:03] direct result of some help from somebody else who'd come before me. And so it is our privilege and our

[00:45:12] honor that when you get to a certain level of, in your career, you need to turn around and help the

[00:45:17] people behind you. And so that's why I do so many volunteer leadership things. Clearly when I was

[00:45:23] fighting for my life, I didn't do that much, but, uh, back to, to doing more now that I'm approaching

[00:45:29] two years since, since diagnosis. Um, so yeah, that's, I mean, that's wonderful. Right. And just,

[00:45:36] just to comment on the, uh, the QR code for the 30 minutes. So when I, um, was diagnosed,

[00:45:46] they, the thing that had the most impact on me and, and just really spoke to my spirit was being able to

[00:45:54] meet with other people and help them. And so that 30 minutes is zero obligation for anything other than

[00:46:03] let's just chat and talk. And how can I help you? And my greatest strength is my network. So maybe I

[00:46:11] can learn something from somebody and then connect them to somebody else, um, in my network. And, uh,

[00:46:19] I know that there, it looks like maybe there was a little bit of a, a, uh, switch on the topic of my,

[00:46:28] uh, name and title and so forth. So I do want to address that. Uh, I know in the intro video,

[00:46:33] I said, hi, I'm Nicole Roberts, chief people officer of, you know, Jones League Management. And,

[00:46:38] um, my position was, uh, eliminated with Jones and I wish them the best. Uh, the decision was made

[00:46:45] to decentralize HR. And so there's not, um, you know, there's fortunately not a need for,

[00:46:51] for my role. Um, I'm very fortunate to have, um, the business and to have the relationship with HCI

[00:47:00] where I facilitate courses, but also I have more free time than I, than I normally do. So please take

[00:47:08] advantage of, of the 30 minutes. I would love to, uh, spend some time and, and talk to people that I

[00:47:13] probably haven't caught up with in, in quite some time. Cause I've been quite busy, uh, the last year,

[00:47:20] but, um, I, I just really want to be able to help in any way that I can. And I'm going to take this

[00:47:28] opportunity to, you know, give back and, and really just thank the HR community for as much as they loved

[00:47:36] on me and supported me over the last two years. Yeah, no, I, I think, uh, the HR community, just

[00:47:44] people I've met and people I've been introduced to folks like yourself and, and others that I've had

[00:47:49] on the show that have introduced me to other people. It's just been great. And so if, if there's

[00:47:55] anything that I can do, or if anybody watching that, that has not talked to Nicole or have,

[00:48:00] you know, understood what she does for her services, it's, it's an amazing list of services

[00:48:07] that next year you might want to focus on and, and talk to her about what they can,

[00:48:12] what, what, what you're going to do for them, you know, from a coaching perspective or leadership

[00:48:17] development. So it's obviously something that every business probably wants to spend more effort on

[00:48:23] and improving their team and their people. And so definitely reach out to Nicole. If you have not

[00:48:29] seen what she does, you can go to people solutions group.com and learn more or connect with her and

[00:48:36] get some information from her website or connect and have 30 minutes with her on, um, on your schedule.

[00:48:43] So, um, I appreciate everybody watching Nicole. You've been amazing. I am so glad we got you on

[00:48:49] before the end of the year. And, uh, is there anything you want to add before we jump off today?

[00:48:55] Um, the, the only comment that I want to make, cause we didn't address it directly is when you

[00:49:02] do go to delegate, make sure that you understand the people that you work with enough to know if

[00:49:09] they have bandwidth for it. The last thing you want to do is add to an already overflowing plate. So

[00:49:13] first and foremost, ask somebody, Hey, do you have availability, um, now to learn this,

[00:49:21] to do this and also make sure that it's safe, that if it's not the right season for them to be adding

[00:49:27] on more, that it needs to be okay to say not at this time, but I'd love to be considered in the

[00:49:32] future. Yeah, no, that's, that's very good to add because this end of the year stuff and people,

[00:49:39] especially in our world, this is our busy season, you know, end of the year tax W twos and everything

[00:49:46] that comes with the first of the year, the first quarter of the year. And, and, uh, and it's just

[00:49:51] very busy. So delegating right now during the holidays and trying to get things done may not

[00:49:58] be the best time. So just plan accordingly and, uh, try to make the delegation happen when,

[00:50:05] when there's better timing, maybe for people to branch out and learn more from, from you. So,

[00:50:11] um, and, and really be a mentor, be somebody that they can learn from. And I think my favorite

[00:50:16] managers have been people in my current manager, people that really want to be more than a manager

[00:50:22] for somebody, you know, not know everything about them like personally, but, you know, help them grow

[00:50:28] as a, as a person in their career and give them the opportunity to do that. So delegating can really

[00:50:33] help that. Um, well, I wish you all the best, Nicole. I hope you have a great holiday season.

[00:50:39] Hopefully we'll connect again next year. I'm sure you will stay busy with everything you have going

[00:50:44] on, but, um, it's been really nice to, to talk through this all. And I think, um, yeah, Sarah,

[00:50:51] thanks. Have a brilliant Christmas and all the best for 2025. It'll be an exciting year of new

[00:50:56] technology and who else, uh, you know, what else will come out with the new election finished and all

[00:51:02] the different policies and things that we'll all have to keep up on. So HR people will be, I'm sure, busy.

[00:51:10] Yes, I'm sure. All right. Well, we'll talk to you real soon. Thanks everybody for tuning in

[00:51:15] and have a great holiday season.