5 Tips for Effective Delegation
Manager or not, we've all found ourselves in a situation where we need to delegate a task to someone else. Whether it's assigning an important project at work, or delegating laundry duties to someone in your household, some of us still feel uncomfortable delegating. Here are five tips to help you become a master of successful delegation.
1. Consider who you assign the task to.
Your first instinct may be to give the task to the person with the most experience. However, consider giving it to someone on your team with less experience. This gives them the opportunity to grow. Also, utilize people's different skillsets, but be careful not to typecast. There may be someone else just waiting for a chance to do that job.
2. Define the task and identify the outcome, not the process.
The process that works for you may not work for others. Maybe you've been doing a job one way because that's how you were taught 20 years ago. When delegating, describe the successful outcome and let the person find their best way to completion. Who knows, you might learn something from them.
In his book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" Stephen Covey tells a great story about delegating yard work to his young son. He defined what the successful outcome would look like in simple terms "Keep the yard green and clean son." He didn't go on and on about the finer points of how to use the mower, or discuss the watering schedule at length. Clearly define what you want and let go.
3. Agree on deadlines.
Make sure the person understands when their task needs to be done, and
how this fits in with the larger timeline for the whole project. If it's
a long project, agree on a schedule to report the status of the
project. Also, keep in mind that most people work better with short
(realistic) deadlines. Remember in school when you were assigned a term
paper the first day of class? When did you start working on it? The
night before!4. Be around, but not in the middle.
Don't micro-manage but don't disappear completely either. Make yourself
available for support or feedback. Let the delagatee know that you are
there to answer questions or to review milestones. Give accurate and
honest feedback. People want to know how they're doing, and they deserve
your honest opinion.Follow up on assigned tasks and deadlines. One great way to do this is to add assignments to your to-do list and set a popup reminder to check on the status.
5. Don't dump your garbage jobs on your employees.
Delegation is not an excuse to get rid of the crap you don't want to do.
Your employees will recognize that strategy and will not see it as a
development opportunity.
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