Friday, May 31, 2013

The Three R's of Delegation: Realism, Responsibility, Results

We had as many guests as Toastmasters at our 5th Thursday special event: The Three R's of Delegation: Realism, Responsibility, Results.

Toastmaster Janet Krenn led the workshop, aimed to help everyone improve their delegation skills and team success. We learned about the importance of communication and letting go in delegation.

Here are some of the key take aways from last night:

  • To delegate effectively, you need to transfer (1) a clearly explained task, (2) the responsibility for the task, and (3) the authority to use resources available and make decisions necessary to complete it.
  • Don't just delegate any task. Be thoughtful about whether something is worth delegating. If you can answer yes to any of the following questions, a task may be ripe for delegation:
    • Will the task help develop skills or utilize strengths in a team member?
    • Does another team member have the time to complete this task?
    • Is getting a result more important to me than having the process done my way?
    • Is this task on-going and routine so that I'll only have to explain the task once, but then I could rely on that team member to handle it every time?
  • Asking team members, "Do you understand?" isn't enough to ensure they really do understand the task they've been assigned. Instead, try to ask questions that require more than a yes/no answer to get your team member to demonstrate to you that they really do understand the task.
Thanks to everyone who came out last night to help make this 5th Thursday special event a success!

Friday, May 17, 2013

Speeches Only

Four members took us up on the All Speeches Day at our last Oyster Point Speakers meeting.

Christy Gardener acted as Toastmaster and gave the first speech of the evening, practicing a presentation she's planning to give at work about a new process for requesting and receiving funds.

Regina Gilliam completed her 4th speech with Oyster Point Speakers, and shared advice for how to take care of yourself when you're a care-giver for someone else.

Sumit Arora checked off speech number 9 last night--one more to go until he completes his Competent Communicator!!

Janet Krenn closed the meeting leading a discussion on how our club might do a better job of reaching out to the twenty-something crowd.

And the meeting would not have been so well managed, had it not been for Naomi Lewis who was our fantastic timer.

Thanks to everyone that made it out!

Announcement

  • May 30 is a 5th Thursday Special Event, and we're having a Delegation Skills Workshop "The Three 'Rs' of Delegation: Responsibility, Realism, Results." The workshop is free and open to all. Bring a guest, and meet us at El Tapatio in Newport News at 6:45pm.