Delegating Is More About Whether You Are Ready
There is nothing more satisfying than delegating a task to a team member and having them deliver it in an extraordinary way. They have taken the time to think through the process, considered ways of doing things differently, or just simply executed what you asked them to do with gusto. It’s always good when this happens, but delegating isn’t always easy, particularly if you don’t know what you want from the start or if your team members lack experience.
Here are four guidelines to successfully delegating tasks:
Delegate when you are ready to let go of control – You should delegate something only when you are ready to let go of control. It is important that you can explain the task in detail, or better yet, do the task yourself. If you don’t know how to do it, then you cannot delegate it. A good delegator knows everything about his/her task and delegates based on their knowledge of skills and knowledge the person they are delegating will need to have be successful.
Recognize your team members’ skills, strengths and weaknesses – Before you delegate, it’s important to recognize your team members’ skills and strengths. You need to know what they are good at and what they aren’t good at so that you can use this information to help you delegate tasks. For example, if a member of your team is really skilled in managing accounts but not as experienced with marketing tactics, it may make sense for you to delegate the accounts management responsibilities while keeping the marketing campaigns in-house. On the other hand, if someone on your team has been struggling with some aspects of his or her role, like writing blog posts or handling customer inquiries via email and live chat software, then assigning them one of these tasks will help improve their productivity by allowing them more time to learn how this task gets done effectively (and how much time goes into doing it).
Communicate the desired outcome clearly – You may be surprised to learn that the most important part of delegating is not actually the delegation itself. The best thing you can do to assure a successful outcome is communicate clearly and openly with your team members. To do this, be clear on what you want to achieve, using a shared understanding of the desired outcome. This helps everyone involved understand their role and stay focused on achieving the same goal. It also encourages your team members to come up with new approaches for getting there—which is especially important if you’re giving people more autonomy than usual in an unfamiliar situation.
Be open to a new way – You will be delegating to someone who has a different perspective of how the task should be done. You might feel that your way is best, but keep in mind that when you delegate a task, you must let go of control over every aspect of it and allow others to do their thing. The person you are delegating to will have a different perspective on how it should be done; this is not bad! It’s great because they can see things from a different angle and come up with new ideas for how things could work out better than before. This can lead to an outcome that’s even better than what was originally planned for or expected by either party involved in the process being delegated.
Effective delegation is a skill that takes time to master, but with these guidelines in mind you will be on your way to becoming a pro. Remember that the person you delegate a task to will have a different perspective on how it should be done, this is not bad. In fact it shows they are engaged in their work and have ideas about how they want it done. Communicating clearly what the outcome should be and being open to new approaches mean that everyone involved can work together effectively towards achieving those goals!
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