Apart from being practical leaders, managers should strive to improve their subordinate’s skills by assigning them tasks that promote growth. With effective delegation, managers can create a succession system to prevent a leadership vacuum should they exit the company.
Once they delegate work, managers avoid burnout, enhance their leadership skills, and accelerate the task completion date. As a leader, you need to handle the delegation of tasks cautiously to achieve successful results. Here is what you need to know about delegation.
Understanding Delegation
Workplace delegation is the concept of allocating tasks to someone else to facilitate the completion of a defined workflow, project, or duty. Delegation occurs both in public, nonprofit, and private sectors, where teams work on collaborative roles.
Every leader should seek to refine their delegation skills if they desire to be effective delegators. Often, managers use irregular social dynamics when delegating duties which should not be the case. Proper delegation allows you to empower your group to execute tasks appropriately.
Why should you Enhance Your Delegation Skills?
Here are reasons why every team leader should strive to be a good delegator.
· Effective Delegation Enhances the Relationship Between Managers and Employees
Many people view delegation as a strategy for new managers to lessen their workload. However, it also helps them enhance the employee-manager relationships. Staffs want assurance that managers believe in them. Allocating them with major tasks is one of the key points of demonstrating trust.
The confirmation from delegated tasks boosts employee morale while encouraging them to be more hospitable to their managers. Research suggests that effective managers who delegate tasks efficiently motivate employees to seek advice more.
Employees are also highly likely to adhere to the advice they receive more willingly. This habit emanates from the employee’s willingness to meet their leader’s expectations and demonstrate their ability to handle more critical tasks.
· Respect Everyone’s Time
Effective delegation reduces meeting sessions, tracks conference and video calls updating the relevant people only, and makes emails shorter. Managers who practice effective delegation create productive communication environments which honor employee’s time. Effective delegation in multiple settings respects time while communication with purpose, brevity, and clarity.
· Eliminates Micromanaging
Micromanaging is an ordinary poor managerial practice that many employees face. Some managers micromanage for various reasons. For example, some think nobody apart from themselves can do things right, while a section of new managers are not aware of their micromanaging behavior.
Some micromanagers may not trust in their team’s time management skills and talents. This group often prioritizes their concepts and constantly seeks ways to earn credit for other people’s efforts. To achieve successful delegation, managers should provide the information and tools required to complete the right tasks and leave employees alone to meet them.
How to Achieve Effective Delegation
· Understand what to Delegate
You cannot delegate all tasks. For instance, managers should handle personal issues like giving performance reviews. Remember, hiring great talent and understanding each employee’s weaknesses and strengths helps you discharge tasks to suitable team members. There are numerous tasks that do not require your input but figuring them out can be a challenge. Start by asking yourself the following questions:
- Are there duties you regularly execute even though your employees have the right skills to do them?
- Would allocating a project to another team enhance their skills or boost their careers?
If an employee in your team can handle a task better, or learn from doing it, delegating would be an excellent option. Doing so demonstrates to your team the amount of trust you have in them. It also allows you enough time to focus on valuable roles.
· Focus on Employee’s Goals and Strengths
Each team member should show commitment to achieving some objectives. Effective managers will realize that within such commitments lie great delegating opportunities. For instance, perhaps you have a reporter seeking to acquire management experience. If you have an intern in your office, consider delegating supervisory tasks to the reporter.
You could also let them manage a specific project within the workplace. The kind of duties you delegate may have a significant impact on the employee’s career development plan. For every task you have, the chances are that an employee in your team has the right skills to execute it and get the desired result.
Take advantage of your employee’s strengths to grow their careers. When they have a high chance of succeeding, they will be inspired and engaged, which benefits the whole company.
· Have Clear Expectations
Your employees or team members cannot read your thoughts. State what you need clearly and include your expected completion date. The desired outcome should appear clearly in your discussion, and team members should get the work done.
Kevin Sharer, Professor at the Harvard Business School, says: “You’ve got to have real clarity of objective. That includes having alignment on “what does good look like?” and by what timeline, and “the technique of measuring accomplishment”
It is worth mentioning that should you want something done well, then you should do it yourself. Managers should not expect employees to execute tasks as they would. Ask questions and allow the team to raise any questions they may have as well.
Doing so creates a path where every employee is conversant with what they need to execute the task successfully. Be open to questions during the project execution phase. Remember, the delegation process is a concept where you collaborate with your employees to complete a project satisfactorily.
To grow your employees, you must understand how to delegate and enhance your leadership skills. Once you master the art of effective delegation with a small team, you will graduate to managing a large group seamlessly.
· Give Feedback Continually
Employees are happy to receive genuine confirmation that they have done the job well. Outline what they executed well as a sign of good manners and to develop trust between you and the employee. Highlight where they need to improve and take time to assess the project together.
Determine whether they followed your instructions to the letter. Such a discussion provides the ideal settings for a face to face communication. Managers need and appreciate feedback, and having an insightful employee can be an eye-opening experience. Being a good listener allows you to enhance your delegation skills for future reference.
Often, completing tasks for the first time may take longer, and you will have to actively collaborate with the employees as part of the delegation process. Investing your time and energy during the inaugural phase helps you enhance team productivity and saves you time in the long term.
Effective delegation is not an opportunity to discharge activities you do not like doing. Remember, delegating leadership is impossible. Effective delegation involves leveraging the power of your employees and their talents to achieve results.
An effective manager identifies opportunities for staff members to develop new skills. It also gives them (managers) a chance to share their knowledge and skills to nurture a future manager. Effective delegation is a sign of a healthy and active team.
· View Your Employees as Partners
Effective managers give their employees a feeling of comfort and flexibility to execute tasks the best way they know-how. They keep employees focused on the big picture while nurturing their leadership skills. Doing so shows employees that their contribution is essential and valued.
Once employees complete a task, give them the credit they deserve. Acknowledging a well-done job promotes commitment and loyalty to new tasks. Where possible, praise employees publicly and recognize them for executing a task well.
· Provide Appropriate Resources and a Level of Authority
If your employees require specific resources, training, or unlimited access to complete a task, ensure they get them free of charge. Delegating unachievable tasks can be frustrating to the employer and the employee. The employee will be unable to complete the job, and you will have to face the hassle of assessing and reassigning it to another team member.
· Allow Room for Failure
Are you a perfectionist afraid of delegating because you cannot stand anybody else’s way of doing things? Allowing room for failure is a critical part of enhancing your delegation skills. Doing so does not mean that your employees may fail. It will enable them to experiment while empowering them to adopt a new approach. Adopting an open system to ideas allows you to delegate seamlessly.
· Organize a Short Follow-up Meeting
A follow-up meeting should focus on tracking progress and establishing whether the team needs assistance. The number of follow-up meetings you have depends on the project’s extent and an employee’s skill level. Managing new employees requires more commitment than is the case with their experienced long-term counterparts.
· Say Thank You
Learn to say thank you when your team completes their tasks regardless of your ranking position or title. Showing appreciation is a valuable leadership trait and workplace skill that many people ignore. Saying thank you not only enhances your character but also helps you stand out among your peers.
Finally
To be an effective delegator, you must allocate tasks to the right people and avail the resources they need to complete the role. Effective delegation will help you increase capacity, save time, motivate and grow your employees, and improve their current skills while teaching them new ones. Get more insights from our website.