Delegate it to someone who prefers collaborating. Authority. Instead, use the strength of your department's own resources--such as partners, subordinates, or interns--to evenly distribute the workflow and get the best results for your company. As a business owner, chances are, you typically wear a lot of hats. It can feel like you’re trying to do a million different things at once—and with so many tasks and responsibilities on your plate, it can be easy for things to fall through the cracks. Your delivery when you delegate a task is what’s going to make them feel respected, valued, and appreciated (or not). It’s about giving them more responsibility and trusting them to take on more within your company. If you're overwhelmed with work, preserve your department's efficiency with these seven delegation strategies: 1. If you have a technology-related task to delegate, you’re going to want to delegate it to one of your more tech-savvy employees—not the team member who is still getting up to speed on Word or Excel. How to Delegate the Right Way. Entrust is a key word in delegating: It means that you care about the results of what you delegate, and you’re willing to provide the support needed to help the employee … First, let me say that micromanagement is not advisable. Ask: 'What is the result I want accomplished?' Something went wrong while submitting the form. Select the right person to delegate to.. 5. Not all tasks and responsibilities are created equal—and if you delegate responsibilities or tasks to someone that isn’t suited to tackle them, you’re not going to get the desired results. Some professionals fear delegation because it means relying on an outside party to execute quality work, but if you surround yourself with reliable workers, you'll never have to worry about things being done right. Is This Something I Should Do? Use follow-up tasks to keep your workers on point. Maybe you’re protective of your work, you love performing a certain task, or you worry about your team’s capabilities. Define the desired outcome. Delegating a task, only to nitpick every detail and every choice your coworker makes while executing that task, will only frustrate your coworker and make you busier than you would have been had you just tackled the task yourself. Your delivery will go a long way in how your delegation request is received, how your employee feels about the new task or responsibility, and how successful they’ll be in completing it. Don’t stop asking your employees to do tasks when needed, just recognize that’s not real delegating. Over time, the additional stress and hours of work will take a toll on your health, both professionally and physically. The decision to delegate is usually made by the manager. Be sure to select dates that are reasonable enough that they can be achieved, but aggressive enough that they inspire your workers to keep the task top-of-mind. And how can you ensure that your delegation process is an efficient and effective one—both for yourself and your employees? Some leaders see their role as an opportunity to shed the responsibility for the boring tasks on their list and dish them out to their team. Learn how Izzy’s Brooklyn Bagels got their time back. But do you really have to be the person posting on social media or answering customer emails? To delegate effectively in your work with others, there are six steps that you can take. It's also important to set a tone of respect, so they understand they are being relied on and appreciated. Ask how effective you were in setting expectations, and if your timelines were reasonable. But how, exactly, do you delegate work to employees? Some leaders don’t want to explain too much, out of busy-ness. When your workforce runs like a well-oiled machine where every individual plays a crucial role, company culture will skyrocket. Like with the task objectives, it's a good idea to send out an email recap that reiterates each phase of the timeline. This is especially useful for tasks that don't have a strict deadline, or complicated tasks that will encounter several milestones before being completed. Delegate a mixture of tasks to ensure fairness to you and your staff. Examples include conducting performance and salary reviews as well as training, reprimanding and terminating employees. The point is, if you want to drive your desired results with delegation, the tasks you choose are important—so make sure you’re putting thought into which tasks you’re delegating. You can even offer constructive criticism when it’s appropriate. Sometimes, you need a little help to get everything done on time. It's clear which task should go to which intern because this is a cut-and-dry example. Part of being an effective delegator is being able to determine which types of tasks are suitable for delegation, and which types are not. The idea is that you don’t want to just “dump” this on the employee…your intention should be around development. Run payroll, track time and save on workers’ comp. Assigning routine work is quite different from delegating work. Keep up to date with progress, and focus on results rather than procedures. That’s Hourly. Establish controls, identify limits to the work and provide sufficient support, but resist upward delegation. Your submission has been received! It may be difficult for you at first, especially if it feels like none of your tasks can be delegated, but eventually you'll find a rhythm. After you’ve found the perfect person for the job, you still … Even within your department, your coworkers all have unique skillsets, unique preferences, and unique talents. For example, let's imagine you have two tasks you want to delegate--one requires making phone calls to a client and one requires writing up a proposal. Points To Focus On When Answering Questions About How You Delegate Tasks To Employees Make sure that you are able to convey to the interviewer why you think that delegating tasks … Establish a clear set of objectives for each task. Authority and respect are also important when dealing with your peers in a delegation scenario. Avoid “upward delegation,” the temptation for the employee to shift responsibility for the task back to you. Once you have this information, you should have a better idea about how you performed as a delegator, and you can use this information to make delegation easier and more effective in the future. Ask them to brainstorm delegation strategies geared towards improving day-to-day operations and have them run their ideas by you before they mobilize their plans. But if you want to grow your business, delegation is essential. If an employee is not familiar with some aspects of the work, offer some training to prepare them for the task. Establish authority and respect. Delegation is one of the best management tools for increasing employee morale, job satisfaction, trust between team members and manager, and the company’s bottom line. You know which employees you want to delegate those tasks to. The last tip on how to effectively delegate tasks to employees is the importance of giving constant feedback. Some professionals wear a heavy workload as a kind of badge of honor, considering it a point of pride or evidence of job security, but that isn't a valuable long-term strategy to deal with the increased load. Bottom line? The ability to delegate is one of the hallmarks of a successful leader. Some CEOs/owners don’t want to show employees the big picture. But if you want delegation to enable you to get more done in your business—and encourage growth in your employees—letting go of that control and trusting your team to complete their tasks is a must. Track time automatically, reduce payroll errors, increase productivity. Identifying the right tasks for delegation starts with looking at the tasks you’re currently managing yourself and figuring out which tasks actually need your involvement—and which can easily be managed by other members of your team. 6. Delegate the whole task to one person.. If you’ve been managing a task or responsibility on your own, it can be hard to let it go. If you're overloaded with work, you won't be able to do your work as effectively, and if you're constantly stressed, you're more likely to become sick or develop chronic ailments. Of all the delegation skills you can master as an effective leader, how you actually delegate tasks to your employees is one of the most important. No matter what type of task you're delegating, … Play to your coworker's strengths. Establish a clear set of objectives for each task. Before you start delegating, make sure you’re delegating tasks to the employees who are best equipped to manage those tasks—otherwise, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment (both for yourself and for your employee). Teach Others to Delegate. But the entire reason you’re delegating tasks is to get things off your plate and free up some of your time and energy to focus on more important issues in your business—and if you’re spending that time and energy hovering over your employees’ shoulders to make sure they’re doing their work correctly, it kind of defeats the point. 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