Cal Wilson / April 1, 2021

By definition, you can’t be a team of one. Among the most important responsibilities of any leader is knowing how to make the most of their team’s strengths, and delegate the workload appropriately. Learning to master delegation will result in a better work environment for your entire team, whilst playing to every individual’s personal talent.

In this issue of the Pulse, we take a look at some of the important things to consider when you’re attempting to improve your delegation and workload management skills.

Know your team and your tasks

It’s important to conduct a proper analysis of your workload and your team’s capabilities. Some things really will be better if you’re the one doing them, and those are jobs you shouldn’t delegate if you don’t need to. However, many of your responsibilities might be better served by your colleagues or employees – especially if they can afford to put more focus on the task in question. It also might be important to analyze what responsibilities you can shift from one employee to another. Can you lighten someone else’s workload by positively challenging another?

Likewise, as a leader, it will be very beneficial to identify which tasks are time-wasters in your schedule. Someone less senior on your team can certainly take care of these, freeing you up for the work that can only be completed by you.

A mental inventory of your whole team’s strengths, weaknesses, and workload is crucial when being honest and analytical in the delegation process.

Be clear and effective when assigning work

When delegating work to other members of your team, it’s important that they have the proper instructions and expectations from the start. It is more efficient to take the time to give a thorough explanation, rather than troubleshooting or re-doing work later.

If you’re setting expectations for a co-worker without being fully transparent, it also has the potential to cause a rift in your working relationship.

Give and receive feedback authentically

After a task is completed, give constructive feedback to your team member. Did their initiative impress you? How could they improve next time? It’s also critical that you are receptive to their feedback. Did they feel overwhelmed by the task given, or were your instructions perhaps not clear enough? Keeping that open, authentic dialogue, and creating an environment where your staff feel safe to participate, will allow for a much more fulfilled workspace.

Consider implementing a digital solution

There are a myriad of different technologies dedicated to helping a team run effectively. Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Trello are just a handful of the tools you can utilize to delegate tasks to your staff, and to assure everyone remains accountable for the work they’re responsible for. Especially with staff working at home, a virtual platform dedicated to communication and teamwork is a no-brainer.

Avoid micromanagement

It can be hard to trust that anything is getting it done without your attentive supervision. But relax – trust that you made the right hiring and delegating decisions. Trust in your own abilities as a leader, and your team’s talent in their roles. If you set them up for success, believe that they can succeed. If they don’t, it’s a learning experience for all involved.

You work hard, and you deserve the benefit of knowing your team has your back. Hopefully these strategies can help your workplace and schedule thrive.

Cal Wilson / March 6, 2021

It can be hard to talk about disability and accessibility without perhaps being overwhelmed by the various intersections and varieties those terms encompass. What is accessible for one disabled employee might not cut it for another. While accessibility and disability might look different to each employee, client, or customer you encounter, the benefits to prioritizing their health and safety will positively impact your work environment for everyone.

Many workers with a disability function every day in an environment that was not designed for them. They do their work, meet their deadlines, and bring value to many businesses despite many social and structural obstacles set before them. However, the physical and emotional labor that goes into navigating an abled-centric world is exhausting, and can both negatively impact work and exacerbate disability. In order to prevent burnout, ableism, and continued hardship for your disabled employees, it is important to look beyond the legally mandated guidelines for accessibility, and truly focus on equity for individual employees as well as the culture of your workplace as a whole.

As a leader, it’s important that you look discrimination directly in the eye and make a concerted effort to face it down. Unfortunately, it’s not always so easy to see discrimination when it’s not happening directly to us, and while the culture surrounding workplace discrimination is gradually changing, it can still be extremely daunting for someone experiencing discrimination in any form to speak up. So how can you be proactive in order to best protect your employees?

RightHear, a company that focuses on accessibility tools and advocacy, offers advice to employers looking to make their environment more accessible. Two of their central suggestions are to “get educated” and “work as a team.” This might include taking sensitivity training, doing research, and simply being proactive about what might be a potential obstacle to a disabled coworker, rather than putting the burden of education on that coworker.

How can you make sure that you’re being accommodating to all your employees, regardless of whether or not they live with a disability? First, you can take the time to simply examine the layout of your building. Where might hallways be too narrow, or furniture be obstructive, to an employee who uses a mobility aid? Is your equipment usable by employees who are vision or hearing impaired? Is your sick day policy practical for employees with mental illness? You can undertake this inventory of your environment and company culture with the collaboration of your whole workforce.

Reconsider the concept of “normal” in the workplace:

Annika Konrad is a disability researcher and advocate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In a 2018 publication in Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, Konrad said, “all professionals need to actively question what has been assumed as ‘normal’ in workplaces and view ability as a multifaceted, embodied quality that manifests itself in different forms in different bodies…” In other words, ability looks different for everyone, and your workplace culture should reflect the needs and strengths of the people who bring it to life, rather than normative, often ableist, expectations.

An emphasis on community learning and a cultural shift towards accessibility in your workplace will be healthier for all your employees, not just the ones who have visible or disclosed disabilities. Compassion, empathy, and respect are integral values in a teamwork environment, as well as in practicing accessibility. This won’t only assist you in hiring the best person for the job, but it is also important in order retain your talented employees. Practicing proper accessibility in your workplace is not just beneficial, but vital to the health of your business.

Joe Weppler / February 6, 2021

When we’re sick and tired of the drawing board, it can be tempting to tell ourselves that all the good ideas have been taken. As far as scapegoats go, it’s a strong one – or it would be, if it were true.

While it’s fair to say that niches can be oversaturated and innovation can be difficult, the truth is that there is no such thing as a perfect idea. There is nothing that can’t be improved, somewhere or somehow, no matter how much time or money has been spent workshopping the concept.

That’s why, instead of deciding that there’s no possible way to make a contribution, you should instead embrace your bad ideas and identify the small breakthroughs that come with them.

Imagine your favourite novel. Do you think that, within that novel, you could find a single sentence to rewrite that would make it better? How about a whole paragraph?

It’s easy to say no – after all, the book was likely written by a professional author, edited by a professional editor, and proofed and re-proofed several times before being published. But then again, nothing is perfect. Given enough time, a different perspective, or one of a host of many other parameters, you could probably find a sentence in that book that you could improve.

This is innovation in its rawest form – the reason being that it’s much easier to tweak something than it is to make something new. In fact, most ideas that solve a new problem are usually a combination of existing ideas – many of which might seem bad to begin with on their own.

By focusing on the lessons that bad ideas teach us, we use them as stepping stones to find our path towards the outcomes we’re seeking. There are several ways to help us do this.

Think of ideas as strategies, not solutions: Reframe the idea in your mind as your current, best strategy for dealing with a problem. The next iteration might be drastic or barely noticeable – but never final.

Resist the urge to reset: The next time you run into an issue that seems like the death of your idea, challenge yourself to push just a little further than you normally would. Even if you can’t find a solution, you might find an adjacent thought worth your time.

Watch and Listen: A so-called final decision should not turn you deaf and blind to the alternatives. The information that comes along after a decision could result in the next great version of your idea – but only if you keep your ears open.

Of course, in business, we often don’t have the time to make a bad idea good. Big, established companies are obsessive in their pursuit of finding good ideas to develop, and will quickly abandon what is deemed as a bad idea in order to save on resources. However, entrepreneurs often approach ideas and initiatives differently. They’re more willing to work the problem, often for much longer than a large company would find acceptable.

By seeing bad ideas not as a waste of time, but instead as a tool for discovering greater opportunities and learning important lessons, you might just find that small breakthrough that leads to your next great idea.