A mistake that many new leaders make early in their career is failing to realize delegation’s power. Many people are promoted from being an individual contributor to being in a position of leadership. The skills and experiences that got them recognized are not the same as what’s needed to make their entire team successful.
Quite often, leaders forget that they are successful when their people are successful. The power of effective management comes not from your efforts alone but from the sum of all the efforts of each person within your team. But how does a new leader create this environment? Delegation is the answer.
Learning To Delegate Starts With Trust
Throughout my career, I have learned how vital delegation is the hard way. I admit I have been guilty of not delegating effectively early on when taking on some new teams. Eager to make my mark and hit the ground running, I have failed to trust my newly inherited team, opting to do much of the work myself. This not only put more on my plate but robbed team members of opportunities to grow.
Coming from thinking that trust is earned, I failed to realize that taking all major tasks for myself shows a lack of faith in others. This can create resentment. Eventually, I learned that if I gave more to others, I could better assess who is the best person for specific assignments. This would allow me to match tasks and strengths better together. Spreading the work also would let me get out to the day-to-day, so I could better focus on what I am genuinely accountable for: setting direction and strategy instead of being tactical.
What Should You Delegate?
There are certain types of work that you delegate to employees instead of doing them yourself. Delegating the below tasks will help get you out of the day-to-day, freeing you up for more value-added tasks while potentially giving your team personal development opportunities:
- Detailed work
- Report-building
- Information gathering
- Repetitive assignments
- Surrogate roles
- Future duties
- Anything where you are not the expert
- Opportunities for team members to shine
How To Delegate
Here are a few steps to consider when delegating:
- Communicate the task clearly. Since you are not going to be intimately involved in the task, confirm there is an understanding of the assignment and quality standards.
- Grant authority. Ensure the person doing the task understands their limits, with how much and far-reaching they can go. Give them as much leeway as possible.
- Provide support. I am not a micro-manager, and neither do I want to be one, but I will assist. Be available if someone needs guidance, but show they you have full confidence in their abilities.
- Check-In. Depending on how long the task is, check in to make sure it’s progressing as expected. The last thing you want is someone to work away at something only to find out at the deadline, it’s completely gone off the rails. A small check-in or progress update partway through allows you to course-correct if need be.
- Follow up upon completion. Once the assignment is over, thank your employee for doing the work. If it went well, encourage them. If it didn’t go as expected, use it as a learning opportunity to get better for next time.
Final Thoughts
Mastering the power of delegation has freed me up personally to become way more effective. Practicing the advice above will change the trajectory of your career. Personally, you will be much happier, and the roles of your team may even be enriched.
