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Welcome to this week’s episode of the HRDQ-U In Review Podcast, where we bring you the latest insights and practical tools for enhancing soft skills training in your organization. This podcast is brought to you by HRDQU.com, and I’m your host, Sarah, Learning Events Manager here at HRDQ-U. And today we are joined by Bill Ryan to discuss the webinar, The CLEAR Method: Mastering the Art of Delegation.

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Now, before we dive in here, make sure you subscribe to our newsletter at HRDQ.com for exclusive updates, upcoming webinars, and resources to help you and your team excel. Bill, welcome. Thanks so much for joining me today. Thanks, Sarah. Pleasure to see and hear you again. Now, let’s kick things off here with an introduction. Can you share a little bit about who you are and what you do? Certainly. For over 25 years, I’ve been fascinated by one question.

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and that is how do we create extraordinary connection and performance when people and teams aren’t in the same room? Now I’ve been a CIO and a CLO, so I kind of bring a unique blend of instructional design, technology tools and platforms, and then how it ties into performance. But for the last 10 years, I’ve been the principal strategist and founder of Ryan Consulting, and I work with organizations to rethink their leadership and talent strategies.

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to thrive in remote and evolving workplaces. And I kind of focus on aligning people, purpose, and process to help make sure that they understand how they’re together, they bring into an impact into the performance and improving their performance. So I kind of try to help them craft strategies to ensure that the teams and the organizations excel and we’re learning as a strategic business tool. And what changes or trends are you seeing in the learning and development space right now?

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I’m seeing a really kind of unique set of powerful transformations shaped by both technology and a shifting workforce expectation. One of the most compelling changes I’m seeing is the re-emergence of just-in-time learning. Those kind of experiences that are delivered at the moment of need, know, directly in the flow of work. And the idea here is that I’m seeing an increased emphasis on designing accessible, contextual learning that supports agility and confidence in real time. I’m also seeing a redefinition of what it means to be a leader.

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Leadership development is no longer reserved for executives. I’m seeing it go down to individual contributors, the leader at all levels. Forward-thinking organizations that I’m working with are equipping their people with skills like strategic thinking, peer coaching, and influence-building skills. And this focuses on the idea that I think companies are recognizing that impact can come from any level. Another evolving dimension that I’m seeing is the role of AI. We all have to, everybody has to say something about AI.

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But where I’m seeing it come in is not only about from a content creator, but as a thought partner and a co-designer of learning. I’ve been working with some instructional designers to use AI to prototype modules, personalize content, and refine communication for clarity and emotional resonance. And it’s helping teams iterate faster, but also to stay human focused. And the final thing I’m kind of seeing is mentorship. I think it’s experiencing a renaissance because

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we’re still seeing a lot of remote and hybrid work. And how teams connect and how people work together across time and distance is really crafted by the support that a mentor can bring. And I think this is a strategic lever, not just for skill building, but it builds trust, impacts retention, and creates psychological safety across these generations that are working together. All of these things point to one thing. from my perspective, learning is no longer just a support function.

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It’s a catalyst for performance culture and strategic growth. And I’d love to just take a second here to do a bit of an overview of the webinar that you presented, the clear method mastering the art of delegation. Can you share the key takeaways were from this webinar for our attendees at this event? There were five key points with the clear method. And the first is that clarity isn’t optional. It’s foundational. Delegation starts with clearly defining outcomes.

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People have to know how you describe and define success. And you have to conclude the expectations because without it, teams waste energy decoding instructions instead of executing them effectively. The second was that letting go is leadership. It’s not laziness. We explored how effective delegation requires leaders to release control while staying accountable for impact. And that’s a mindset shift that empowers growth across the team. The other part was evaluation isn’t about micromanagement.

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You and I had a chance where we looked at the strategies for thoughtful check-ins and using feedback loops to enable course correction. And it wasn’t about controlling people, but it was allowing the idea that they had the chance to have interactions and chances to reflect on the actions that were taking place at the time. The fourth was that alignment fuels autonomy. Delegation works when there’s an alignment of people across purpose, priorities, and processes. And the last thing they kind of struck out was that roles matter.

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but influence drives results. We discussed how delegation isn’t just about distributing tasks, it’s about empowering others to lead through influence, even if they don’t hold formal authority. And now in your experience, what delegation challenges does the clear framework most effectively address in today’s workplace? I think one of the key things it addresses is the idea that a lot of leaders delegate tasks, but they don’t delegate

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and define what the outcomes are. So this kind of addresses vague expectations and the ambiguity sometimes. The CLEAR method really focused on reinforcing the need for clarity, defining success, constraints, and purpose upfront. In today’s hybrid and distributed environments, you know, got to amplify the temptation to micromanage. And CLEAR helps leadership from control to empowerment. And it gives team members the room to solve problems, make decisions.

