How to delegate tasks effectively
When you start a company or a new project, the most common thing is to take care of everything. But, as the business and projects grow, delegating becomes an unavoidable necessity if you want to continue growing. In this note, we tell you what you need to know to delegate tasks effectively.
What does it mean to delegate and what are the keys to doing it well?
Delegating implies entrusting a task from one person to another. It means giving up the responsibility of executing a task (or a series of tasks) to another person.
This allows you, as the main person in charge, to focus on those tasks that have a high strategic impact for your objectives and, in turn, give other members the opportunity for growth. Delegating is considered one of the most important qualities of a good leader.
The key is to decide not only to whom to delegate and how to do it, but also to choose correctly which tasks to delegate and which not. Remember that “delegating” is not the same as “relegating”. The second is “leave aside”; a very serious mistake, because you forget both the execution and the control and you cannot see if you will reach the intended objective.
Another fairly common mistake is to delegate control, supervision of the result. This is equivalent to losing sight of the situation, often with very unintended consequences. It does not mean that you should make the decisions, but that you take care of controlling the results achieved.
7 tips to delegate effectively
1. Disregard the reasons why you are (or may be) afraid to delegate: own ego, job security, insufficient team capacity, lack of time, guilt for burdening another member with work.
2. Determine which tasks are truly delegable. You need to take into account: the strategic tasks, the operational tasks, the complexity of the task, the knowledge of the team, the deadlines, the priorities and the interest shown by the team members.
3. Know your team well: what their capabilities, skills and limitations are. It is important that you know well what you can assume and what you cannot. Avoid seeing the latter as a fixed limitation and ask yourself what he needs to achieve it and what you can do for him.
4. Transmits all the necessary information so that the team or person responsible can carry out the delegated work. Otherwise, it is unlikely that you will be able to perform the tasks the way you want and get the expected results.
5. Trust those you delegate to. If you do not allow them to decide, in addition to executing, you are not delegating the responsibility of the task, but only its execution. You must leave the necessary space for action, but you have to verify the result achieved.
6. Focus on results. Do not pretend that others work like you, or that they make the same decisions and obtain the same results. If the objective is met in a timely manner, the task is well done. This does not mean that you cannot intervene with observations and/or suggestions on the subject.
7. Acknowledge success and train for failure. If a task has been completed successfully, highlight it. If, on the contrary, it has not worked, teach. For nothing in the world do you take credit for the achievement by overshadowing the person responsible.
We hope that these tips and keys to delegating tasks effectively will be useful for you to implement in your day to day. Remember to follow us here, for more fundamental tips.