Jack of all trades? One man team? This type of thinking will not bring you very far. Some people are hard-wired to handle everything by themselves. However, this is often counterproductive and success would be far from your reach in the long run with this mindset. You may get things done temporarily but sooner or later things will pile up if you do everything by yourself. By that time, you may be too tired and burnt out that you’ll end up with regret and disappointment. So before that happens, you might want to shift your perspective and start effectively delegating work to others. Delegating work to others is having someone to do a task or work activity on your behalf to share the load. Sounds good? Well, it is not as easy as it sounds. So to help you out, here are five tips for effectively delegating your work to others.
COMPATIBILITY
Are you choosing the right person for the task? Is the task something you can authorize him to do? Before delegating, you must be knowledgeable of both the task and those who are capable of doing it for you. Without compatibility between the task and the doer, It will end up being counterproductive because the doer lacks the skills to actually start and complete the task. You will end up consuming a lot of time teaching the individual to learn and acquire the required skill set.
PROVIDE GUIDELINES AND MATERIALS
When you assign a subordinate to do a task, make sure that he or she is equipped with the necessary tools and information to accomplish the task. If you do not provide what your staff needs to succeed in the task, you might end up being bombarded by questions regarding the step-by-step process. Give guidance by explaining how to do it first. You could also demonstrate so that it will make things clearer for him or her.
SUPERVISE
Are you providing proper guidance as he/she gradually progress with the task? Supervision is an essential part of delegating a task. This is because it tells the employee how important the task is and that you are there for guidance. Thus, can serve as a motivation for the employee to do his/her best. However, this is usually misunderstood by those who delegate the tasks, they either overdo it or neglect the importance of it.
When you over-supervise or micro-manage someone, this implies that you do not trust your staff’s ability to get the job done. It can affect the confidence and self-esteem of your staff. On the other hand, neglecting or being an absent leader would imply that you no longer take any responsibility for that task. It is like saying that you do not care anymore and just passing the workload to him/her. Delegating a task does not mean that you are no longer responsible or liable for it. When you delegate, you are still ultimately responsible for the work.
CLARIFY EXPECTED RESULTS
To avoid misunderstandings and disappointments, clarify your expectations and the ideal output while hearing your staff’s suggestions. Make sure that your staff understands the criteria that you will be looking at in the final output or performance. When delegating a task, it is important your target or ideas are in sync with those people you gave tasks to. Repeating a task done by someone you delegated to, because it did not meet your expectations is very time consuming. By clarifying things, errors will be minimized and would promote a more open environment for the both of you.
PROVIDE PROPER FEEDBACK
Lastly, be sure to provide feedback. Providing feedback is an essential step in guiding and reassuring your staff. Without any feedback, there will be no clarity and no room for improvement. The people whom you delegate tasks to may repeat the same mistakes over and over again. This will defeat the purpose of delegating tasks in the first place. Providing feedback will strengthen the relationship between you and your people which could help improve performance in the future.
In conclusion, in order to effectively delegate tasks to others, you must still somehow remain involved in the process. Delegating tasks lessens your presence and effort in the long run but must start with you investing time and effort. It involves a process of verbal and non verbal communication not an instant solution of just passing work and responsibility. Delegating work to others would be a long term advantage for you and would promote career growth among your people. So delegate properly to enjoy its benefits.