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Delegation is a key skill for any leader or manager. It can help you manage your time, stay in control of your workload and empower others. Following these top tips will help you and your team members to get the most from delegation.
Identify Which Tasks You Can Delegate
When the pressure’s on, it can be tempting to avoid delegating altogether and to try to complete all your tasks yourself. But this approach could leave you stressed and short of time, and the quality of your work might suffer.
If you're unsure which tasks to delegate, ask yourself what you'd do if you were about to go on holiday – which tasks would you need to hand over, and to whom? Of course, there may be tasks and projects that you can't hand over to your team members (the work might be too strategic, or even confidential), but delegating some of your other tasks will free you up to focus on your most important work.
Match Tasks to Skills and Strengths
When choosing who to delegate to, take individuals’ skills and strengths into consideration. Depending on the scale and complexity of the work, you might wish to delegate to more than one person. Team members with strong analytical skills, for example, might be in a good position to take on tasks that involve working with figures or reports.
Matching tasks to your team members’ strengths will mean that individuals are well placed to complete the tasks you delegate to a high standard and with little or no supervision – this can be particularly helpful when time is short.
Treat Delegation as a Development Opportunity
Delegation can also be a great opportunity to help team members develop new skills and improve in specific performance areas. If you know a team member wants to work on their presentation skills, for example, delegating part or all of an internal or external presentation could be a great way of helping them achieve this goal. Keep in mind that team members might need additional support and guidance from you as they complete the delegated work.
Try to Delegate Interesting Work
The tasks you identify as being suitable for delegation might be fairly straightforward or administrative. However, when appropriate, it's important to try to delegate interesting or challenging tasks or projects, as well as the routine ones. This will help to empower and motivate team members, while also supporting their development.
Delegate Whole Tasks Where Possible
Delegating only parts of tasks can be confusing for team members, and you may find yourself spending a lot of time explaining the background and context of the task to them before they can get started. So, it's good practice to delegate whole tasks whenever possible. For example, if you need support in researching a range of suppliers for a service, it's better to delegate the entire research project and not just a single aspect of it, such as sourcing quotes from shortlisted suppliers.
Brief Team Members
Once you have decided which tasks to delegate, and to whom, provide the relevant team member(s) with a clear brief. For straightforward tasks, this might simply involve an email or a quick chat. For bigger, more complex tasks, you might want to hold a dedicated briefing meeting.
Whichever approach you choose, it's important for you and the team member(s) to establish clear objectives for the delegated work and agree on appropriate timescales. It's also important to check with the team member(s) that they have the time and capacity to take on the delegated work.
Provide Equipment and Resources
To complete the work you delegate effectively, it's vital that team members have access to all the resources they might need. Think about what this might involve: will they need a quiet room to work in (if they're working onsite), additional IT equipment, or simply access to certain information? Whatever is required, be sure to have everything in place before team members get started on the delegated work.
Set Expectations
If you have just delegated a simple task to a team member, there's no need to over-engineer the process with long meetings or complex documents. An informal chat or a simple email is often enough to stay on top of the task and its progress.
Get the Balance Right
Once the delegated work is underway, it's important for team members to feel trusted and empowered to tackle the work in their own way. Try to resist the temptation to "check in" more than is necessary, or "supervise" the team member, unless they appear to be struggling. Instead, let them know that you're happy to provide them with support or guidance if and when they need it.
Review Progress Regularly for Larger Tasks
For larger tasks or projects, it's a good idea to review progress with the team member(s) at regular intervals. Arrange a dedicated time to talk about how the work is progressing, and to discuss any problems or challenges.
This is also a good opportunity to revisit the objectives and timescales you first agreed for the work – are these still appropriate and realistic or do they need to be revised? Listen carefully to what team members have to say and address any problems or issues as soon as possible. And invite your team members to approach you with any concerns or questions they have.
Show Appreciation
Finally, show appreciation that's appropriate to the scale of the work. A simple email saying "thank you" or "well done" is often effective. If the delegated task was complex or extensive, you might consider additional forms of recognition, such as acknowledgment at a departmental meeting, or a message on your company intranet.
