Effective delegation empowers teams and makes the best use of company resources. Many leaders struggle with delegation because it requires total trust in staff members, clear communication and project management skills.
The art of delegation is a crucial leadership skill. Learn more about how to avoid faulty delegation, the impacts that good and bad delegation can have on your company, and a simple, yet effective delegation process.
The Dump and Run – the Wrong Way to Delegate
Leaders oversee many business-critical functions and processes. And as such, there’s certainly a temptation to simply dump and run.
During this process, a leader gives a task or project to a staff member or an entire team and walks away with no oversight or guidance. The team must then jump to conclusions, guess on goals and outcomes, and finalize a project that might not look the way the leader intended at all.
The dump and run often leads to rework and reduced productivity, and ultimately takes no burden off of the leader. It can lead to missed deadlines, unnecessary delays and financial implications.
And the next time the leader approaches that team or employee to complete a task, they’ll lack the confidence and trust in the leader to take on something new.
In some cases, leaders only delegate the mundane tasks or the ones they dislike doing. This doesn’t offer team members diverse and interesting work to keep them motivated and excited about their work. And they dump and run because they know the project won’t interest the team.
Many dump-and-run leaders believe that they are delegating appropriately because they aren’t micromanaging the team. And while it’s true that you don’t want to be a micromanager, you also need to support your team and be there to answer questions.
The Impact of Good and Bad Delegation
The differences between good and bad delegation are apparent in the work outcomes. Here’s a comparison of the impact of good and bad delegation.
Good Delegation Impacts
- Trust throughout your organization
- Improved efficiency and productivity
- Time for leaders to plan and strategize
- Team members acquire skills to build succession plans
- Companies build shared knowledge and processes for doing things
- It promotes regular and effective communication among teams and their leaders
- Brings diversity of thinking to projects instead of one person constantly handling that work
Bad Delegation Impacts
- Leaders remain stressed and overworked
- Team members have low morale and are undermotivated
- Staff turnover is high
- Productivity is lower than it could be
A Simple Delegation Process that Works
So if you shouldn’t micromanage and you can’t just dump and run on projects, how does effective delegation work? Here’s a look.
- Start by considering the strengths of your team members. Try to delegate projects that you know they will thrive on and enjoy. From time to time, delegate tasks that will help them grow and develop their skills. This builds the kind of diversity in work that engages, motivates and retains top talent.
- Spend time with your team explaining the goals and objectives for the process. Then provide a written version of the expectations for the project for later reference.
- Allow time for initial questions and reactions to the project and listen with an open mind. Know that no question is a bad question and answering those questions will prepare your team to complete the task.
- Set clear expectations for the timeline and budget for the project.
- Follow up from time to time to see how the project is going. This doesn’t mean asking for a status or redoing any of the work that you don’t think is perfect just yet. The goal is to make yourself available to the group regularly to answer questions as needed.
- Review the project and outcomes to provide feedback for future projects and develop your team. Offer mentorship when needed to help your team grow and improve upon their skills.
- Spend some time reviewing lessons learned to allow your team to self-reflect and come to conclusions on their own about things they could do better next time.
Building Delegation Skills for Leaders
When you start delegating effectively, you’ll build loyalty between you and your staff while freeing up time for you to focus on strategic initiatives that you might otherwise not have time for.
Delegation and motivating teams are just a few of the leadership skills Stephen Eric Wright helps managers and executives master through coaching and mentorship. Stephen takes his decades of experience as a manager, director, and president and CEO to guide leaders to success. Schedule a call with Stephen now to learn more about how to become a more skilled delegator and lead your teams to success.
