The art of successful delegation

How to delegate tasks to your team and free up your most valuable resource - time.

Delegation. It’s a hot topic for leaders. As we struggle to get through an immense workload, what we crave more than anything is more time. While delegating is a great concept, in reality it can be tough to do, especially if you’re a bit of a control freak. Just like networking is a vital business skill, so too is delegating.

Here are my top tips for mastering delegation so you can avoid burn out and create an empowered and productive team.

1. Understand what you are going to delegate and why.

It’s not a matter of handballing tasks that you don’t want to do. Delegating is about aligning a task with someone’s ability and providing them an opportunity to develop their abilities and confidence.

2.  Champion accountability.

A delegated task does not have a lesser value than the tasks you are completing yourself. The same level of accountability applies for everyone. It is vital that during the process of delegation, expected outcomes are clear and agreed.

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3. Empower your team to get it done.

It’s important that the person you have delegated to feels like they have a degree of authority and can ‘own’ the task. They need to be empowered to take the initiative, suggest ideas, and try innovative methods to get the job done. The foundation of this is trust – you need to trust that you have the right people on your plane and trust them to experiment but ultimately, deliver.

4. Acknowledge the effort.

Express your appreciation to the people who are sharing the workload, taking on new tasks then owning and completing them. They are exactly the kind of people you need on your plane (note: I’m not a fan of the bus analogy).

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5. Evaluate the impact.

With every business strategy, you need a way of evaluating its success. When it comes to delegation, you can’t just measure the time saved and whether the job was done to a high standard. You also need to look at impact on staff morale, confidence, innovation, learning, engagement, and professional and personal growth.

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To keep a plane flying, you have to keep refuelling it. To keep your company growing, you have to be continually delegating. If you need help improving your teams’ mindset and skills so you can confidently delegate, my senior leadership coaching could be the ideal solution. Through individual and group sessions, I will help your team think outside the square while appealing to their intrinsic motivation. My ‘Who’s on your plane?’ talk is also the ideal fuel for a team running on empty.

If you’d like to test drive my approach and techniques, I can also host a captivating and enriching workshop or seminar. It’s time to propel your growth in a distinctive and effective way. Book a call.