Delegation is a critical skill all strong leaders should master. Not only does delegation create more time to focus on what you do best, it’s a great way to motivate and empower others. Besides, mastering the art of delegation may just boost your self-confidence and get you promoted. Here are basic tips to delegating tasks to others.
- Be Thoughtful – Think carefully and be strategic with the tasks you wish to hand off to others. Take into consideration the objective of each tasks.
- Align with Skills – Issue tasks to others who possess the right skills for success, align with their current role, or matched to those with relatable career plans.
- Set Clear Expectations – Explain the objective of each task, along with describing what’s used to measure results.
- Trust – Believe in people to complete the tasks.
- Teach – Delegating helps people learn and develop within your organization. These skills will help them the rest of their lives.
- Leave Them Alone – Once you’ve delegated, do not look over their shoulders. Instead, setup a system to meet to discuss progress.
- Be Supportive – Provide resources that will help them succeed and when they do not succeed thank them and recognize them in front of others.
- Provide Feedback – Be sure to share positive and constructive feedback, allowing the other person to fully understand the purpose, scope, and objective of the task.
- Use Flattery – The more you thank and compliment, the more they will want other tasks.
- Include Everyone – Don’t just keep delegating tasks to leaders around you, find others to delegate to as well. This will develop future leaders.
- Don’t Delegate Everything – Do not delegate jobs you would not be willing to do yourself. Also, if the job is really important, do not be afraid to take on yourself.
- Talk – Discuss time involvement, project type, and other important details. If they do not have time, find someone else to delegate the task.