Key Components of Successful Delegation

Define the task
Confirm in your own mind that the task is suitable to be delegated. Does it meet the criteria for delegating?

Select the individual or team
What are your reasons for delegating to this person or team? What are they going to get out of it? What are you going to get out of it?

Assess ability and training needs
Is the other person or team of people capable of doing the task? Do they understand what needs to be done? If not, you can't delegate.

Explain the reasons
You must explain why the job or responsibility is being delegated as well as the reason for selecting a particular person to delegate to.  What is its importance and relevance? Where does it fit in the overall scheme of things?

State required results
What must be achieved? Clarify understanding by getting feedback from the other person. How will the task be measured? Make sure they know how you intend to decide that the job is being successfully done.

Consider resources required
Discuss and agree what is required to get the job done. Consider people, location, premises, equipment, money, materials, other related activities and services.

Agree on deadlines
When must the job be finished? Or if an ongoing duty, when are the review dates? When are the reports due? And if the task is complex and has parts or stages, what are the priorities?
Methods of checking and controlling must be agreed with the other person. Failing to agree on this in advance will cause this monitoring to seem like interference or lack of trust.

Support and communicate
Think about who else needs to know what's going on, and inform them. Involve the other person in considering this so they can see beyond the issue at hand. Do not leave the person to inform your own peers of their new responsibility. Warn the person about any awkward matters of politics or protocol. Inform your own boss if the task is important, and of sufficient profile.

Feedback on results
It is essential to let the person know how they are doing, and whether they have achieved their objectives. If not, you must review with them why things did not go to plan, and deal with the problems. You must be willing to accept the consequences of failure, as well as to pass on the credit for success.

For a related article on delegation,
see our publications below.

Interviews Tips - for Interviewers

• Make notes of the questions you intend to ask or you’ll forget them
• Decide the essential things you need to learn and prepare questions to probe them.
• Plan the environment - privacy, no interruptions, ensure the interviewee is looked after while they wait.
• Arrange the seating in an informal relaxed way. Don't sit behind a desk directly facing the interviewee - sit around a coffee table or meeting room table.
• Clear your desk, apart from what you need for the interview, so it shows you've prepared and are organized, which shows you respect the situation and the interviewee.
• Begin by explaining clearly and concisely the general details of the organization and the role.
• Ask open-ended questions - how, why, tell me, what, (and to a lesser extent where, when, which) to get the interviewee talking.
• Make sure the interviewee does 90% of the talking.
• Use 'How?' and 'What?' questions to prompt examples and get to the real motives and feelings. 'Why?' questions place more pressure on people because they suggest that justification or defense is required. 'Why?' questions asked in succession will probe and drill down to root causes and feelings, but use with care as this is a high-pressure form of questioning. Think about how your questions will make the interviewee feel. Your aim and responsibility as an interviewer is to understand the other person - not to intimidate, which does not facilitate understanding.
• High pressure causes people to clam up and rarely exposes hidden issues - calm, relaxed, gentle, clever questions are far more revealing.
• Probe the resume/application form to clarify any unclear points.

Give interviewees opportunities to ask their own questions. Questions asked by interviewees are usually very revealing. They also help good candidates to demonstrate their worth, especially if the interviewer has not asked great questions or there is a feeling that a person has for any reason not had the chance to show their real capability and potential.

For a related article on interviewing and hiring,
see our publications below.

Common Fundraising Mistakes

Fundraising is both an art and a science. If your fundraising revenues are static or declining, your organization is probably making one or more of these common fundraising mistakes:

• Lack of planning
• Repeating the same old fundraiser
• Not recruiting enough help
• Poor support materials
• Weak internal communication
• Lack of publicity
• Continuous fundraising

Mistake #1 - Lack of planning

Things haven't been thought through. Deadlines produce a crisis response. Nobody knows exactly what to do. Everything is a haphazard fire drill. Does any of this sound familiar?

Usually only a few people have the prior knowledge needed from the year before, so there's a bottleneck on information. That often produces the "suffering martyr syndrome" where the person in charge, who should have had everything planned well in advance, instead spends their time moaning about how overworked they are. Admit it, you know that person!

All of this can be avoided if the right preparations are made ahead of time.

Mistake #2 - Repeating the same fundraiser 

The same old fundraiser is done over and over again because that's what you've always done. The roles and responsibilities are well known, so it's a safe comfortable solution. Unfortunately, your supporters are probably sick and tired of it. Your volunteers probably feel the same way.

The typical result is flat to declining total revenue, not to mention all the missed opportunities. Have you ever looked at your old records to see what the average customer sale and average profit per sale were several years ago? It's a good bet that there's been little change.

The root causes of this fundraising inertia are lack of knowledge, fear of change, unwillingness to upset the status quo, etc. If you will take the time to expand your knowledge base, then you will increase your success.

Remember that your goal should be to maximize your revenue and increase your net every year, not to maintain a breakeven position. After all, the items and services your funds raised purchase have definitely risen in price over the years!

Even if it's just inflation, the things your funds will eventually buy get more expensive each year, so your net proceeds need to grow as well. Newer fundraising activities have come along that can increase your net results per customer by 25% or more.

Don't let your fundraising efforts achieve less than they could because they lack better direction.

Mistake #3 - Not enough help

Overworking your core volunteer group is a recipe for disaster. Good people who are willing to help your cause at no cost are hard to find. Why chew them up and spit them out?

Increase your volunteer base by defining all the roles and responsibilities. You should have written descriptions of what's expected from each support role. Make sure that it includes an accurate estimate of the time that position requires.

Break those volunteer time blocks into two, four, or eight-hour chunks. By defining how much time a support position requires, you increase the likelihood of a match with potential volunteers. Allow job sharing; that is, allow two people to sign up for one function and coordinate their own efforts.

Another way to avoid burning out your volunteers is to recruit for all positions at the beginning of the year. This requires having your master project plan for the year mapped out ahead of time. Offer signup sheets for this year's positions at your first group meeting. That's when people are the most receptive to the idea of pitching in, particularly if it's for a clearly defined amount of time.

Circulate flyers at every meeting for the remaining open positions. If necessary,
include a call for additional help in your newsletter.

Mistake #4 - Poor support materials

Having poor support materials is another problem. The quality of your presentation material is a reflection of your organization. Don't settle for brochures, presentations, or support materials that make your group look bad.

Mistake #5 - Weak internal communication

This manifests itself in many ways and severely hampers your fundraising efforts. Not giving clear direction to your team equals a lack-luster performance.

Revisit how your group passes along information. Design a system with multiple paths of communication. Eliminate bottlenecks in the flow of information. Leverage your website as a great source of specific data on everything your group is doing.

Mistake #6 - Lack of publicity

Advertising works. That's why you see so much of it. Put it to work for your organization by getting the word out in every possible fashion. Use flyers, posters, signs, media contacts, etc. to let people know what you are doing.

Publicity increases community awareness of your nonprofit organization and pays untold dividends. It will motivate additional participation, increase your volunteer pool, provide feedback, and give a method for communicating results.

Mistake #7 - Continuous fundraising

Another common mistake is doing too many fundraisers. The result is burnout of your volunteers, your participants, and their customers. You know your group is in trouble if you belong to the "Fundraiser of the Month" club.

Limit your group to two or three main fundraisers each year. Take the time to design the right approach that will maximize the results of each fundraiser. A well-conducted fundraiser can double the results of one that is poorly planned and executed.

Summary

Allowing these mistakes to continue within your organization is costing you extra time, lost revenue, lower profits, and it's eroding your support base. Root them out now.

Contact us today to see how TouchStone Business Systems
can help you address many of these mistakes