Managers often feel reluctant to delegate. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you must do everything yourself if you want it to be done right. This mindset, while common, is a major impediment to effective management. New managers may lack the confidence to direct others, or feel that they are the only ones who can do things properly – especially if they were promoted over a department in which they previously worked. They may not trust their employees enough to entrust them with more work.
It’s a simple fact that one person can’t do everything. Trying to accomplish or micromanage too many tasks leads to burnout, poor quality and missed deadlines, not to mention time management problems. Delegation is not a sign of weakness; it’s a sign of leadership. Managers who don’t delegate will usually not remain in management for long, or stay in low-level management rather than moving up.
The job of a manager is to MANAGE and lead others, not to do their work for them. Bite he bullet, take the risk, and share the load. Even if you can do some things better yourself, you can’t do it all by yourself. Your fear, your hesitation, your control issues, your perfectionism, and your arrogance only make the team less effective, less productive, and less successful. Delegate tasks, share the workload, and develop your employees’ skills and abilities. Given your vote of confidence, they may well surprise you.
Here are ten compelling reasons for you to start delegating if you aren’t – or to delegate even more if you are.
Most managers would like to have more time to get a handle on planning and organization. This is an important part of managing any team, and it’s difficult to work it in between all your other tasks when you’re carrying too heavy a workload.
If you aren’t certain of your own ability to develop your team, delegation is the best way to start. If you know what you want to accomplish, learning how to delegate the process is an important step towards becoming a better manager and having a better team.
Having too much on your plate is not only difficult for you, it can be disastrous for your team. If you can’t manage your own workload, you can’t hope to manage anything else. Get a grip; work smarter, not harder, and spread the load around.
If you delegate to your team members and remain open for questions, they will feel that you trust them and that you are accessible for communication. If your employees feel that you trust them and that they can talk to you, you will benefit immeasurably. A team built on trust and open communication is a team poised for success.
Employees who take over a process or job may have a completely novel approach, and sometimes it’s a major improvement! If you just keep doing things the way you’ve always done them and refuse to allow anyone else a shot, there will be no opportunity for new and different ideas and approaches, process improvements, or other potential innovations.
Employees find it gratifying when their managers delegate to them. For most, this is a sign that they are valued and trusted workers, and that their manager believes them capable of greater success. This can be more motivational than any team pizza party could ever be.
If employees feel empowered to accomplish delegated tasks in their own way, they can become very both very creative and very driven to succeed. Their personal initiative and the desire to reach the goal you have set before them can produce impressive results.
The leaders of the future have to come from somewhere. Developing your employees through delegation and helping them to learn new skills not only benefits them, but furnishes your organization with more qualified and better trained personnel.
Your employees will relish the prestige and recognition that comes with doing something that makes a difference. They will experience pride and a sense of accomplishment from making a significant contribution.
As if all that wasn’t enough:
It fosters trust, boosts morale, promotes high productivity and efficiency, and generates a culture of enthusiasm, innovation, creativity, cooperation, and openness. It will reduce employee turnover and furnish the organization with better-qualified, more skilled employees.
Delegation is not just a convenient way to shuffle off simple tasks that you dislike doing. Delegation is not nominally giving someone a job and then micromanaging every stage of the project. Delegation is providing employees with a job to do within basic parameters and giving them the authority to make their own decisions on what steps to take to achieve the objective. Offer support and training as necessary, but allow your team members a degree of autonomy and ownership if you really want to benefit.
Baker Communications offers leading edge Management Training solutions that will help you address the goals and achieve the solutions addressed in this article. For more information about how your organization can achieve immediate and lasting behavior change in managing others, click here.
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