One of the many skills you need to possess as a leader is delegation. The ability to effectively share the workload among employees to achieve set goals is key to maximizing productivity and ensuring work balance.
However, delegating can be difficult, especially when you are doing things on your own and your own way. There are a lot of possible risks involved – strategies could get confused, end results could be affected, and cleaning up someone else’s mess could mean more work for you. But it is important to note that delegation is not about you, it is about your colleagues and employees and these strategies will help to achieve set goals.
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Learning to let go and hand over tasks and jobs to someone else offers an opportunity for growth for that individual. They also learn on the job, learn from their mistakes, grow in skills and know-how, and have full work experience all the while lighting your table.
However, If you find it difficult to delegate, I have just what you need. Just like any skill, it takes time and practice to learn and effectively delegate appropriately.
Five Strategies to Achieve Set Goals
Learn to Let Go
The first step in delegating is letting go. It might sound so simple, but letting go can be one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. Sometimes, leaders are stuck in their routine of accomplishing anything and the idea of outsourcing or delegating seems a little too foreign. The risk of your worker ruining the entire project may also seem too great to address. But it has to be done.
You can also start things off by delegating smaller projects. Look at all the tasks involved and start by giving the smallest task to do.
Give Instructions
If you find it difficult to delegate, you can ensure a good result by giving the necessary instructions. This is a great proactive strategy to ensure that the activity is performed effectively and to your standards. No matter how easy or minute the task is, make sure you clearly state how you want the work to be done, the milestones you want to achieve, explain the strategies to be used and the expected result.
You can do this by sending a detailed email to the worker stating your expectations or by holding a small meeting in which you specifically indicate what you need to do. You can also have the worker check-in with you every hour or 3 hours to give you updates on the progress of the work. This way, you minimize the mistakes and have more confidence in delegating more tasks and jobs.
Delegate Based on Your Employee’s Strengths
Different jobs require different skills. As a leader, it is important to be able to identify each employee’s strengths and weaknesses. This ability will help you to choose which worker to give which job.
If the job requires writing skills, choosing a worker who is not well versed in writing would not be the best option. Take a step back and see how each worker can handle the set task and choose the one who is experience in the required area.
It is also important to note that assigning the same type of tasks to the same worker will help improve their ability to perform tasks of that nature and these strategies will help to achieve set goals.
Delegate With Confidence, But Be Sure To Check
For a seamless delegation process, you need to stay abreast of the work / activities carried out. For the most part, you have to trust the worker running the job. Leaders need to be able to build trust with those who work with them so that they will make the best decision when it comes to accomplishing set tasks.
However, in trusting the worker, it is important to check in and verify that the work is going according to plan, especially if they are beginners when it comes to managing the jobs. Call, email or drop by to see if they need help, guidance, and most importantly, to see that the work will is done on time.
By relying on the worker to get the ball rolling, you give him the confidence he needs to work effectively at any skill, alone or as part of a team. And by checking in, you demonstrate that it’s important to get a second and third opinion on the work, especially if they are handling it on your behalf.
Give Feedback
Feedback is a very important part of delegating effectively. The work done and now that it’s done you have to tell the workers how they behaved. If they did well, you need to acknowledge the job well done and encourage them. If they haven’t done well as expected, constructive criticism should be the next step. Let them know how they could have done better and the loopholes you noticed.