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and take ownership for the work that they are doing and being held responsible for. The other part came into the idea of intentional evaluation. Without this kind of chance to stop and look, delegation can kind of stall. People are just doing things in rote. And CLEAR introduces a structured feedback loop that normalizes course correction and elevates psychological safety for the members of the team. And then CLEAR helps match the right person to the right task.

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at the right time. And this comes back to aligning priorities, aligning skills, and aligning people back to the purpose to impact their performance. And finally, CLEAR encourages leaders to delegate based on the networks of trust and influence and not just titles. And I think that’s an approach that’s very, very relevant right now in these agile teams and collaborative cultures that we’re facing. So now, which part of the CLEAR model tends to be the most difficult for leaders to put into practice and why?

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I think for many leaders, it’s the idea that letting go with accountability is really, really hard. You know, there’s a delicate balance between trust and oversight and, you know, a lot of leaders equate control with responsibility. The clear method reframes that. A delegation doesn’t mean abandoning ownership, but rather distributing leadership to all levels through trust.

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And do you have any tips on how organizations can integrate the CLEAR framework into their leadership development or performance management programs? The CLEAR method ties into performance management processes very cleanly. You start by using CLEAR principles when you’re defining roles and responsibilities and performance plans. It comes back down to clarifying outcomes, what the scope of authority is, roles and responsibilities, even the check and cadence. And then you align performance reviews with the CLEAR’s evaluation component.

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Was the delegation clear? Was feedback timely? Was it growth-oriented? And you can embed clear into developmental check-ins by asking people things like, what tasks are you ready to take on? Where could you delegate more effectively to build team capacity? And finally, recognize that leadership is not just task completion, but it’s the ability to delegate, empower, and influence others. And all of this makes the CLEAR method something that you can use to measure with confidence.

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So then what advice would you give leaders who hesitate to delegate out of fear of losing control or a lower quality product? That’s a great question. know, many leaders hesitate to delegate because they worry about, you know, letting go means losing influence or authority or even relevance. But delegation done through the clear method does the opposite. It reinforces leadership by expanding impact. I would stress to a hesitant leader that with clarity, you don’t vanish from the process.

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You define it, use shape outcomes, set boundaries and ensure strategic alignment. And that’s real authority at work. In the evaluation component, oversight becomes intentional. The leader remains visible, not as a bottleneck, but as a guide supporting accountability through meaningful feedback and connection. And I’d show a hesitant leader that when they delegate, they’re really elevating others without diminishing themselves. I believe authority grows when leadership is shared, not hoarded.

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And the final step in the CLEAR model is review and reflect, which I think sometimes can fall off of people’s radar. So how can leaders make that a habit instead of an afterthought? Yeah, you’re right. Many treat reflection like a postmortem, something you do only when things go wrong or at the very, end of a project, you know, if you have a little bit of extra time. And what the CLEAR method does is it reframes it as a continuous feedback rhythm that’s vital to the delegation’s success. So every part.

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you included into it. To make it a habit, though, I recommend building it into the entire workflow. And you add reflection checkpoints at key steps, such as weekly meetings, team strategy sessions, and project debriefs. And normalize the pause. I mean, allow people the chance to reflect. Because out of that, you can ask questions. reframe your questions. Instead of saying, worked or what went wrong, instead say, what surprised you?

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What resource did you find that was useful or unexpected? Because it’s not just about evaluating performance. It’s about extracting insight. And finally, Bill, where can leaders go to learn more about your work or continue this journey of leadership growth? Well, I welcome everyone to visit my website, www.WilliamJRyann.com. All one word.

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And if you scroll down, there’s an ebook resource center. And I have expanded this webinar that we did into an ebook. It’s free and there’s some other ones there too. And you can also check other free resources. Like I have a learning ideas catalog, for example, that you can pick up and take a look. And while you’re there, check out my past work or schedule a meeting with me. And I’d welcome the opportunity to continue the conversation. So you can drop me an email at bill at WilliamJRyan.com. Well, thank you, Bill, for your time today.

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I appreciate it very much, Sarah. It a great opportunity. I enjoyed the webinar. I hope everybody goes and checks that out again. Yes. And if you have yet to check out the webinar or you’d like to take a look for a refresher, just for some more great information on the clear method here, make sure that you click the information below. We will have that linked in the description here.

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of the episode page so you can check that out. You definitely don’t wanna miss it. And we hope you enjoy listening to the HRDQ-U In Review Podcast, available on all major streaming platforms. If you did enjoy today’s episode, make sure to give us a follow and leave us a five-star review. That’s how we’re able to continue to produce this weekly content for you. And thank you all for tuning in to this week’s episode of the HRDQ-U In Review Podcast, brought to you by HRDQU.com.