Never underestimate the importance of delegating effectively. How well you delegate is directly reflected in how empowered your employees feel, which strengthens their skills, their decision-making abilities and, ultimately, their productivity. Coordination, communication and plentiful trust are the keys to effective delegation. The result is a win for the employee and for your business.
Find the right person
The first rule in effective delegation is to find someone who possesses all the prerequisites. These include strong collaboration, authority and reliability. As a great leader, you should have an understanding of the weaknesses, strengths and interests of your employees. To go about this process, I recommend auditing the list of tasks you wish to delegate. Then, gather your team, and show them the list. Let people select tasks themselves based on their strengths and interests. This is a great way to demonstrate trust and inspire action within your team.
Provide clear instructions
Delegation is different from micromanaging, and it is imperative to understand this distinction. A good delegator provides essential information with detailed and precise instructions, but does not micromanage. Your goal must be to convey the results you are seeking but not to delegate the methods. When you micromanage, you are only binding your team to your ideas and not giving them a platform to brainstorm their own.
So, instead of telling them how to act upon leads, tell them what you and your team will be doing, what results you are looking to achieve and the sort of sales you envision them getting. Your part must be to show them what milestones and goals you wish the company to achieve. How your team tackles it should be up to their discretion.
Train and empower your team
Effective delegation happens when you ensure that the person being tasked with a project or responsibility is first equipped with everything they need. The key to every successful delegation is to train, provide and then let loose. Begin by letting your team member watch how you do it. Then allow them to do it with you, and then let them take over.
Throwing your team member into a task without developing their skills and providing necessary equipment first would be nothing short of vicious. When delegating effectively, it’s also important to empower the person with the authority they will need to lead and drive the project forward.
Review the task
No one appreciates the sort of manager who delegates tasks to an employee and then squarely places the blame on their shoulders when things go wrong. Needless to say, don’t be that manager at any cost.
To avoid falling into this sort of trap, establish a checkpoint at which you review the task in progress. Don’t hesitate to make changes where necessary to improve the quality of work or provide feedback if it would help with the task’s progression.
Delegation is by no means the act of thrusting all your cares upon the shoulders of your employee and then sitting back to watch them collapse. Delegation means sharing equal responsibility but leaving the actions entirely up to your employee. Provide support by reviewing, guiding, sharing honest and constructive feedback, and encouraging your employee.
Place responsibilities into capable hands, and allow the employee to use their judgment to achieve outlined targets. Effective delegation ensures the maximum productivity of your business and empowers team members to acquire new skills and come up with innovative methods to achieve business objectives.
By Alfredo Atanacio, 2020- Forbes