Kelly Brown* says the most important lesson for any leader to learn as they advance in their careers is how to delegate appropriately.
When you’ve worked your way up into a position of increased responsibility, it’s normal to feel protective of it.
After all, it was your own hard work and dedication that got you there, and it may have been a long time coming.
Whatever the case, you probably want to keep operating in the same way you have been, in order to safeguard the success you’ve built.
However, your role has changed.
With increased responsibility, it’s likely that new tasks, duties, projects or considerations have been added to your pile.
As your load increases, you might find yourself stretched thin, and unable to give anything the attention it deserves.
At this point, you probably understand that, realistically, you can no longer do everything you have been doing.
What can you do about it that won’t compromise the success you’ve worked so hard for?
Delegation is a logical solution to this problem, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Handing over some of your duties or tasks is a step we’re often reluctant to take.
Here are a few common reasons why.
It’s quicker for us to just do it ourselves; we think we can do it better (and we are right); we don’t trust our team (either consciously or unconsciously).
Sound familiar?
In the short-term, delegation may not feel like it saves much of your time or resources.
However, there are ways to delegate that will ensure you optimise your operations significantly in the longer term.
Furthermore, delegating tasks provides you with an excellent opportunity to train your team.
In due course, your load is lessened, you all operate more efficiently and your team members develop new skills, which furthers their own careers.
Everybody wins!
Here’s how to delegate so the right things get done, in the right way.
Identify what can be delegated:
Start with simple things.
Rather than delegating tasks you don’t like to do, try to delegate those tasks that are easier for your team members to learn.
Tasks that are complex and require extensive skill and experience should be retained by you.
In time, you can scale up the degree of complexity or difficulty of the tasks you delegate, but start small.
Commit to systematic delegation:
Decide to delegate as part of your process.
When you approach a task, plan how and to whom you can delegate various components of it.
Think about who could benefit from the learning that they will receive in completing that component of the task.
Then, think about what else they could learn once they’ve mastered that component.
How could they progress? How will that help to ultimately lighten your load?
Thinking strategically about delegation also means your team gets the chance to practice and gain experience, make mistakes and learn from them in a safe environment.
This process builds confidence, and your confidence in the team.
In the wise words of Benjamin Franklin: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
Identify the strengths of your team:
Set your team members up for growth and give them good odds for accomplishing the task they’ve been assigned.
Think about what they’re good at, and how they can build on it.
Allocating tasks effectively to play to people’s strengths gives them a better chance of success, which gives your attempt at delegation a better chance of success.
Small successes facilitate confidence, which then makes your team members more willing to have a go at other bigger, scarier things.
Align the task with their professional goals and train them accordingly: You’ll also improve the chance of a win if the task aligns with team members’ career goals.
Talk to your team about where they want to go in their professional lives.
If there’s a particular skillset they want to build, plan how you can train them in it.
They’ll feel supported, be more engaged in the task and more invested in the outcome.
When it’s time to train your team, it’s a good idea to approach that aspect strategically, too.
When I started work, my boss showed me a training model that I still use, 30 years later.
- Tell them
- Show them
- Have them show you
- Correct them
- Repeat until right.
This process helps both them and you ensure that tasks are always executed to the standards you expect.
Schedule feedback:
Feedback is an important part of any learning and training process.
Make actual appointments to review the progress of your team members, and give them the opportunity to review it, too.
Allocating regular set times for feedback as part of their training means that any problems can be ironed out before they grow, and any positive developments can be celebrated.
By adopting this systematic approach to delegation, you’ll have more time to do the work that really does need to be done by you.
You will build trust and commitment by empowering your team, and you will facilitate innovation by opening tasks to a fresh set of eyes.
Remember, you can do anything, but you can’t do everything.
*Kelly Brown is the founder of Recovery Partners Australia, a Sydney-based organisation with the mission of reducing the financial and human cost of injury.
This article first appeared on the Recovery Partners Australia website.
