Delegation in its purest form means entrusting someone with an objective and the responsibilities that go with it. It is not the same as giving tasks and constantly supervising their progression. Autonomy and limited creative freedoms are essential components and the driving forces behind delegation.
To delegate or not to delegate is often presented as a choice of the CEO or the business owner. However, in reality, it is not a choice. At some point, a business owner’s responsibilities become so large that they can no longer handle it physically or mentally. At that point, he or she must delegate some of his or her authority to others in order to ensure the business functions and he can properly fulfil the responsibilities of the job.
Being an effective manager requires delegating tasks authority, etc. — this is an undeniable part of being successful. However, it isn’t simple and straightforward — there must be sufficient authority, experience and foresight to ensure that the delegation is effectively handled. Neglecting to do this is one of the most frequently made mistakes in organisations.
Employees/contractors must be given a direct explanation of who they are responsible to and who they should take orders from. Chaos always ensues when more than one manager starts to give instructions or orders to the same individual, often contradicting each other.
To avoid chaos, miscommunication, and inefficiencies, there are some rules that need to be followed to succeed at outsourcing, and we’ll shed light on some of the most important ones in this article.
#1 Working on Your Mindset: Accepting the Need for Delegation
Ever before taking any action, in order to delegate effectively, you must first be convinced of the value of delegating and the benefits you will gain from it. Indeed, managers often fail to delegate effectively because they have reservations about this approach and don’t fully buy into all the benefits it provides. They do it by force: more out of compulsion than conviction. And due to that, they don’t delegate systematically and scientifically. They often adopt a haphazard approach and only delegate when they absolutely need to.
However, to delegate effectively, it is essential to adopt the right mindset, learn all the advantages and benefits of delegation, and let that reflect in your business organization.
Why delegate? There are many good reasons why you should take the plunge:
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To motivate your staff and empower them by giving them more control, which acts as a long-term investment.
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To organise and better control your time
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To prioritise your tasks
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To fill skill and expertise gaps that you (or your business) might not own.
#2 Analyse Your Missions, Tasks and Objectives
One of the main reasons for delegating is the workload. We are often overwhelmed by the volume and diversity of our tasks. Delegating becomes the ideal solution to offload certain tasks and free up time to deal with others. But which ones should you choose to delegate and which ones should you focus on yourself? This is an important decision that could mean the difference between success and failure.
Delegation is a good opportunity to organize your tasks: priority, complexity, sensitivity, objectives, skills required to carry them out, etc. Once this analysis has been carried out, you can engage in effective decision making and delegate correctly: you’ll know which tasks you are the only one who can carry out due to the combination of skills involved, access to data required, etc. And you know which tasks should definitely be delegated due to a lack of skills, time, expertise on your part. You know you’ve truly mastered task delegation when you effectively delegate/perform the tasks in between to maximize your company’s revenues.
#3 Choosing the Right Person to Delegate to
Identifying the right assignments is one thing, choosing the right people to carry them out is another. The selection of the right person for the right job is a crucial step in effective delegation. The challenge is to find the person with the experience, technical and personal skills to carry out the assignment in a reliable way while effectively communicating progress.
For example, if you want to successfully develop a website for your business, you likely won’t have the skills yourself, but you can outsource WordPress development to get an excellent, stylish, and responsive website in a short amount of time.
#4 Communicating the Tasks Properly to the Employee
This step determines the success of a collaboration. To ensure good reception and understanding, your initial brief should be simple, clear and intelligible. By following these simple rules, you will increase your chances of delegating effectively and smoothly.
#5 Provide Regular Feedback and Monitor The Process
Delegating does not mean letting go completely. On the contrary, in order to delegate effectively, it is imperative to be available to correspond and communicate with your employee/contractor. Organise regular reviews to keep yourself informed, and you can also provide solutions if necessary.
Proceed gradually by giving responsibility and allowing autonomy as you go along. As you gradually build trust with someone and see how effective they are, you can delegate more work to them.
