How to Delegate: Guidelines for Effective Delegation

Delegation has many real benefits. Not just for you but also for your people and your organization. When you delegate you have a chance to reduce your workload by removing tasks that can be done by other people. This allows you to focus on the really important activities that only you and not your people can do.

It’s time to delegate when …

There are some indicators that will tell you that it is time to start delegating work to your people. These are:

• Overflowing inbox and long backlog of emails
• Missed deadlines or long overtime to finish all tasks
• Unable to work the real challenges of your business due to demands of the daily business

Guidelines for Effective Delegation

In order to become better at delegation it is necessary to follow these guidelines. This way delegating becomes not just easier for your but also for your employees. Some guidelines are:

• Be clear on what you want done as well as when and how the results will be evaluated
• Make it clear the responsibility for delegated task is with the employee, not with you
• Don’t just delegate the boring tasks, also delegate tasks that make work interesting for the person working on it.
• Understand that delegation takes practice and is a learning experience for manager and employee.
• Collect and share honest feedback about what works in the delegation process and what does not work.
• Always keep an open line for communication so that employees can get back to you when they run into problems.

A Process for Delegation

Effective delegation follows several distinct steps that ensure a successful outcome. These steps are

1) Preparation: Define what should be delegated and what should not be delegated. It’s recommended to think through the task yourself as well and then find the right person to do the job.

2) Assignment: Communicate the assignment with the employee and explain the task that needs to be done. Ensure that the employee understands what is expected and ensure that the employee knows how to work on the task.

3) Monitoring & Feedback: Regularly checking with the employee about the progress and ensuring that he is on track and no obstacles have emerged helps to prevent problems. Managers should not overdue and check too often because it would be an indicator of a lack of trust.

4) Review: Once the activity has been finished it is necessary to provide feedback and share with the employee what worked well and what did not work well. Based on this it is then possible to improve for the next tasks.

Summary

If you are overwhelmed with work, delegating tasks can be a management technique that will help you to move to the next level. Effective delegators follow these guidelines above and make sure that they are constantly improving in their delegation process.

Bernhard S