How to delegate work more effectively

This is a guest post from Carol James. Carol is a writer and senior editor of writing service, so you can find help with your essay on EssayLab. She has an MA degree in social sciences and writes articles, reviews on the different actual subjects.

Every manager should know how to delegate work correctly. Be it an innovational startup or simple shop, there always comes a time when your company grows and you as a business owner need to hire new people. Therefore, you should learn how to delegate and explain tasks and responsibilities. Delegation in management requires particular skills and knowledge to implement it successfully.

In this article, we will take a look at how to delegate work successfully, and what benefits it brings.

So, what does it mean to delegate?

Delegation is the process of giving the responsibility for some task to others. Knowing how to delegate is important for the distribution of tasks and responsibilities, allowing more and more employees to have the basis to make decisions and define strategies.

What skills you need to delegate well

Leaders may find it hard to believe that they aren’t the only ones capable of performing tasks successfully. Many people have problems with delegating because they consider it an admission of their incapabilities. Others are afraid that the colleague will do tasks better, putting their jobs at risk. Thus, many managers overload themselves with tasks and deadlines but achieve less satisfactory results than they would like.

Moreover, it can lead to the onset of occupational diseases (such as burnout syndrome) and causes the development of worn out interpersonal relationships, both at home and at work.

It’s worth pointing out once again: delegating tasks does not mean you’re incompetent! On the contrary, it means that you trust and believe in the competence of your team. By sharing the tasks, you give your team the opportunity to learn new skills, grow professionally, and grow stronger.

This allows them to become more and more skilled and gives you valuable time to do your own tasks with commitment. This way of working, with a healthy and stimulating work breakdown, certainly helps the entire organization to get the best results.

How to delegate work to the right people at the right time

The first step in delegating tasks is to get to know your team. Learn which area each member stands out and their strengths. Recognize who is prepared to receive tasks that involve more responsibility, and train those who are not so prepared. The goal is to build a team that is united and winning!

Make sure you delegate, not command. The biggest tip about delegation: do not be an authoritative leader, who thinks that delegating tasks is simply making someone do something for you. Delegating involves dividing. It is necessary to sit down with your employees, analyze the tasks, and clarify of doubts. It is important to ensure that s/he understands what should be done and how to do it.

It is the leader’s role to work together with the team, supporting and motivating their best. But remember: if a member of your team fails, the responsibility will not be solely his. It will be yours too, because you chose that person for that task. That’s why it’s so important to know who you’re working with and whether that person is best suited for a certain type of duty.

What else to pay attention to when delegating

Track the accomplishment of the task

Your job does not end when you delegate. Now you will have to make sure the job is going the right way. A good tip for monitoring your team’s activity is to use scheduling software like an application that will show you the step-by-step of each task: who is doing what, when the work has been completed and what is the next step.

One example is Asana, which helps with direct task control, deadline creation, and automatic status updates, e-mail notification, and member feedback. This program is free for up to 30 members.

Give constant feedback

Do not wait for a task to be completed to say whether it is good or not. Give constant feedback to your employees so they know the results of their work.

This means being able to say calmly, clearly and punctually what is not good and to help others understand how to do things correctly. Do not let the task get to the end to realize it was not successful!

Benefits of delegating well

There are certainly many benefits of delegation. We listed some of them below:

1. More time for other tasks. The delegation frees managers’ time, allowing them a greater dedication to the important activities.
2. Delegation help improve efficiency. But it is critical that the employee focuses on the functions that have the greatest impact on performance.
3. The delegation contributes to the development of employees. This is one of the most important responsibilities of any leader, and giving employees meaningful tasks is one of the most appropriate means of accomplishing it. This is because delegation induces opportunities that allow people to take initiative, solve problems, innovate, manage and make decisions.
4. The delegation contributes to the emergence of a motivating environment throughout the organization, as it implicitly conveys the message that subordinates are considered reliable people whose development deserves respect.
5. Delegation increases the commitment of employees to the effective implementation of decisions. When the employees are responsible for the decision, they tend to search for the best solution, avoiding making mistakes.

So, delegation is an extremely important instrument for the permanent grow of the company.  It enables the leader to devote more fully to the primary tasks of the organizational unit, as well as contributes to the development of employees’ capabilities.