Work smarter, not harder, with these strategic delegation techniques.
As a business leader, you probably spend too many late nights and weekends doing work you could have delegated. Every manager knows they need to delegate more tasks and responsibilities to their people, but for a variety of reasons—from thinking they can do the work better to not trusting their people, and more—they often find it difficult to do.
The hard truth? Your perspective turns into the primary barrier preventing the growth of your people and business. Effective delegation provides your people with the skills they need to grow as employees, while relieving you of the burden of doing everything yourself. If you’re not delegating enough, then follow this simple five-step plan to boost the performance of your people and your organization.
1. Identify the right tasks to delegate.
Start with a simple question: Does spending my time on this task provide maximum value? Leaders waste valuable critical thinking hours on routine tasks such as formatting reports and attending meetings that do not require their unique skills.
Take a look at your calendar from last week. How many hours did you spend doing things that your people could have done had you given them the guidance they needed? Managers often discover that delegating 30 to 40 percent of their tasks can free up time to devote to strategic planning and relationship building.
2. Match tasks with the right team members.
To execute this step effectively, you need to understand your team members beyond their assigned job roles. For example, the data visualization project you’re planning to kick off would benefit from assigning it to the marketing coordinator who expressed an interest in analytics. A team member who pays attention to details yet prefers to work quietly would thrive at documenting processes that would otherwise cause you to (rightfully) lose patience.
Be aware of what motivates each team member to perform their best. Better outcomes and enhanced engagement result from aligning delegation with individuals’ natural interests and strengths. Bridge organizational requirements with personal development through strategic alignment and not just transferring tasks without aim or direction.
Unclear project assignments have frustrated us all because they result in false starts and repeated revisions due to initial ambiguous expectations. Save everyone time by being explicit about:
- Success looks like, for example by saying, “I require a presentation that demonstrates our Q2 results while emphasizing our advancement toward strategic goals.”
- The level of authority being granted. When you say, “Draft this for my review,” it demands a different kind of work than when you tell someone,” Make this decision based on the inputs we’ve discussed.”
Clear expectations eliminate repetitive work cycles that lead to team members returning tasks to you because of their lack of mission understanding or empowerment.
4. Provide support without micromanaging.
The optimal point for delegation exists between leaving team members alone and excessive oversight. As a manager, you could reach this optimal point by establishing a daily one-on-one meeting with your people to touch base on newly assigned duties without getting in the way. This can help avoid project interruptions while ensuring ongoing support and necessary adjustments.
When team members encounter obstacles, ask coaching questions before jumping to solutions: “What approaches have you considered?” “Which further details could assist you in progressing?” This builds problem-solving capacity rather than dependency.
5. Recognize growth and expand responsibility.
Monitor how team members manage their assigned responsibilities. When your people demonstrate consistently high-quality performance, it’s important to recognize them and subsequently increase their workload. This creates a virtuous circle that will enhance organizational capacity and capability.
I’ve seen leaders become more effective when they shift their management approach to delegate entire functional areas they previously controlled themselves. The time and resources spent on training and oversight ultimately provide team members who contribute more value while freeing up hours of your time.
Mastering delegation allows leaders to build organizational capabilities while redirecting their focus to areas that generate distinctive value. Exceptional leaders who excel at delegation accomplish more work while creating organizations that grow beyond the limits of individual capacity, and that is quite an accomplishment.
This post originally appeared at inc.com.