How Well Do You Delegate?

Start by deciding what you can delegate, and when. Then, it's much easier to decide how to delegate, and to whom, and to give them the resources and knowledge they need   .

Don't try to delegate work that you should be doing yourself. You might want to ask your strongest team member to prepare a presentation for you, but, chances are, the speech won't connect with your audience if the words and thoughts aren't yours.

Likewise, avoid delegating just to offload tasks that you don't like doing! If you do that, you'll likely find your people become unwilling delegates, and help will be harder to find when you genuinely need it.

If, for example, you need a report completed for your meeting in two hours' time, it may be inefficient to take half an hour to explain to someone else what needs to be done. In that case, doing it yourself will likely save time and stress.

Consider these factors when you decide whether or not to delegate:

• Time. Do you have enough time to delegate? You must be able to give sufficient instruction and support to your team member, and you might need to make corrections to their work, too. (If you don't have time, see our time management section to help you find some!)
• Expertise. Is there anyone available with the necessary skills and expertise to complete the job successfully? Often, the best tasks to delegate are those for which your team members have more expertise or information than you do. They may well perform these tasks better and faster than you could.
• Appropriacy. It is rarely wise or fair to delegate high-profile or strategic tasks, or those involving confidential or sensitive information. Instead, delegate even more of your lower-level work to make sure you have time to do the best possible job of your critical responsibilities, such as planning or recruitment.

For more information on what to delegate, see our article, Successful Delegation   .

Whatever your leadership style   , you want your team to readily accept assignments from you and to complete work to your expectations, so that you have more time for your own work. But a positive outcome depends on how you actually hand over the task.

Effective delegation requires crystal clear communication, so that people know precisely what is expected of them. It also requires you to let go, and to trust your team members.

Here are some key ways to improve how you delegate:

• Agree expectations. Explain to the person to whom you are delegating exactly what you need them to achieve by when, and why it's important. It's much easier for them to see the "big picture" and to work accordingly when they understand their impact. If possible, connect the task to organizational goals.
• Delegate the results, not the process. Most people learn and perform better when you give them autonomy over their work. So, unless the person you're delegating to is inexperienced, allow them to determine how best to complete the task. If you dictate every aspect of the task, they won’t learn so much, and you won’t get the full benefit of their experience.
• Establish checkpoints. Don’t ask, "How's it going?" every hour – that would be oppressive. You can manage the risk of mistakes or delays by agreeing in advance when you’ll check in with your team member, and how they should alert you to any problem.
• Talk about consequences. What rewards can people expect if they do a great job? What will happen if they don't achieve the results you want? Raise the profiles of team members   who perform delegated work well.
• Define your role. Explain how much support you'll provide. Encourage team members to make their own recommendations and decisions. However, use your discretion, depending on the task and the individual. Make sure that the person understands the extent to which you expect them to show initiative   .

Club members can find out more in our articles, Avoiding Micromanagement   and The Delegation Dilemma   , on how to delegate effectively and to get the best results.

Delegating work to a person or team takes thought and consideration. If you delegate to the wrong person, you may spend too much time instructing and supporting them. If you delegate too much to one person, you risk incomplete results, and an unhappy, stressed team member.

Remember that most people produce their best work when they're under a little pressure, but that the benefits fall away if that pressure becomes excessive. (See our article on The Inverted-U Theory   for more on this.) Look out for signs that someone has taken on more than they can handle   , even if they are keen to go the extra mile   .

Plan your delegation to make the best use of people's time and skills, so that the job gets done well and on schedule, and so that you don't become a bottleneck. Good delegation is a valuable tool to help you to develop your people further, building a strong sense of autonomy and mastery   over their work.

It is also useful to consider how your people may cope with being delegated to. Our article, How to Accept Delegation   , explores this in detail. Why not share it with them? (Note this is a premium resource.)

Think about these issues when deciding to whom you should delegate:

• Organizational structure. Delegate to people who report to you. If you need to go outside your team, get the permission of the other person's manager, and give that manager credit for the outcome. Open communication is important when delegating across functional areas or through different levels of an organization.
• Staff buy-in. Consider how committed you need your staff to be. Gaining their cooperation and support in accepting delegation can be critical to success. They'll feel more involved and more committed to the results. (The Vroom-Yetton-Jago decision model   can help you to decide when this is and isn't appropriate.)
• Individual versus team. Some tasks can be easily completed by one person. But, when you delegate bigger pieces of work, think about how many people should be involved and what skills you need.

Club members can see our article on Task Allocation   for more information on who best to delegate work to.