Though you don’t need any specific skills to learn delegation, it does require you to put all your experience and understanding about yourself, the work, and your team into action. Delegation is not about dumping random tasks to random people to free some time for yourself. It requires you to think, then plan, and act later.
It takes a whole set of steps for effective delegation – to a level where it makes a difference to your routine and career growth and helps you to focus more on essential tasks only you must do.
Practical Delegation Skills You Must Own
As mentioned above, delegation skills are primarily about applying your existing knowledge to the pedal. Let me show you how:
#1. Communication:
Listening to what other people say about the delegated work and their concerns or suggestions is very important. Be clear in setting the right expectations. What do you expect from them, when is the task due, and what quality measures do they need to keep in check, etc.?
- Correct any miscommunication as and when you notice.
- Have regular sync-ups with the team to keep track of work progress.
#2. Planning:
Correctly identify the tasks that can and cannot be delegated. Both are important.
Identify the right person with the right skills to match the delegated task. Your understanding of the team comes into practice here, as not everyone can do everything. Delegate tasks according to their abilities, and you’ll always find a 100% outcome.
#3. Organizing:
Provide detailed instructions and all the right resources needed to complete the task. To do so, you’ll have to up your organizing skills of collecting all the materials, flagging any meaningful email conversation, using the right tools to track all the information, etc.
#4. Feedback:
Provide necessary support for the delegated work. Ensure any mentoring (for example, if the person is new to the team or work) or any assistance with tools (license, IT support, etc.) is needed and do the needful.
- The more you appreciate the work done by others, the more confidence they get to perform better.
- Do the proper evaluation of the work, share what went right or wrong, and if you have any suggestions for improvement.
Timely feedback and proper evaluation are one of the best techniques to help your team grow and build trust with each other.
#5. Time Management:
As it goes for all work, time management is crucial for delegated work. Reason? Simple, delegated or not; work is work. Delegation doesn’t take away your accountability for those tasks.
- Keep track of delegated tasks. You must know who is doing what.
- Set up reasonable deadlines and reminders.
- Ensure to inform the delegatee (who will do the delegated work) of the same.
#6. Trust:
Anytime when you involve another person with you, trust becomes an essential factor.
Stay open-minded to accept new ways of work. Your solution or work style may be the best, but others’ methods are not always wrong. Give the person the necessary space to be creative and innovative.
Once you assign the work, you start focusing on the other aspects (for example, quality, negotiation, etc.) which still require your attention instead of micromanagement. Don’t micromanage things.
#7. Patience:
There are barriers associated when it comes to delegation. Those barriers work two-way. You might have an issue delegating work; the other person might have problems accepting the delegated work. Allow the person to take on the delegated tasks. Give them time to understand what you are expecting, the type of work they are getting into, how it aligns with their goals, etc. If possible, address these issues when you sense hesitations (put your EI on alert!).
It may take time and a couple of attempts for the delegates to do the things as per your expectation. Be patient and share timely feedback; the person will most likely come out on top.
Apart from these skills, there are some other skills also which will help you be sharp with the delegation and your growth:
- Negotiation
- Interpersonal communication
- Verbal communication
- Team-building
- Positivity and motivation
- Conflict resolution
- Resilience
- Vision
Though delegation may require so much effort and skills, trust me, once you have the right mindset, none of this seems overwhelming or burdening.
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