How to Delegate Tasks Effectively
Delegating helps you get more done and is essential to being an effective leader. To realize your organization’s maximum capacity, learn to improve the skill of effective delegation. Just like any other skill, this can be acquired and enhanced. Here are three proven tricks on how to delegate tasks effectively and watch your team succeed.
1. Trust your team as you delegate.
Sometimes it can be difficult for a dedicated entrepreneur or a leader to trust someone else to do something that they have mastered through time. Being able to trust that your subordinates can learn the abilities and skills required to complete a deliverable efficiently is crucial.
If you are uncomfortable about this, start with delegating the smallest responsibilities. Then progressively increase the responsibility. Your concern should be the outcome, not the minute details of the process. This will give you time to get to know your employee’s strengths and weaknesses and builds camaraderie among the team.
2. Provide appropriate support effectively.
Keep in mind that your goal is to pass on responsibility and authority of a particular task. But also remember that you need to be available for any clarifications. Through constant communication, you ensure your team’s success since you can keep an eye on the resources needed. There may be better ways and methods in executing an action to complete a task. And your subordinates could discover a more efficient way and if they do, be there to give support and encouragement.
Although you need to allow the person to use their own approach on completing a milestone, your confirmation whenever needed, would definitely speed up the process. Avoid wasting time letting them figure out the answer on small hurdles that you could easily answer, but to a limit. Providing adequate support is necessary to effectively delegate tasks.
Be there when needed, but never allow the person to pass on the responsibility back to you. For example, if they encounter challenges that needs their analytical thinking as part of the learning process. Provide support in the sense that you are open to recommended solutions in these scenarios. Don’t forget to give acknowledgment whenever applicable.
3. Be firm with timelines as you delegate.
As you begin exploring the process of delegation and implementing these techniques, this may seem to become additional time spent. However, as you master on how to delegate tasks effectively, your completion rate will surely increase.
So you have learned to let go by trusting your employees. And you have fostered a workplace where learning and communication is appreciated. Now the most important thing is to establish and maintain control on deadlines and milestones.
Evaluation and assessment must be included in between timelines to ensure successful output - especially when you are just starting. Be amenable to adjustments, but only if necessary. If an employee takes a little more time to accomplish the task at hand, allow ample time during a learning curve on the first run.
Some leaders tend to be too forgiving when passing a responsibility. To a point that they give too many chances. If you aim to be an effective business leader with employees, know that at times you need to be unbendable whenever necessary. When you set and follow firm checkpoints wherein you review a task’s progress, you would have the upper hand in knowing when a project is set to be completed on time.
