Delegating Is a Win Win Strategy

by Seb

So far we’ve learned some important skills for coping with information overload and increasing our productivity: prioritising, multitasking, and queuing. But what if your workload is so overwhelming that you find these strategies  lacking?

The seventh part of our guide on coping with information overload should help you with decreasing your own workload, and should enable you to focus on the really important parts of your job. It discusses the art of delegating.  

“Delegation is about entrusting others with appropriate responsibility and authority for the operation and / or accomplishment of certain activities.” — Chartered Management Institute

By learning to delegate you can identify work tasks that can and should be taken on by someone else. This will usually be someone in a team that you manage, or an employee  of your own business. 

Delegating benefits for delegators, or managers,  by reducing their workload and allowing them to share tasks, making the whole team or business more productive. Delegating can prevent managers from becoming overburdened and stressed, and can allow them to focus on business strategy rather than everyday operational tasks.

What many managers fail to realise is that delegation is also beneficial to those being delegated to. Managers often feel that by taking on tasks themselves, or by solving all issues themselves, their employees will feel that they are being helped and supported. In fact the opposite is usually true. When a managers fails to delegate, their team frequently feels untrusted, undervalued, or undermined. If their manager has low expectations of them, they will tend to fulfil these expectations.

If employees aren’t required or allowed to think for themselves–to reach their own solutions–they will  become dissatisfied and unmotivated, depriving the business of ideas  and input. On the other hand, managers who empower their employees to work independently find they have more committed and creative staff. 

Should You Be Delegating?

Many people find delegating difficult because it means losing some control over the running of the department or business. This is especially true if you’ve set up your own business and feel that it has become a part of who you are.

Common excuses for not delegating include thinking that nobody can do the job as well as you, that other people will always let you down, and that the business is all about you.

“Delegation can be difficult because it always involves dependency on others, and people cannot bear depending on anyone, no matter how capable they might be.” — Kerry Sulkowicz, Founder of Boswell Group 

Many people also worry about losing the praise and recognition that goes along with doing the job yourself, and the excitement of winning a contract or making a sale. Others don’t want to accept that someone else could do the job as well as they could, if not even better.

Here are just a few of the warning signs that show you should be delegating:

• You feel overburdened with the amount of work you have
• You take a lot of work home or always work late
• You have a high turnover of employees
• You take every company success or failure personally
• You have low expectations of your staff performance
• You feel you can’t go on holiday without the company suffering
• You find it difficult to ask for help or advice
• You do tasks that your employees could or should be doing

While it’s natural to have concerns about delegating, most managers or business owners are surprised to discover how capable their employees can be when given the responsibility of a new challenge. Most learn to enjoy the sense of achievement they get when their employee achieves something, as much as if they had done it themselves. The reduction in their own workload means they have more time and energy to focus on expanding or improving the business.

Six Simple Steps to Delegation

Delegating is more than passing on work. It’s about creating processes and procedures that allow your team or employees to work autonomously. Delegating will only work if your employees understand what it is they need to do and are empowered to do it. 

Step 1 – Select the right person

Make sure that the employee you delegate a task to has the necessary ability and experience to complete the task, or only requires a low level of training to enable  him or her to do so. You want your employee to feel excited about taking on extra responsibilities, rather than worried that they won’t be able to complete the task  sufficiently.

Step 2 – Define the task

Be clear about the task. Define the boundaries and time scales. If possible, refer to a similar task that has been done previously for guidance.

Step 3 – Plan the task

Spend some time planning and documenting the task with the employee. This may include identifying potential obstacles,  giving necessary resources, or providing  necessary training.

Step 4 – Establish the outcome

Make sure the employee understands the required outcome of the task, and can determine when the task  should be completed. Make sure the outcome is achievable and measurable. Allow employees to think for themselves by stating what needs to be achieved rather than exactly how it should be achieved.

Step 5 – Set feedback processes

Let your employee know how frequently, or at what stages, you’d like them to  give feedback.

Step 6 – Review the task

Once the task has been completed, review the task with your employee. Identify strengths within their execution of the task as well as areas for improvement.

As you delegate more tasks to your employees, these six steps will gradually become more routine, and less involved. For example, when you first delegate a task, you may expect your employee to feed back to you every hour. This might be extended to once per day as they become more accustomed to completing these tasks, and then eventually once per week when you are both entirely comfortable with how he or she is handling the work.

Conclusion

Delegating is a win-win strategy. It will reduce your own workload, removing the everyday operational tasks that your team or employees should be doing and allowing you to focus on more important tasks related to the business as a whole. Furthermore, delegating can increase your employees' job satisfaction, empower them, make them feel valued and trusted, and increase commitment to the business.

Good luck!