Delegation, or the lack thereof, is one of the biggest barriers for leaders stuck in their career climb. Their reasons for delegation avoidance are both creative and numerous.

1. “My people are too busy” – Busier than you? Delegation hoarders work more hours than any other leaders I coach. Too busy to be doing work that probably belongs to them and you shouldn’t be doing in the first place?
2. “It takes longer to tell/show someone how to do it than just do it myself” – a wonderful, if expensive, illusion that keeps you mired in reactive to-do’s and not doing what you are really paid to do: lead. The long term impact of preventing your staff from learning is right up there with saying, “I don’t have time to change the oil in my car”.
3. “I tried delegation before but it didn’t work” – I said the same thing with my previous marriage but found out I was doing it all wrong. With clear guidelines to follow and more practice, I got it right this time and so will you!
4. “I feel bad dumping my work on others” – You might need a new definition of work. Leadership is about achieving results through others. It used to be your work. Doing all that work is what got you promoted to where you are today. Continuing to do all that work is going to take you the other way.

Seriously though, peak performers must know how to delegate effectively. Period. Lack of strong delegation skills leads to stress, time management issues, and poorly trained staff (I’m sure global warming is in there somewhere as well). There is no end to information on how to delegate. 30 Steps, 9 Steps, 10 Steps. Check them out, I’ve provided some resource links below – they mostly boil down to the same core list:

• Know what you are delegating. You have to understand the work to know who and how to delegate it.
• Select the right person for the job. Match the task to the person that would do it best or benefit from it most.
• Set clear expectations. This is where most ineffective delegation falls through. Give a clear vision of the end state. Provide the level of detail appropriate to the person you are delegating to, not the level you need. Ask questions to ensure understanding.
• Set appropriate and clear deadlines. For complex tasks or green staff, create mini-milestones.
• Implement a “push” communication mechanism, which requires staff to come to you at pre-determined checkpoints or if problems crop up. You should not have to hunt people down to pull out a status from them.
• Give constructive feedback on results. Praise performance, tweak issues, require rework. Don’t give in to the impulse to revert to #2 (easier to do it myself) if things aren’t right. This is how learning occurs and self-directed teams are made.

Effective delegation is a key tool in your leadership performance toolkit. Start using your delegation muscle today and move up to bigger and better things!

Resources:

8 Guidelines for effective delegation by Edizen

Top Ten Steps To Effective Delegation by Keith Rosen

30 Steps for Effective Delegation (okay…this was written by engineers!)