Episode 29 - Getting Things Done Through Others

Lou Quinto (00:18):

Hi, welcome to Q and A on Breakthrough Leadership. I'm Lou Quinto and I'm Craig P. Anderson. The topic that we're going to cover today is in today's episode is going to be getting things done through other people and what we'll do is we're going to talk about three areas as usual. The first one is going to be forming the right team when it comes to getting things done. You have the right, the right people in place. Second thing that we'll talk about is how to delegate to be able to get those things done. And then the last area that we're going to talk about is how to follow up and correct in order to make sure things are getting done properly. So Greg, why don't you talk to us about forming the right team when it comes to getting things done through

Craig P Anderson (00:57):

Right. Well, you know, you know I've mentioned before I worked with a lot of new leaders and it's really a challenge because you've been a great company has always looked at their best independent contributors and say, or

Craig P Anderson (01:08):

We're going to make you a leader. And then they say go lead and, and you know, you might not have that same skill set. So, but when you do get into that role, you've got to figure out what the right team is. You may inherit a team, you may be building a team per special project, but you really want to try and find people who compliment you. You love the subject matter that you need people who can compensate for your weaknesses perhaps in certain things. So it's really important as you're thinking about this project or this team you've inherited as a team, you're going to build, who do I need audit? What kind of, you know, where do I want to go?

Lou Quinto (01:39):

Yeah. And I always say apply good critical thinking skills is take the project, whatever it may be, the task that needs to be done. You're putting this team together for and literally write down so that you can visually see it. Write down the individual tech expertise that you're going to need. So that this way what you're doing is when you're selecting people to be on the team, it's not like you know, throwing a party. The more the merrier. You want to have the right people involved in that team. And so if you can go through and look at the competencies that are going to be needed and the expertise that's going to be needed to accomplish a particular project, it's good to select those people based upon what you actually need. And this is a good place to let interpersonal skills or favoritism, let that take a back seat first.

Lou Quinto (02:22):

Let's get the right people in the room to be able to accomplish a task. So I always say when it comes to getting things done through other people, you need to make sure you have those right people there. Okay. The second area we're going to talk about is when it comes to getting things done through other people and important area, how to delegate. And perhaps maybe this is a, an area that we want to expand a little bit more and do a do a future episode just on delegating, but talk to me a little bit about how to delegate.

Craig P Anderson (02:50):

Yeah, sure. Well, delegation is you, you can't do it all yourself again. Maybe you're used to doing that, but on a big project, you can't possibly do all of it unless you want to work 90 a hundred hours week. Right? Right. So you've got to figure out a way to be very clear about, you know, what it is we're trying to do, what's the mission of the team, right? So everybody kind of is on the same page about what we're doing. Be clear in your head about what it is you're asking to be done and what the deliverable is so that you can make sure they understand and make sure you have that conversation to say that, all right, you understand what I'm looking for? Okay, great. And then it's follow up and you're going to learn over time. Is that somebody I have to follow up with and check in on frequently and for ugly maybe just once or maybe just at the end of the project, it's going to be your job as the leader of the team to figure out where is everybody at on that spectrum of how often I have to touch them.

Lou Quinto (03:36):

Yeah. In what you've just described is also a little bit about understanding coaching too. When it comes to delegating. If you've delegated for a reason, perhaps that you want to give someone an experience and train them a little bit more than your delegation of that task may require a lot more time as opposed to giving it to somebody that has the expertise and right off the bat they know what to do. They, they're going to get into it and they're going to get it done. And so therefore you don't need that particular time. But what you really need to do is when it comes to delegation is you need to one, look at those things on your plate that you know other people can do. And perhaps again, whether it's for personal development, whether it's because they have the expertise, they have the competencies that are bigger and stronger than yours.

Lou Quinto (04:20):

Beef, feel free to delegate. Most of us, as you said, we don't delegate because we don't want to give things off of our plate for whatever reason possible. The third area we're going to talk about is how to follow up and it had a correct. Okay. When it comes to getting things done through other people, there has to be constant follow up. Particularly if you've delegated things, you need to make sure that milestones had been set. You need to make sure that the guidelines authority has been [inaudible] has been implemented and then if things go wrong, again, everything's not static. When you need to do is you need to be able to correct those things before a pinch turns into what I call a crunch,

Craig P Anderson (04:57):

Where now a lot more people are involved and you're wasting a lot of time. Well, I think too, it's, it's important to follow up and when you have a team that you're leading is having regular check ins because sometimes it's you need to help them kind of get moving faster, but it's also as your job as the leader to say what's in your way and is it, is it other people on the team or are you held up because you need something else from someone else on the team and it's your job to resolve those, those differences. [inaudible] Status update meeting say could happen in status updates. Perhaps that's another topic for another time. There you go. There you go. So, but it's important too to make sure you're checking in that they have the support they need, they have the resources they need and that they're doing that they're on track and they're on task. So, so there's a lot of things you could do and then correct. You know, make the corrections but also praise the positive. Right, right. Fine. Catch people doing things right. Say, Hey, that's really great what you're doing. Or if you're ahead of schedule, make sure you pay attention to that. Because nobody wants to boss or the leader who’s only pointing out your flaws, right? So most people already see them and they really want to get beat up. But very few people point out the positives. So that's another key piece in the follow up.

Lou Quinto (06:02):

Yeah. And the other thing too is the conversation when it comes to follow up is don't ask the question what's going wrong or where are problems? That's not a good way to start this conversation. Going back to what you say is catch people doing things right. I'll start off the conversation by asking them what's going, what's going well so that this way they start to think in the positive. And so do you, and so that this way, when the problems do come up, you've already uncovered a lot of things that are positive that you can work through with them. So these are some things in that conversation that you need to pay attention to. So key takeaways. Craig, what did we learn?

Craig P Anderson (06:34):

Well, I think the key takeaway is getting things done through others is not something that you're just going to be great at. Right off the bat. You have to really think it through and going through some of these steps about, you know, thinking about what delegation means for you. Thinking about the follow up process and the check in process. You know, this is something, it's a skill that you're going to develop over time and how you do it the first time you've got a team that you've got to manage is going to be very different as you get better at it over time of how you're going to do it down the road. Right. So realize these are all learning experiences and pay attention to the details and pay attention to the lessons.

Lou Quinto (07:04):

Yeah. Yeah. And we're getting things done through other people. Everyone's got their own specialty, everyone's got their own niches that they, that they thrive in and being able to get accomplish things that need to be done, which you need to do is you need to provide those people that have the experience and have the competencies with the tasks that they are most equipped to handle. And that is probably one of the most important things and getting things done through other people is make sure that the right people are in place. And so, it goes back to what I said, don't put together that team for that project and just pulling in friends, because sometimes those friends aren't going to work out. You need to look at the competencies, the expertise that's needed, and you need to match those with those people. And you'll find that you get a lot more things done through other people.

Craig P Anderson (07:50):

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Q and A on Breakthrough Leadership. If you enjoy the video and our content, please like, subscribe and share it with your friends, especially the ones who are newer leaders in taking on teams for the first time. You can check out our video blog on QALeadership.com or if you'd rather listen to it strictly on the audio version, we’re available on all major podcasting platforms if you just search for Q and A on Breakthrough Leadership. So until next time, I'm Craig Anderson

Lou Quinto (08:13):

And I'm Lou Quinto.