Effective managers know how and when to delegate important tasks. If you’re seeking leadership roles within your organization, it is important to understand the difference between offloading work just for the sake of it and strategic delegation.
Effective leaders delegate tasks to employees who have the skills to accomplish the task in a timely manner. These personalized assignments should always be made with the business’s best interests in mind.
Benefits of Delegating
Effective delegation can boost employee morale while helping upper-level management avoid burnout. Delegating can:
- Encourage employees to learn new tasks
- Promote collaboration
- Engender trust between managers and staff
- Help even workloads among workers
- Improve interoffice communication
- Prepare workers for promotion
When employees are entrusted with an important task, the worker feels valued and empowered. Conversely, business leaders who hold on to too many tasks can inadvertently lower morale because workers feel that their talents are not appreciated.
Barriers to Effective Delegation
Many business leaders believe that their leadership roles are time intensive. They may also worry that less experienced staff members cannot perform certain tasks to a high standard. Business leaders may be reluctant to delegate because they:
- Think it will take less time if the job is not delegated
- Don’t trust their employees’ abilities
- Feel the need to be indispensable
- Enjoy doing the work themselves
- Feel guilty about giving more work to their staff
Effective delegation is a sign of strength, not weakness. Managers are not there to take on every task themselves — they are also there train workers. Delegation is a critical part of this important role.
Tips for Effective Delegation
To be an effective delegator, business leaders should cultivate habits that might not come naturally. The following tips are a good place to start:
Maintain a delegation attitude: Effective delegators continually ask themselves, “Who else could be doing this?”
Delegate effectively: The most important criterion when delegating is deciding who gets the job. Some employees lack the skills to perform tasks while others may be ready to step up.
Welcome input: Effective leaders embrace new ideas. One example would be starting a discussion on which team member would be best suited to take on a big project.
Define expectations: Employees are best held accountable when they have clear expectations and deadlines. Delegation frees workers to take assignments according to their personalized methods for accomplishing goals, but they still need guidance
Monitor progress: Delegating is less about handing off than entrusting. To ensure that projects reach their target on time, effective leaders should periodically monitor employees.
Learn Effective Delegation with an Online MBA from St. Thomas University
STU’s all-online MBA prepares business leaders to incorporate skills like delegation into a variety of potential leadership roles. Graduate students can tailor their MBA to meet more specific career paths, such as:
- Accounting
- Cybersecurity management
- Human resource management
- Marketing
- Sports administration
The accelerated, faculty-led program delivers quantitative and qualitative management aspects through seven-week courses, and the entire degree can be completed in 10 months.
Learn more about St. Thomas University’s online MBA program.
Sources:
SmartBrief: How Ineffective Delegation Wastes Time and Hampers Productivity
SHRM: Managers Must Delegate Effectively to Develop Employees
