March is Improve Your Management Skills Month. One great way to improve your management skills is to get better at effectively delegating tasks that you do not enjoy and/or are not good at doing yourself. Let’s begin by looking at what may be holding you back from delegating tasks:
Reasons given for not delegating
- You can do it better yourself (perfectionism)
- You can do it quicker yourself (short-term view)
- Lack of confidence in co-workers (need to put in time to train others)
Reasons to delegate
- You do not enjoy doing this activity.
- You are not good at doing this; someone else could do it more effectively.
- You can leverage your time better by handing this off to someone else, even if it's something you enjoy and/or are good at doing. (Just because you are capable of doing something well does not mean that you have to do it!)
Tips for effective delegation:
- Explain task specifically and thoroughly
- Define the purpose. What are you trying to accomplish? Determine what success looks like so the person has a clear picture of what you want to accomplish and what the end result looks like.
- Delegate responsibility, not work. Too many managers confuse delegating responsibility with offloading work onto someone else. When assigning a project, allow your employee the freedom to exercise some personal initiative.
- What's in it for the delegatee? Recognition, new skills, etc.
- If HOW it is done is important, give and get feedback about how to do the task.
- Don't hover. Show confidence in their ability to do the task. Give them freedom to do it their way.
- Instead of asking, "Do you understand?", ask questions such as, "Any ideas as to how you'll proceed?" You'll get a better sense of whether or not your request was clear.
- Make delegatee accountable. Establish deadlines.
- Keep a delegation log. Click here to download a sample Delegation Log.
- Give positive and corrective feedback. (It looks like there's a mistake here. What do WE need to do to get back on track?)
- Give recognition.
- If you can't delegate something, you may be able to renegotiate expectations.
- For a more information on this topic read The Fine Art of Delegation.
Do you struggle with delegation? Let’s schedule a no-cost discovery call to explore creative ways that you can let go of the tasks and responsibilities that you are not passionate about or are not skilled at doing.
Did you like this article, Improve Your Management Skills with Effective Delegation? What tasks can you delegate so you can stay focused on what you do best and enjoy most? Please comment below.
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