Empower your team through delegation

Every leader knows there comes a time when delegation is essential. Many leaders are tempted to keep control of everything that happens in their team but the truth is, that kind of control takes a lot of time and effort – it gets overwhelming quickly and it’s not an effective way to lead. That’s where delegation comes in, giving the leaders the chance to give tasks to other team members and get more done without overloading themselves. 

Why is delegation so powerful? 

Delegation allows leaders to:

• Set clear boundaries and expectations
• Foster an environment based on accountability
• Free up the bottleneck they can cause by doing everything themselves. By distributing the tasks more evenly, leaders give their team some relief and increase efficiency.
• Share the load, freeing up time to focus on other aspects of leadership that require their attention and other tasks that only they can perform.
• Give their team a chance to develop new skills and tackle tasks they might not have ever attempted before. This is particularly effective for new team members – leaders can delegate small, but time-consuming tasks to new team members to help them build confidence in their own abilities. 

Delegation isn’t a free pass 

Unfortunately, too many leaders use delegation as an excuse to get rid of all the ‘frustrating’ tasks and to wash their hands of any responsibility when it comes to the results of those tasks. For many leaders, delegation seems like an ‘easy way out’ rather than something they need to think deeply about. It’s easy to see how this can be damaging for many teams and can lead to resentment of the leader. 

Luckily, there are two easy steps leaders can take to make sure their approach to delegation is appropriate and helpful for their team, rather than frustrating and harmful. 

1. Delegate to the right people –  this requires knowing your team well, understanding what they excel at, what they find frustrating and what they enjoy doing. Perhaps you need help with a task that’s numbers-based –  to make sure it’s done effectively, you need to make sure you’re passing that task to someone who enjoys working with numbers and has the skills to complete the task. If there is no one who fits that bill, leaders should look for someone who is up for a challenge and likes to take a deep dive into a topic they don’t know a lot about. Not everyone in your team will be the right fit for every task and a great leader will be able to spot this from a mile away.

2. Give clear instructions and expectations of outcomes – at the end of the day, the task needs to be done and it needs to be done right. Without clear instructions or a clear idea of what the end result should be, team members cannot be expected to perform adequately. Leaders need to make sure that when they hand over a task they are being thorough with expectations and instructions so that team members can have confidence in the task they’re being asked to complete. 

When leaders delegate, their team members become accountable to their leader for the delegated task but leaders remain 100% responsible for the end result. It’s important to remember that as a leader, the buck stops with you. 

Are you ready to delegate effectively? People Make the Difference can help. To find out more, visit www.pmtd.com.au or call us on 0412 333 415. Try our online leadership training videos – $99 for complete access. Great value if you’re committed to growing your leadership potential.

Every leader knows there comes a time when delegation is essential. Many leaders are tempted to keep control of everything that happens in their team but the truth is, that kind of control takes a lot of time and effort – it gets overwhelming quickly and it’s not an effective way to lead. That’s where delegation comes in, giving the leaders the chance to give tasks to other team members and get more done without overloading themselves. 

Why is delegation so powerful? 

Delegation allows leaders to:

• Set clear boundaries and expectations
• Foster an environment based on accountability
• Free up the bottleneck they can cause by doing everything themselves. By distributing the tasks more evenly, leaders give their team some relief and increase efficiency.
• Share the load, freeing up time to focus on other aspects of leadership that require their attention and other tasks that only they can perform.
• Give their team a chance to develop new skills and tackle tasks they might not have ever attempted before. This is particularly effective for new team members – leaders can delegate small, but time-consuming tasks to new team members to help them build confidence in their own abilities. 

Delegation isn’t a free pass 

Unfortunately, too many leaders use delegation as an excuse to get rid of all the ‘frustrating’ tasks and to wash their hands of any responsibility when it comes to the results of those tasks. For many leaders, delegation seems like an ‘easy way out’ rather than something they need to think deeply about. It’s easy to see how this can be damaging for many teams and can lead to resentment of the leader. 

Luckily, there are two easy steps leaders can take to make sure their approach to delegation is appropriate and helpful for their team, rather than frustrating and harmful. 

1. Delegate to the right people –  this requires knowing your team well, understanding what they excel at, what they find frustrating and what they enjoy doing. Perhaps you need help with a task that’s numbers-based –  to make sure it’s done effectively, you need to make sure you’re passing that task to someone who enjoys working with numbers and has the skills to complete the task. If there is no one who fits that bill, leaders should look for someone who is up for a challenge and likes to take a deep dive into a topic they don’t know a lot about. Not everyone in your team will be the right fit for every task and a great leader will be able to spot this from a mile away. 

1. Give clear instructions and expectations of outcomes – at the end of the day, the task needs to be done and it needs to be done right. Without clear instructions or a clear idea of what the end result should be, team members cannot be expected to perform adequately. Leaders need to make sure that when they hand over a task they are being thorough with expectations and instructions so that team members can have confidence in the task they’re being asked to complete. 

When leaders delegate, their team members become accountable to their leader for the delegated task but leaders remain 100% responsible for the end result. It’s important to remember that as a leader, the buck stops with you. 

Are you ready to delegate effectively? People Make the Difference can help. To find out more, visit www.pmtd.com.au or call us on 0412 333 415. Try our online leadership training videos – $99 for complete access. Great value if you’re committed to growing your leadership potential.