Mastering delegation

As a first time manager something that can often be a challenge for you is delegating work to your team. When done well your team will succeed and have great opportunities to develop. Done badly and it could impact motivation and increase burnout.

When I first started as a first time manager delegation was one of the hardest things for me to learn to do effectively. I consistently wanted to do the tasks myself and have the ability to work at my own pace.

I often became frustrated with the team when things weren’t being done properly or as I would expect them to be done. From a meeting with group of other fellow managers I was challenged with how I was delegating and whether I was coaching and developing.

This got me thinking and I started to talk with others around delegation. From my conversations I started to see that I was really ineffective in driving delegation with the team.

Where I was failing was:

• Poor communication in expectations

• Not coaching and asking questions

• When problems arose took on the work myself

• Not trusting my team

What I soon became aware of was that the team started to become disengaged, stagnated and not growing. I wasn’t helping my team grow and develop.

I had to re-learn how to delegate well.

Importance of delegating

You may well be thinking that delegation as a skill as a manager is not hugely important or relevant. At the end of the day if you have too much work on-going then just hand out the tasks you don’t want to do?

You would be wrong.

Delegating well is a key skill and has the following benefits:

• Increases productivity

• Reduces burnout

• Builds trust across the team

• Develops skills

Learning to delegate will help you and the team ensure you reach the organisation goals and objectives set.

Delegating well

In order to delegate well starts with you and your mindset. The focus is not on reducing your workload and giving tasks away you don’t want to do. But the focus is on helping your team develop and grow.

Here are some key tips for mastering delegation well:

1. Knowing the team: Delegation starts by understanding the team and the members well. Knowing their strengths and what they are not great at will help you when you need to delegate tasks. Work with them to understand if some delegation may well be focussed more on developing skills vs enhancing existing ones.

2. Clear Expectations: Spend the time when delegating the task going into detail on what is expected, outcomes and any deadlines. The more detail you go into with the task will help the individual.

3. Provide the right support: You need to ensure that you provide the individuals with the right tools and resources. But it’s not just about providing them it’s also about making sure they know how to use the tools / where the resources are located. Make sure you are also available when they need additional support.

4. Trust & Empower: Don’t shift into micromanaging but try and empower your team. Give them autonomy to do the task. Learn to know that they won’t do the task as you would do it. This is fine. Learn to know that your role is to help guide them to the right outcomes, but not in doing them.

5. Celebrate the wins: When something is done well or the outcome is great make sure that you celebrate these with the individual. This will help with morale and motivation but will also ensure that they know they are doing the right thing.

Tips for Improving Your Delegation Skills

1. Start Small: Begin by delegating smaller tasks to build trust and confidence.

2. Be Patient: Understand that it might take time for team members to adjust to new responsibilities.

3. Provide Clear Instructions: Make sure your directions are easy to follow and unambiguous.

4. Follow Up Regularly: Keep track of delegated tasks and provide feedback. (Leverage your 1:1’s)

5. Learn to Let Go: Resist the urge to take over tasks once they are delegated. (This is the hardest one)

Book recommendation

This weeks book recommendation is: The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Kenneth Blanchard, William Oncken Jr., and Hal Burrows.

This book offers some great insights in how to micromanage and time manage effectively through a great parable.

PS If you are looking at interviewing for your team I would recommend you check out the Interview Training Course.

PPS Want some additional free content if you are new manager check out my free manager course here.