Leadership Success is Dependent on Delegation of Duties

Delegation is an essential skill for any leader. It allows them to focus on higher-level tasks and ensures that their team is empowered to take on responsibilities and grow professionally. However, many leaders struggle to trim their to-do lists because they believe they can do everything themselves, or they are afraid to let go of control. But there is power in delegation, and it’s essential for all leaders to work on improving their skills in this regard and become more willing to share the load.

Less Is More

So, what is delegation, exactly? It’s trusting colleagues — typically those in less senior positions — with important tasks and responsibilities. Delegation takes things off a busy leader’s plate, but it can also have a positive impact on entire teams. When leaders share the workload, it not only allows them to dedicate time to more strategic work, but it also can boost team morale.

Though many leaders feel like they’re bothering their team by delegating work, direct reports often want more responsibility. In fact, in my role as an executive coach, I interview direct reports of my clients and often hear similar messages: “I’ve told my boss that I can take on more and want opportunities to grow, but it’s not happening.”

Delegation helps to build trust and empower team members, allowing them to develop new skills and their careers. This, in turn, leads to greater job satisfaction and engagement among team members as they feel more invested in their work and their contributions to the organization.

Even leaders who grasp the benefits of delegation still find the skill difficult to master. But you can — and must — learn to overcome challenges associated with delegation to drive results in your organization.

Like many leaders, you might think your team won’t deliver results with the same level of quality work that you’re able to achieve. That might be true — at first. But think about how long it took you to develop your skills and expertise. Your team might need time and guidance to reach that same level of performance.

You might also think you don’t have the time to delegate tasks to your team members and coach them through getting the work done. Although you might need to provide help and support at first, you’re doing so in the pursuit of freeing up more time to accomplish more strategic projects that will help take your team and organization to the next level.

Finally, you might truly love to know and do everything. This hero-performer mentality is often what pushes employees to a management or leadership level. Being a top individual performer, though, isn’t what gets most leaders to higher levels in their careers. Instead, it’s critical to have the skills needed to manage your team and be strategic in your approach to work.

Learning to Let Go

If you’re ready to level up in your leadership and begin delegating, consider these useful tips:

Shift your perspective. Before you start delegating, you must first become self-aware of your role and responsibilities. Ask yourself: How do I view delegation? How much am I doing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis? What could be offloaded to members of my team? How would that best be accomplished?

Once you know how you really feel about delegation, start to work on changing your mindset to view the benefits for you and your team. It’s helpful to run through what’s possible if you delegate more of your workload. Will you and your team be able to accomplish more if everyone shares the workload? Will you be able to better manage your own stress, and therefore lengthen your career? If you prefer to come at it from a mentorship perspective, understand that giving someone on your team more work and responsibility provides them with an opportunity to grow and develop.

Take stock of your workload. Examine how you’re spending your time. The Eisenhower Matrix Exercise is a task management tool that helps you organize and prioritize tasks by urgency and importance. Map out your work and see where it falls in the matrix (important or not urgent). Then start making decisions for the tasks you identified as less important than others. That might mean cutting tasks entirely or delegating them to your direct reports.

You can also complete this exercise by simply reviewing your calendar. Look ahead at your schedule for the coming weeks, determine the meetings and assignments in which you need to be involved and identify opportunities for team members to step in and take over.

Know your team. Take stock of the strengths and growth opportunities of individual team members. This will help you assign tasks that play to their strengths and align with their intrinsic goals for professional growth. Understanding your team’s capabilities also allows you to provide the necessary support and resources to ensure that they successfully complete delegated tasks. To help with this goal, ask them to take the CliftonStrengths Assessment and match their strengths to the work you’re looking to delegate.

Communicate Your Plan. As you begin to delegate more responsibilities, set up one-on-one conversations with your direct reports. Give them realistic timelines and clear expectations to ensure that the work you’re delegating is completed to your standards. Some team members might need more structure and guidance at first, but initial coaching will help them develop autonomy moving forward.

Stick-to-itiveness Leads to Success

Delegating isn’t a once-and-done thing. Make sure you set periodic times in your calendar to check on your workload and delegate tasks and meetings as required.

Above all, remember that learning how to hand off responsibilities is a process. Everyone has different learning styles, and it can take time for you as a leader and those on your team to catch on with new processes. But if you stick with it, you will start to see progress. Once you begin to realize the benefits of delegation, you’ll be rewarded with better results and a more engaged, productive and successful team.

This article was originally published on BONEZONEpub.com.