How to Delegate to Save Time
Posted in Productivity
If your position in an organization—either paid or unpaid—makes you responsible for a team, you may be able to delegate projects and work to others. By effective delegation, you communicate to your team members that you have confidence in their ability to complete a job or project. As you delegate more frequently, you will develop more of a “feel” for the process. Delegation will allow you to achieve through more through others than you can accomplish on your own. Delegation involves passing responsibility for completion of work to other people. Delegation is useful for the following reasons:
Once people have learned your expectations, they can take responsibility for jobs you do not have time to do.- You can develop people to look after those tasks that are not cost-effective for you to carry out.
- It transfers work to people whose skills in a particular area are better than yours.
- Transfer of responsibility develops the person receiving the tasks and can increase their satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.
The ideal position to reach as a manager is one where your staff carry out all the routine activities of your team. This leaves you time to plan, think, and improve the efficiency of what you are doing. How to delegate The following points may help you in delegating jobs:
- Define the task and identify the outcome, not the process. The process that works for you may not work for others. Perhaps you have been doing a job one way, because that’s how you were taught 20 years ago. When delegating, describe the successful outcome and let the person to find their best way to complete the job. Who knows, you might learn something from them.
- Don’t dump your garbage jobs on your employees. Delegation is not an excuse to get rid of the crap your don’t want to do. Other people will recognize the strategy and will not see it as an opportunity to grow.
- Give enough authority to accomplish the task. If the person receiving the task has to get approval at every step of the process, you might as well do the job yourself. Turn the employee loose, with the resources to achieve the desired outcomes.
- Monitor the process, but allow people room to work. Don’t micro-manage! (See tip 2.)
- Make yourself available for support or feedback. Just because you’re not micro-managing doesn’t mean you disappear completely. Let the person know that you available to answer questions or to review milestones.
- Reward and recognize effort as well as results. An employee who is trying a task for the first time may not get the whole thing correct. Make sure you recognize and reward the effort expended and the steps done well. Then, the next time you delegate, they will be able to build on the successes of their earlier effort.
You don’t have to limit your delegation to professional or formal situations. The effective delegation of household tasks can make for a more organized and efficient home.
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