Stressed and Overworked? Here’s How To Delegate Tasks Effectively To Your Team
Delegation of tasks is one of the best skills a manager can have. But for many, it’s also the most challenging to accomplish.
We know.
Transferring duties and responsibilities to another person can be daunting, especially when they involve tasks that define a business’s growth and development.
Most managers struggle with the fear of:
- losing control over certain projects
- dumping too much work on others
- establishing work redundancy
- wasting time and resources
But it doesn’t have to be that way!
When done properly and effectively, delegating tasks can be the greatest thing you can do as a manager. After all, businesses that excel in delegating tasks generate 33% higher revenue!
In this article, we’ll dive deep into how to delegate successfully so you can increase your business’s productivity, efficiency, and profitability.
When Should You Delegate?
Delegating is a great management move, especially for remote staff monitoring. However, that doesn’t mean every task or responsibility can be transferred from one person to another.
Before passing on assignments and distributing work, you must first do a quick assessment to determine if delegation is indeed necessary or appropriate.
To start, ask yourself these questions:
- Is this a task I should delegate? Or is it critical that I do it myself? There might be high-impact duties that require your attention.
- Can this task be accomplished by someone else?
- Is there someone capable of doing this work? Take a moment to consider whether or not a team member is equipped with the information, context, and bandwidth to finish the task.
- Is this task more aligned with another team member’s abilities and priorities?
- Will this task be an opportunity for my team members to grow their knowledge and skills?
- Is this a recurring task? Or, will a similar project occur in the future?
- Do I have enough time to delegate this task? Doing so may include extra activities such as training, answering questions, reviewing the work, etc.
- Do we have enough time and resources to rework the outputs if necessary?
- How will it affect the business if the task is not accomplished correctly? Does the project have enough room for errors and revisions?
If you said YES to most of these questions, then delegating might be the answer.
Not all of these boxes need to be ticked for you to initiate your delegation of tasks, though. Use these questions as a metric in identifying which tasks can be delegated or not.
Successful delegation also greatly depends on who you will delegate the work to and precisely how you will get on with it.
To Whom Should You Delegate?
Learning how to delegate tasks starts with knowing WHO you should be delegating them to. Identifying the right people for the job is the first step to success!
When transferring responsibilities to another team member, a manager must ensure that the work is aligned with the worker’s knowledge, skills, and experience.
For example, if you have tasks that involve handling your business’s financial records, then delegating them to a team member with adequate accounting or bookkeeping experience will minimize the risks of costly mistakes.
So – how will you spot the right person to do the work?
Let’s break the criteria down into three considerations:
Skills
When it comes to delegation of tasks, choosing the right person for the job depends on their potential to do it well. Ask yourself: do they have sufficient knowledge on this project? What skills do they already have?
It would be best if you also considered their work style. Can they work independently with little to no direction? Can they take feedback and apply it to the task at hand?
Their interests are also worth considering. Determine if the tasks you will be delegating are in line with what they envision for their career path, long-term objectives, and expectations.
Experience
Delegation of tasks is easier when you transfer them to someone with enough experience related to the job.
Most of the time, experienced workers can get the job done with minimal supervision. It fast-tracks the process and lessens the back-and-forth discussions, since they already know what to do.
What about inexperienced workers? Are they completely out of the picture? Absolutely not! In cases where an inexperienced employee is the only option, you can provide training and assistance to guide them through the process.
That is, if you have enough time and resources to do so.
Workload
Before assigning a task to a team member, it’s important to check their current workload. Do they have enough capacity to work on a new task?
Assessing whether or not an employee has enough bandwidth will determine if they are capable of handling an additional task. Plus, it will help you decide if you need to make adjustments, such as reshuffling or other responsibilities or changing task prioritizations.
How To Delegate - A Manager’s Guide
Once you’ve identified the right people at the right seats, it’s time to delegate! Whether you’re a business owner looking to expand your team or a manager in charge of remote staff monitoring,
Step #1: Identify the desired outcome
Start with the end in mind. Before anything else, you must define the targets and desired results upon completion of the task or project.
Lack of direction is the reason why employees misunderstand the requirements, misinterpret your expectations, and fail to meet the deadlines. That’s why a clear understanding of a task’s outcome is a MUST! Otherwise, it would be difficult to execute what needs to be done.
