The Power of Effective Delegation

For some reason, many business owners and executives cannot bring themselves to delegate tasks to their employees or team. Unfortunately, this “fear” of Delegation is a real issue. And it can be dangerous.

In my Business Coaching practice, I deal with business owners and executives who struggle with Delegation daily. And, sometimes, I shake my head. But there are several reasons people struggle with or outright refuse to delegate.

One primary reason is that they’re just stubborn and selfish. They won’t delegate because they honestly believe that most team members are stupid, slow, or incapable of doing specific tasks as well as the manager could. So whether they have the time or not, their go-to move is to toss away all options and do everything themselves.

Another reason managers struggle with Delegation is that they just don’t do it right. TELLING is not delegating. Many managers, owners, and executives believe they delegate by telling their people what to do when micromanaging and dictating. How do you think that goes over in today’s business environment? Telling just doesn’t work.

So, I want to let you in on a secret. Delegation is and should be a deliberate leadership strategy!

You will develop an effective and more cohesive team and stronger employees through effective delegations and build future leaders. Delegation allows you to uncover your STARS and your DUDS. You’ll learn very fast who you can count on.

Effective Delegation will happen when you take the time to train your teams to be able to deal with Delegation. You’ll spend more time early on training them, but later, your teams will be able to handle more issues faster and more efficiently than ever, making your life easier.

Effective Delegation is all about leadership.

Effective Delegation is all about TEAM building.

Effective Delegation is about establishing trust and confidence in your team.

To effectively delegate, we must remember a few essential rules:

1. You must have an accurate assessment of your teams’ maturity levels. High-relevant maturity team members will be the most reliable, trustworthy, always willing to step up, and always get the job done. Medium-relevant maturity team members are dedicated but need more training and direction. They’re interested in stepping up. Low-relevant maturity team members need seasoning and more training. A manager will have a low confidence level that they’ll complete a high-priority task
2. When you delegate, you must be clear in what you want to delegate.
3. When you delegate, your instructions to the person you trust to do the task must be clear and always in writing.
4. Effective Delegation must include a specific due date
5. Effective Delegation only happens when the most Qualified person to get the job done is chosen to delegate to.

If Delegation still scares you, let me show you how simple it is once you’ve followed the rules. Here is the “top secret” phrase to use when delegating any task, “Tom, I need your help.”

Yes, it’s as simple as that.