How to Delegate
Published on: Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Delegation is: The process of effectively using group members by sharing authority and entrusting them with responsibility
Delegation is one of the most important management skills. It allows you to manage your own workload, and it empowers your employees. Follow these six steps to support successful delegation to your team.
How do you know which work to delegate?
Try this:
- Identify tasks with sensitive implications and keep them for yourself.
- Identify tasks that might impact outside your department - across the organization – and keep them for yourself.
- Identify tasks that others might be more skillful at completing and give them to others.
- Identify tasks that others might enjoy more than yourself and give them to others.
Ask yourself, “Could this task be done successfully by someone else?” If yes, it may be a good idea to give it someone else. Try to ensure you do only what others in the team cannot do.
Planning your Delegation
Select the staff
- Match the task or responsibility to their interests and skills
Make sure the work is relevant to the staff’s role and ability.
- Balance challenge with support
Show trust in the staff that they can do the work, give them time and space to try it themselves. Let them know the resources available to them, and what support or help is available.
- Be sure not to overload them
Ensure that they have the time to take on the work.
- Consider the staff’s developmental needs
Will they need any extra training or development to do this work?
6 Steps of Delegation
1. Tell why the job is important
2. Define the results that you want and need
3. Define the authority the person has to get the job done
4. Mutually agree on a deadline
5. Ask for feedback as to understanding
6. Set up controls
As a giver of delegated tasks you must ensure delegation happens properly. To effectively delegate, you must explain why the job or responsibility is being delegated. What is its importance and relevance to the project, the department, or the organization?
It is also important to state the expected results: what must be achieved by the person(s) to whom you are delegating. Let them know what will be the controls that you use to measure and evaluate progress on the job. Make sure they know how you intend to decide that the job is being successfully done. Set regular ‘check-in’ times or points, and give feedback on the results so far.
Let them know what authority they have to perform this task. What resources will be available to them? What is the budget they can spend? Think about who else needs to know what's going on too, and inform them. Do not leave the person to inform their own peers of their new responsibility. Warn the person about any awkward matters of politics or protocol. Inform your own boss if the task is important, and of sufficient profile.
1. Tell why the job is important
- Spell out the specifics of the task
- Identify priorities within the task
- Identify any constraints
- Explain how the task fits with the team or organization mission and goals
2. Define the results that you need and want
- Try to set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound) goals
- Explain how will you measure results from this work
- Describe what the finished result should look like
3. Define the authority the person has to get the job done
- Determine what level of authority the team member is capable of handling
- Communicate the level of authority assigned (resources, directing others, budgets etc.)
- Notify others of the authority granted
4. Mutually agree on a deadline
- Confirm the staff understands and can meet the deadline
- Explore if there are any issues which might cause a delay
5. Ask for feedback as to understanding
- Invite questions from the staff
- Ask the staff to summarize the information to confirm understanding
6. Set up controls
- Identify opportunities for communication during the process - agree ‘check-in’ points
- Request scheduled updates from the staff
- Record performance and provide appropriate feedback
- Allow for mistakes, be prepared to offered counseling and coaching when needed.