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How to Delegate Work (the Definitive Guide for Successful Leaders)

Author: Leon Ho / Source: Lifehack

All managers and leaders must master the art of delegation. Understanding how and when to allocate responsibility to others is essential in maintaining a high level of productivity, both on a personal and organizational level. Knowing how to delegate is also essential for an effective leadership.

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To learn how to delegate is to build a cohesive and effective team who can meet deadlines. Moreover, knowing when and how to delegate work will reduce your workload, thus improving your wellbeing at work and boosting your job satisfaction. Unfortunately, many leaders are unsure how to delegate properly or are hesitant to do so.

In this guide, you will discover what delegation really entails, how it benefits your team, and how to delegate tasks successfully.

The importance of delegation

An effective leader knows how to delegate. When you delegate some of your work, you free up your time and achieve more on a daily basis. Effective delegation also promotes productivity within a team by drawing on the existing skill set of its members and allowing them to develop new knowledge and competencies along the way. The result is a more flexible team that can share roles when the need arises.¹

When you are willing to delegate, you are promoting an atmosphere of confidence and trust. Your actions send a clear signal: as a leader, you trust your subordinates to achieve desired outcomes. As a result, they will come to think of you as a likeable and efficient leader who respects their skills and needs.

Delegation isn’t about barking orders and hoping that your staff falls in line. A manager’s job is to get the very best from those under their supervision and in doing so, maximizing productivity and profit.²

Here’s an example of bad delegation:

Careful delegation helps to identify and capitalize on the unique strengths and weaknesses of the team members. Delegation also boosts employees’ engagement as it proves that the managers are interested in drawing on their talents.³

The fear to delegate

Delegation boosts productivity, but not all managers are willing or able to delegate.⁴ Why? Here’re some common reasons:⁵

They may resent the idea that someone else may get the credit for a project.
They may be willing to delegate in principle but are afraid their team won’t be able to handle an increased degree of responsibility.
They may suspect that their staff is already overworked, and feel reluctant to increase their burden.
They may suspect that it’s simpler and quicker just to do a task themselves.
They dislike the idea of letting go of tasks they enjoy doing.
They fear that if they delegate responsibility, their own manager will conclude that they can’t handle their workload.

Delegation vs Allocation

Most people think that delegation and allocation are synonymous, but there is an important distinction to be made between the two.⁶

When you allocate a task, you are merely instructing a subordinate to carry out a specific action. You tell them what to do, and they do it–it’s that simple. On the other hand, delegation involves transferring some of your own work to another person. They do not just receive a set of instructions. Rather, they are placed in a role that requires that they make decisions and are held accountable for outcomes.⁷

So what’s the best way to delegate work so you can fight the fear of delegation, build an efficient team and work faster?