Pro tip: prepare a work completion criteria that contains specific parameters for tracking, measuring, and marking a task’s completion.
And don’t forget to prepare a clear and realistic timeline with definite deadlines for each task. That way, you can ensure all deliverables are done in a timely manner!
Step #2: Determine and assign the tasks
Not all tasks can be delegated. As we’ve mentioned, high-critical tasks designed for long-term success stay with you. Those day-to-day tasks that don’t require your oversight, on the other hand, are worth delegating.
Once you’ve identified which is which, let the delegation of tasks commence!
Start by establishing lines of authority, responsibility, and accountability. This is where an Accountability Chart or Organizational Chart comes in. Use this as reference to delegate appropriately, enhance collaboration, and most importantly, eliminate work overlaps.
Then, communicate the task’s context, scope, deadline, and outcomes to the employee. You can conduct strategic planning sessions to align the assignee with your expectations and maintain a clear grasp of the project.
If possible, include them in the delegation process too! Empower them to take on tasks they can excel in and decide on fair and workable timelines.
Step #3: Use feedback loops
Feedback is essential to delegation, especially in remote staff monitoring. It allows you to stay in touch with your team and enhance the end-to-end flow of inputs.
Feedback loops are a great opportunity for team members to freely air out their concerns, challenges, and suggestions that will increase the success rate of a project. Constantly checking to see if they’re on track eliminates delays, too!
It could be a 10-minute Huddle or a weekly L10 meeting where team members get to share updates, milestones, and goals about certain projects.
Step #4: Offer support and motivation
Be the manager that’s always open to listen and ready to assist. Employees can reach maximum productivity when they can rely on a manager who’s readily available to answer questions and help them overcome major setbacks.
The best way to lessen possible roadblocks is by providing employees with the tools and resources they need to accomplish their tasks efficiently.
5 Tips for Effective Delegation of Tasks
It’s not enough that managers know the basics of how to delegate. There are extra steps you can take to succeed at delegating – and here are some of them!
Focus on results
Delegating tasks is not just about getting things done; it’s also about allowing your team members to develop their own methods, processes, and strategies.
The thing is, you don’t delegate tasks just to make the person accomplish them the way YOU would have done it. Instead, take what has been accomplished. Review if it's aligned with your expectations and desired outcomes. And finally, rework if necessary.
Doing so frees up your time and enhances your team’s capabilities at the same time. It’s a win-win!
Use a project management tool
Great managers are good at project management. While it’s a tough skill to master, luckily, there are tools that make it a lot easier to execute.
Clickup and Monday.com are good examples of project management software, especially for remote staff monitoring. You can create an online workflow and get your entire team on board.
Here, you can delegate tasks and sub-tasks, track progress, set priorities, and enhance collaboration through file sharing and communication.
Play to your team member’s strengths
Delegation of tasks is about setting your team up for success. How will you do that? Start by recognizing your team members’ strengths, weaknesses, and interests. This way, you can assign them to projects you know they will excel in. This also provides enough room for them to hone their skills and knowledge.
Avoid “upward delegation”
Be the manager that assists, but don’t be one that takes back the responsibility. If a team member encounters a problem, urge them to come up with a solution instead of directly asking you for an answer.
This is why early on, providing clear context and proper guidance is important. It empowers team members to work independently and enhance their problem-solving skills.
Give credit where it’s due
Once the work has been delegated and done, give credit to team members who successfully completed the tasks. Appreciate every individual for a job well done, so they can apply the same vigor and success to the succeeding projects.
It boosts employee morale, too!
Delegating for Success
In the words of Helen Keller, “alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”.
Knowing how to delegate tasks properly is the key to becoming a better manager. It’s also a great opportunity for team members to immerse themselves in challenging yet rewarding projects that align with their interests.
And the best part?
Proper delegation of tasks not only allows business owners and managers to focus on their core functions and scaling ventures. It also maximizes their personal and professional productivity. That, while enhancing team collaboration and building trust within the organization.
Want to know which tasks you delegate? Talk to us today! You can also browse the MultiplyMii Talent Pool to meet A+ Filipino candidates with distinct specializations, industry expertise, and extensive experience in various fields.
