A lot of people make delegating look so easy-but handing off tasks effectively requires a lot of trust, communication, and coordination.
Why Is It Important to Delegate?
As a leader, delegating is important because you can’t—and shouldn’t—do everything yourself. Delegating empowers your team, builds trust, and assists with professional development.
“Delegation can also be a clear sign that you respect your subordinates’ abilities and that you trust their discretion”
Why Leaders Fail to Delegate
While the benefits of delegating are obvious and plentiful, many leaders still fail to delegate effectively. The reality is that there are several misconceptions about delegating that can make some leaders wary of handing off work to others. Leaders often mistake delegation for passing off work. While the tasks might be handled promptly, it strays them away from more important things they really should be pouring their energy on.
How to Determine When Delegating is Appropriate
A famous business strategist recommended auditing your tasks using the 6T’s
- Tiny – if there are little things that pile up over time
- Tedious – mindless tasks such as copy and pasting information
- Time-Consuming – tasks that can be broken down into smaller chunks and delegate proportions. (Divide and conquer! As one of my stronger managers used to tell me)
- Teachable – tasks that may require teaching another person a new skill to get that task done
- Terrible at – not everyone can do everything and that’s okay! If another person can do it 5 times faster than you, then you should allow that person to do it
- Time-Sensitive – If your plate is full and something that requires your immediate attention adds up to the pile, delegating the less time-sensitive tasks may be better.
To Delegate Tasks Effectively
It is important to choose the right person for the job – A person known to be collaborative may be a good benchmark.
Explain why you are delegating – providing as much context as to why you chose them, and how it can help them grow.
Arm them with the right instructions – giving them information and steps they need to perform the task with little to no supervision. Including and not limited to providing them with the right training and resources to perform the task.
Delegate the responsibility AND authority – make them feel empowered, allow them to own the task.
Inspect what you expect and provide feedback – don’t make it a blame game. Review their work and provide feedback for when the same task may need to be delegated again.
Show a genuine appreciation for the work completed whether or not they did it right.
Being a business owner can be hard. You will never run out of hats to wear and can lead to serious burnout. Delegating those tasks to your very own TaskMastr can help you transform your business into an empire in more ways you can imagine!
