How to Delegate
Delegation involves giving others responsibility to complete some of your work or undertake certain tasks on your behalf. There are a number of situations in which you may choose to delegate, but whatever the reason, it is important that you manage the delegation process effectively. This guide provides some best practice advice for doing this.
Why delegate?
It is not unusual for people to feel anxious about delegation, either through fear of losing control over the quality or timeliness of their work, or because they feel guilty about increasing another person’s workload. However, when undertaken effectively using the steps outlined in this guide, delegation can bring about a number of valuable benefits to both parties, including:
making your workload more manageable, allowing you to get on with essential work that only you can do
increasing your chances of meeting deadlines by removing the distraction of non-essential work
providing a development opportunity to the employees to whom you delegate, particularly if the work is something they wouldn’t normally have the chance to get involved with
empowering and motivating employees by showing you trust them to undertake important tasks for which you have responsibility
gaining a new perspective or fresh ideas about your work, as a result of the employee’s input
Suggestions
Following these guidelines when you delegate a task or piece of work should help ensure the delegation process is effective for both you and the employee to whom you delegate.
1. Establish a purpose
The first step of the delegation process is to establish the reason for delegating work, and the objectives you want to achieve. Do you want to clear your workload so you can focus on more important or time-critical tasks, for example? Or do you want to give a particular team member the opportunity to develop their skills in a certain area? Taking the time to establish this will not only lend clarity and focus to the delegation process, it will also guide you in terms of identifying what you want to delegate and to whom.
2. Identify work that can be delegated
Having established a purpose for embarking on the delegation process, you should have a good idea of the type of work that you want to delegate. However, before making any final decisions, it is a good idea to:
• Think carefully about the nature of the work you are about to delegate and whether it really does have to be completed by you. If you find it difficult at first to identify work that others might be able to complete, it can be useful to consider what you would do if you were about to go on annual leave. Would you be happy to pass it to someone else in these circumstances? Of course, if you really do have to do the work yourself, you should identify something more appropriate to delegate, but it is important to keep an open mind when considering your workload and to always ask: ‘am I really the only person who can do this?’
• Try to delegate whole jobs, rather than parts of tasks, wherever possible. Delegating only parts of tasks can be confusing for the other person, and you may find yourself spending a lot of time explaining the background and context of the task to them before they can get started. For example, if you require support in researching a range of suppliers for a particular service you need, it is generally better practice to delegate the research project in its entirety, and not just a single aspect of it, such as sourcing quotes from shortlisted suppliers.
• Aim to delegate interesting work, wherever appropriate. It can often be tempting to delegate only the straightforward tasks that take little effort but a lot of time, and to work on the more interesting projects yourself. However, this may lead to employees feeling as though you are using delegation simply as a means of getting other people to do your less exciting work for you. This will undermine the potentially motivational impact of delegation, and will make people less willing to take on delegated work in the future.
3. Choose who to delegate to
The next step in the process is identifying to whom you should delegate the work. You may have had a particular individual in mind when choosing which tasks to delegate, but if you are unsure who to delegate to, it is important to:
• Consider the skills and strengths of the various ‘candidates’ to whom you could delegate. Does one person have a particular skill set, background or knowledge base that would make them particularly well placed to take on this piece of work? The ultimate responsibility for the delivery of the delegated work still lies with you, so choosing the most appropriate person to delegate to is a vital part of the delegation process.
• Aim to choose someone for whom the delegated work will represent a development opportunity. While they should be well qualified in terms of skills and/or background, they shouldn’t necessarily find the work ‘easy’.
• Ensure that the employee to whom you delegate can realistically complete the delegated work within the required timeframe. It is a good idea to meet with the employee first to ask them to honestly assess their current workload, and consider whether they can accommodate your request. If they can’t help, thank them for their honesty, and consider who else might be better positioned to take on the delegated work.
4. Agree objectives
It is important to set clear boundaries and objectives for the delegated work, rather than explaining in step-by-step detail how you want the work to be done. To this end, it is a good idea to meet with the employee before they embark on the delegated work in order to establish these parameters and to answer any questions they might have. Make it clear that you have every confidence in their abilities and that you are on hand to provide them with any additional information and/or support they might need.
The employee should not feel as though they have simply been left to get on with the work on their own, but equally they should know that you trust them to approach the work in the most appropriate way and to deliver it on time without being micro-managed.
5. Review progress
Once the delegated work is underway, it is important to review progress regularly. This is both to ensure the quality and timeliness of the work, and to provide the employee with support as they complete it. The reviewing process should be seen as a collaborative one, which provides you both with the opportunity to catch up and discuss the work constructively. Taking the following steps will help to ensure the review process is successful and mutually beneficial:
• Review against established objectives. The objectives that you established with the employee before they began the work should be used as the framework for reviewing progress. This will provide a clear focus to the review process, and will help both you and the employee to assess progress objectively.
• Review little and often. Leaving your review to just before the deadline will give you little time to take action if the delegated work has not gone according to plan, or if certain objectives have not been met. It is therefore a good idea to review progress at regular intervals throughout the delegation process. Reviewing progress doesn’t necessarily mean holding several long and detailed meetings with the employee; it can be as straightforward as sending a quick email asking them how they are getting on in relation to the established objectives.
• Keep your door open. Reviewing is a two-way process, and there may be times where the employee will want to request a progress review with you. It is important to make it clear that reviewing progress can be instigated by either or both of you, and you are happy for the employee to approach you with their own requests to review progress.
6. Say thank you!
Throughout the delegation process it is good practice to offer encouragement to the employee. It is particularly important to show that you have appreciated their efforts once the work has been concluded. A simple email saying ‘thank you’ or well done’ will be effective, but if someone has gone the extra mile for you then you may want to consider additional forms of recognition, like a morning off, an extended lunch or even a small financial reward, if appropriate. This will show the employee that you value their hard work and it will make them even more willing to take on delegated work in the future.
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