What is delegation?
The easiest way to define delegation from a managerial standpoint is when a manager or team leader provides another employee the duty and power to finish a task that has been allocated to them.
In the workplace, authority is simply delegated by superiors to subordinates. Neither delegation nor assigning chores to someone else’s desk constitutes the renunciation of responsibility. Delegating well demonstrates your concern.
Importance of delegation in leadership
In addition to facilitating task completion, delegation in leadership also empowers staff by granting them more freedom. Delegation is a crucial technique for increasing team and organizational performance and efficiency because no leader can always do everything.
You Have More Time and Energy for More Important Tasks When You Delegate
Making an effort to update your CRM system and social media accounts on your own as a salesperson or sales manager is a common error. You might not have enough time to complete more crucial duties like studying the newest sales methods and making sales calls as a result.
You can free up time that could be more beneficially used for projects that demand your skill and energy by delegating things that you don’t need to do directly.
Delegation Gives Your Team Power
They are looking for the ideal person to complete the task more effectively than you allowing for a win-win situation. Everyone has their own unique set of abilities and knowledge. The other party gains the opportunity to develop his skills and responsibilities while you complete the task successfully.
Giving people the reins in decision-making encourages their capacity development and increases their sense of worth to the company. Additionally, it breaks up the monotony of a subordinate’s typical tasks and routine and promotes job satisfaction by fostering a sense of shared responsibility. In addition to giving them the chance to excel at a task, the effective delegation also allows you to enjoy watching your team develop and flourish.
Encourages the Development of New Skills
Delegation helps team leaders and their direct reporters develop new abilities. It helps more inexperienced leaders get into a routine of taking accountability for results without feeling like they have to handle every single duty personally. Effective delegation helps leaders develop their capacity for setting goals, giving feedback, and guaranteeing accountability in others. People who are given tasks to do have the chance to pick up new skills or communicate with team members they might not ordinarily work with. They develop their abilities in areas like project management, cooperation, and communication thanks to these novel experiences.
Giving other team members duties to do is simply one aspect of delegation. Effective leaders carefully examine what to delegate and to whom, and they are aware of the benefits of delegation for their team. A fantastic technique to show leaders how to use delegation for increased productivity, empowered employees, and skill-building is through leadership development.
5 principles of effective delegation
1. Think About the Benefits principle
You must first understand that the short-term solution is frequently not the best long-term solution. Giving the proper individuals the correct amount of power can not only improve your future results but also double them while lowering your investment. Time can be increased by delegation. Not shortly, where it won’t matter much, but in the far future, where it will matter more. Either control or growth are options. Both are not compatible.
2. Offer the appropriate tools principle
Make sure the individual you are delegating to has access to the necessary resources to produce the intended results. The essential resources a person requires are called tools. Hardware, software, financial resources, time resources, and even the necessary skills for the task are some examples of resources.
3. Create Touchpoints or a Follow-Up Meeting principle
When you delegate, you offer someone else the authority and control to accomplish one of your job tasks in a professional manner. It’s not a mistake to delegate. Checkpoints are designed to track overall progress because you share responsibility for the assignment.
4. The Scalar Principle
In an organization, the chain of direct authority ties between superiors and subordinates is referred to as the scalar principle. There must be a place where supreme power resides. If a situation is out of their scope, subordinates must be aware of who to contact. The effectiveness of responsible decision-making will depend on how distinct the chain of command is from the top management to each subordinate.
5. The absoluteness of responsibility principle:
Once a subordinate accepts a task, his obligation to his superior is unwavering. Once he gives someone authority, the superior’s responsibilities do not diminish. Only authority, not accountability, may be delegated. Even if the task is assigned to the subordinate, he will still be responsible for it. Therefore, both superiors and subordinates have unwavering accountability.
3 elements of delegation
Three unavoidable essential components of the delegation are at work whenever you assign tasks to a teammate. You must use authority, responsibility, and accountability as a coordinated whole since they are all interrelated.
The Transfer of Power
By giving another team member a task, you can, as a leader, delegate some of your formal power to them. To put it simply, you can deputize your teammate to act on your behalf within the restrictions of the delegated (transferred) authority.
The power of position is primarily where authority originates from. Your capacity to assign others to more difficult, significant, and high-level duties to foster their growth and development increases with your level of authority.
Responsibility Cannot Be Delegated, but It Can Be Assigned
As a team leader, you can delegate accountability for achieving results to another team member. You must remember, though, that you only gave your partner one task to complete.
Your manager will criticize you, not your teammate if they “screw up the thing royally.” In other words, you can never totally delegate any of your duties to another. The objectives or outcomes that must be achieved, not the minute details of how the job is to be done, should be considered when assigning responsibilities.
Accountability Means Obligation
Accountability is the moral pressure a teammate feels to do the tasks allocated to them. Your teammate effectively makes a promise to you either explicitly or implicitly to try her best to complete the tasks associated with the task assignment by accepting it. Your teammate is responsible for completing the assignment, and as a result, you hold them accountable for the outcomes.
5 barriers to delegation
1. The project manager might be personally invested in the assignment
Although you may have a personal interest, your current responsibility is to lead and develop the team. Avoid letting your preferences stand in the way of an effective delegation, especially if it would foster the development of a different team member. Project managers frequently believe that they “can do it better or faster myself.” This might be the case, but it’s again obvious that it won’t benefit the team. Give your team members room to develop.
2. The project manager could not have faith in other people’s abilities
You must be acquainted with every member of the team. Keep in mind that you should be confident in your knowledge of each team member’s skills. Have sporadic one-on-one meetings to get to know the team better and contact the base every day or at least once a week.
3. The project manager can also be concerned about losing control of the task and being unaware of what’s happening
After the delegation, appropriate follow-up is a smart method to stay informed. Establish regular progress review benchmarks. Decide what works best for the circumstances of the activity and project. They may occur at regular intervals or as a portion of the job is finished. Additionally, it is improper to burden or overload someone. Make sure you take workloads into account when selecting the ideal candidate for the job.
4. Team members could be intimidated by criticism for errors or lack confidence
Feedback should be regular and constructive. After making a few delegations, think about how you may alter your delegation technique or the feedback you give to assist and empower the team if this mindset continues to exist.
5. Avoid making erroneous delegations
Anything for which you are responsible and capable of carrying it out, do not delegate. Before assigning a task, make sure it is clearly understood if it is unclear or poorly stated. Or make sure the team member is aware that there might be a hazy task that needs to be completed. In general, delegation is not a smart idea for jobs involving crisis management or those that are private or sensitive. Again, think carefully about how you approach these situations.