By developing your team’s skills through thoughtful delegation of day-to-day operations, you also free up more of your own time to focus on strategic tasks.

So far, so good, right? However, you only reap these benefits if you can bring yourself to delegate in the first place.

Blockers to Delegation

What makes delegation difficult? Sometimes, managers resist outsourcing tasks because they think they can do them better. Losing control of a work task can be a nerve-racking prospect. It can be faster to do something yourself than to explain how to do it to someone new, and what if the person you delegate to doesn’t do it right?

Or maybe you feel bad about “burdening” team members with extra work. That’s an understandable feeling if you’re looking to outsource work to team members and it doesn’t match their job description. So, delegate thoughtfully. But keep in mind the benefits mentioned above – delegation, when done well, can benefit everyone.

Making a Delegation Plan

It’s one thing to recognize the benefits of delegation, and another to know how to get started. If you’re looking to delegate a fairly straightforward task, you might feel comfortable going ahead with it. But if the responsibility is more complex, a delegation plan can make your job easier.

Here are the steps to create one.

1. Define the task.

Clearly explain what needs to be done, and why. This will ensure that you and the person you delegate to are on the same page. Be specific about when the task needs to be completed. Make sure that the result you want is communicated precisely.

2. Set goals and milestones.

Break the task down into subtasks and set deadlines for each one. These should be measurable if possible.

3. Outline responsibilities and authority.

Decide, and clearly convey, how much authority the person has over the task you are delegating. Consider: do they have a budget to work with? Can they authorize other spending? Can they delegate part of the task to others? (Ooh, now we’re getting into two levels of delegation!) Who do they report back to about the task – you or someone else?

4. Clarify the follow-up process.

Once you’ve communicated who your team member will report to, be clear about how they will report progress. How often should they keep you (or another responsible person) updated, and how should they do this?

For example, is a quick email enough, or do you want to set up regular meetings? Do you want check-ins before your team member makes decisions, or would you rather only hear from them once milestones are completed, or when something goes wrong?

5. Offer support.

Your team member is supporting you by doing the task you delegate, and you need to return that support to make sure they can effectively do what you’ve asked. Does this person need training to learn how to complete the task? Do they require specific equipment? Make sure they have all the resources and information they need.

Offer guidance, either from yourself or from someone else who’s experienced and knowledgeable about the task you are asking them to perform. And if needed, bring other people on board to help with the delegated responsibility.

Writing Out Your Plan

Once you’ve thought out the details for your delegation plan, write them down. Make a table with the following headings, and fill in details for each one:

• Team member assigned
• Task description
• Purpose/context (why?)
• Completion date
• Milestones (with individual instructions and deadlines, if appropriate)
• Who they're responsible to
• Extent of authority
• When to refer back
• Reporting checkpoints (when and what)
• Support and/or resources needed

Share your delegation plan table with the person you’re delegating to, and with any others involved with the task. Be on hand to answer any questions they have about the information in the table, and about the delegated task as they work on it.

What's Next?

Delegation is an important skill to master. It’s not necessarily the first one you think of since it may not be included in your job description. But learning to do it effectively will help you to manage your time well and help your team to grow their skills. So, try creating a delegation plan next time you have a task that would benefit from outsourcing.

To learn more about the basics of delegation, see our article Successful Delegation, and our Become a Delegation Superhero Infographic. Our Top Tips for Delegating offer further practical details.

Tip of the Week

Building Better Habits

By Gary Ellis, Mind Tools Content Editor

Habits define our lives. They are what we do with our time and make up our daily schedules. It makes sense, then, that professionals focus so much on building positive habits as well as identifying and eliminating negative ones.

Habits rely on routine, so it pays to be mindful of what you do on a regular basis and often on autopilot. This will allow you to address the gaps between your current habits and the ones you wish to incorporate.

If you’re trying to break a bad habit, it helps to put a distance between yourself and the thing you are trying to gain distance from. The Pomodoro Technique, where tasks are split into 25-minute intervals of deep focus, is a useful way to break away from distractions and focus on a particular task.

So, whether you’re trying to incorporate good habits, break bad ones, or a bit of both, keep track of how you spend your time, because being aware of your habits will enable you to have control over them.

Pain Points Podcast

When you're communicating for work, the way you write or speak matters as much as what you have to say. So how do you get the tone right, to be clear, to connect, and to create the impact you want?

In this week's episode of Pain Points, "human communication" expert Mark McArthur-Christie explains how to cut out corporate jargon, find the simplest ways to say what you mean, and become more personable and professional, word by word.

Subscribe Today

News Roundup

This Week's Global Workplace Insights

The U.K. Leads in Providing Co-Working Spaces

It is both evident and well-reported that the COVID-19 pandemic changed how we work. Overnight, entire workforces moved to remote home-based settings. But, as the health crisis began to wane and restrictions eased, people looked forward to once again working in social setups.

Co-working spaces were one such trend that has had a long-term impact on post-pandemic working culture. They provide in-person working spaces for freelancers and 100 percent remote working teams, thus catering to a range of customers who want alternative options to home offices.

Insider recently reported that the U.K. and Ireland are embracing the new flexible productive areas, with “a coworking space density nearly double that of the United States.” As of Q2 in 2024, the U.K. claims a total of 2,806 spaces, with the capital holding just shy of 800, or over one quarter.

What’s more, these co-working spaces encourage engagement with local economies which struggled from a lack of office and commuter-based footfall. As such, it seems that hybrid working opportunities provide an ideal balance for all.

AI-Driven Analytics Can Produce the Best Decisions

How does AI help with decision making in the workforce? Dr Shay David, co-founder and CEO of retrain.ai, has firsthand experience in how AI-driven analytics can turn data into “actionable insights that significantly enhance decision-making and strategic planning,” particularly in the HR world.

From performance and productivity trends through to employee satisfaction and gaps in key skills, the ability to harness AI analytics, according to Dr Shay in a recent Forbes article, eases the uncertainty and biases behind decisions within HR departments. By removing human errors, such technologies help to ensure that strategies and decisions are based on sound evidence.

While Dr Shay focuses on using AI technologies within HR, these insights are surely applicable across the workforce spectrum. In fact, it might benefit others to take heed of HR departments that are making use of such AI capabilities, thus ensuring what Dr Shay calls “more effective, equitable practices that ultimately drive better business outcomes.”

See you next week for more member-exclusive content and insight from the Mind Tools team!