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Hello Everyone, Welcome to our presentation. Today, we are
going to talk about the PAR model of delegation as described in the book “The Business Coaches
Toolkit” by Stephen G. Fairley and Bill Zip.
A leader’s ability to delegate tasks will strongly affect a team’s productivity. When
a leader “over supervises”, initiative and creativity are stifled and team members
spend more time avoiding their manager than accomplishing tasks. When a leader “under
supervises”, team members become frustrated with the lack of leadership and direction.
This results in weak performance due to confusion, poor task definition, inefficient use of resources,
and improper skill matching. The Par approach to delegating is a tool that
can help managers provide the appropriate level of supervision to their team. The elements
of Par are Plan, Authorize and Review. Planning the work is to identify the what,
the who and the when but not the how. All three questions seem elementary but such questions
often become complicated when a complex project must be completed by multi-faceted team.
In a perfect world, a leader will facilitate the creation of a project plan that clearly
defines the boundaries between each task and then assigns resources. Thus, overlap is avoided
and everyone is moving forward in a positive manner. Additionally, when tasks are formally
assigned, it is easier to confirm that the proper skill set is matched with the proper
task. Finally, when employees know when their tasks are due, expectations are clearly defined
and they have the knowledge to appropriately prioritize their work.
The leader should facilitate the plan development but not dictate it. When the team is involved
in the planning process, team members feel more “buy in” and are more likely to take
ownership of their tasks. Additionally, a leader is likely to uncover issues that may
never be considered without the team’s input. However, it is up to the team leader to make
and clearly communicate the final decisions. When it comes to determining how the work
is completed, it is not a bad idea to foster some discussion on how to do the work because
best practices may come to light and inexperienced employees may gain direction. However, when
an employee shows task mastery, letting them make the final determination of the how provides
the appropriate level of independence and avoids micro management pitfalls.
The A in PAR stand for authority. Once the project plan is complete, it is important
that team members understand of their level of authority. The levels of authority are:
1) gathering information, 2) completing a task with collaboration or 3) executing a
task independently. The authority to gather information is often
appropriate when a team member is just building the required skills. For example, a new salesperson
might be authorized to gather information and write a phone script but then is required
to have their script reviewed by the team leader.
The collaboration authority level is when a team member is authorized to act after they
check in with the team leader. This type of authority is appropriate when team members
are working on co-dependent tasks that require coordination. This level of authority is also
appropriate for team members in the intermediate stages of training. For example, the new salesperson
might be authorized to make 20 calls with her script and then check in with the team
leader. The highest level of authority is the ability
to execute without any team leader intervention. This level of authority is appropriate for
experienced and skilled employees. Such employees will often feel smothered with too much intervention.
Additionally, it is often not an effective use of the team leader’s time to have too
many check points for such employees. R in the PAR model stands for review. During
reviews, team leaders must hold employees accountable for quality work, completed in
a timely manner within the task parameters. Even for employees that are authorized to
execute, it is important for the team leader to review the results of their work. Check
points help employees feel valued and provide a natural time to ask for guidance. Additionally,
check points help leaders know their employees are completing their tasks as defined. When
tasks are not being completed appropriately, check points allow leaders time to reorganize
the work before lack of performance becomes a crisis.
Different levels of employees need different amounts of review. When tasks are assigned
appropriately, the more junior employees will have smaller tasks and more frequent check
points. More skilled and experienced employees can take on larger, more complex tasks with
less frequent check points. Check points may range from a casual conversation to a formal
meeting with a written review. Thanks for viewing our presentation. If you
have enjoyed this presentation, please look for the other presentations from the Business
Coaches Toolkit on our website. Good luck with your business coaching certification