{"id":1548,"date":"2019-10-08T12:14:15","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T11:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/?p=1548"},"modified":"2025-10-22T15:17:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:17:01","slug":"being-your-boss-a-view-from-the-other-side-of-the-desk-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/2019\/10\/08\/being-your-boss-a-view-from-the-other-side-of-the-desk-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Being your boss: A view from the other side of the desk #2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Being your boss: A view from the other side of the desk #2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/82\/2019\/10\/delegator.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1549 alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/82\/2019\/10\/delegator-300x213.jpg\" alt=\"pins delegating pins\" width=\"300\" height=\"213\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/82\/2019\/10\/delegator-300x213.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/82\/2019\/10\/delegator-302x215.jpg 302w, https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/82\/2019\/10\/delegator.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Debbie Pye is our Application Adviser and has written this excellent series of three blogs looking at the viewpoints of business leaders hiring graduates and placement students. The last part in the series will be published next Tuesday. Y<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/2019\/10\/01\/being-your-boss-a-view-from-the-other-side-of-the-desk-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ou can find the first blog entry here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>2<em>. How to help your boss be a great delegator<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the first <em>Being Your Boss<\/em> blog, we looked at the value both to you and your manager of being effective at asking for and receiving feedback. Now let\u2019s see how and why you can\/should help your boss to delegate tasks and responsibilities to you.<\/p>\n<p>The problem that many of my leadership coaching clients have is that <em>they are just too nice!<\/em> They feel guilty about \u201chanding things off\u201d to their staff as they know that they are busy too. But there are other reasons why managers don\u2019t delegate well:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They don\u2019t think other people can do something as well as they can (<em>perfectionists)<\/em><\/li>\n<li>They like to know in minute detail literally everything that\u2019s going on in their team\/department (<em>micro-managers)<\/em><\/li>\n<li>They\u2019ve had bad experiences in the past where they have delegated something important and it\u2019s gone pear-shaped <em>(bruised and nervous)<\/em><\/li>\n<li>They have never been trained in how to delegate effectively (<em>uneducated)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So what\u2019s in it for<u> you<\/u> if your manager delegates effectively to you?<\/p>\n<p>Well for a start it\u2019s much more pleasant working for a boss who isn\u2019t stressed out because they are feeling overwhelmed with work \u2013 they are more likely to have time for you when you need help or mentoring. In addition, if your manager has weeded out their \u201cto do list\u201d they will be able to focus on developing your team as a whole. Everyone prefers working in a team that has a great \u201crep\u201d in the organisation. But ultimately if you are given new and stretching tasks by your manager this is going to be a great opportunity for you to develop your skills, add to your portfolio of experience and enhance your CV.<\/p>\n<p>So how can you help your boss delegate to you?<\/p>\n<p>My colleague coach and author Simon Tyler writes about the art of delegation in his book <em>\u201cThe Simple Way\u201d<\/em>. In the section on the \u201c3-4-3\u201d strategy he coaches leaders to delegate the three things that drain them, or about which they prevaricate. This frees up time and energy to focus on the top three aspects of their role that they love and at which they are uniquely brilliant. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PDfSVoCQZDI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Watch him explaining it here.<\/a>\u00a0The really cool thing about this is that your <em>boss\u2019s<\/em> bottom three tasks \u2013 which drain<em> them<\/em>- could well be things that are in <em>your<\/em> top three! It really is a win-win because you get to stretch yourself, try new things, meet new contacts in the business which you wouldn\u2019t have done if your manager had tried to do it all themselves.<\/p>\n<p>So once you are settled in your lovely new job or placement, exercise that empathy muscle again and think about what your boss might have on their plate which you could take on. Then help them delegate it to you effectively (avoiding the micromanager\/bruised and nervous\/uneducated approach) by:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Agreeing very explicitly <em>what<\/em> you will be doing; specific outcomes\/deliverables etc. How will you know when you have done enough\/what is expected?<\/li>\n<li>Agree together <em>when <\/em>it should be completed by \u2013 ideally both of you make a note.<\/li>\n<li>Agree together <em>how <\/em>you should tackle it \u2013 on your own? With others? Big picture approach? Or lots of detail? You get the picture.<\/li>\n<li>Finally make sure you have agreed \u201ccheck-in\u201d times in the diary so that you can discuss progress, problems and questions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>One day when you are in charge of your own team you will have this delegation thing sorted\u2026unlike many of my clients<em>!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0Next time the \u201cView from the other side of the desk\u201d looks at how to help your boss motivate you and keep you in their business.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being your boss: A view from the other side of the desk #2 Debbie Pye is our Application Adviser and has written this excellent series of three blogs looking at the viewpoints of business leaders hiring graduates and placement students....<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":827,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[748],"tags":[505,504,506,509,170,503,510,283,511,423],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","tag-business-communication","tag-business-leader","tag-corporate","tag-delegating","tag-feedback","tag-graduate","tag-managing-up","tag-placement","tag-self-management","tag-transferable-skills"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/827"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}