I’ve worked with many, many managers over the years and with nearly all of them, one issue has held them back: the ability to effectively delegate to their team. Even the most experienced managers have struggled with it (me included!) and it’s a tough one to overcome.
There are three elements of delegation that managers typically struggle with:
- When to delegate.
- What to delegate.
- How to delegate.
Today, we’ll explore how to approach all three.
But first, why do we even struggle with delegation in the first place? It’s important to understand what prevents us from delegating effectively before we seek to fix that problem.
Why we fail at delegation
I could probably write a whole guide on this part of the problem alone – just based on what I’ve gotten wrong personally over the years! So I’ll give you enough detail here but also focus more on how to improve things.
We think we’ll do a better job
This is a tricky one because, well, it’s probably true. At least at first.
We probably can do a better job at day-to-day tasks than our team members because we’ve already done those things a lot – probably for many years.
To add to this, our job is to deliver great work and we want that work to be the best. So it reinforces the idea that we should do it ourselves.
Suffice to say, this thinking, albeit understandable, is wrong and will lead to big problems in the medium to long term – despite appearing to be the best answer in the short term.
The true measure of success for a manager isn’t their own ability to deliver work to a high standard, it’s the ability of their team to deliver work to a high standard.
We don’t trust our team
This is an extension of the previous point but is less about skills and more about whether you trust your team to get the job done at all.
It may be that your team has made mistakes in the past and this has led you to having trust issues. Again, this is understandable. But it’s not a reason to avoid delegating again.
If mistakes are made, the solution isn’t to keep tasks to yourself. The solution is to isolate the mistakes and help someone not make those mistakes again. Then you delegate work but keep the support in place that helps avoid the same mistake from happening again.
Avoiding delegation because a mistake is made is a bit like never letting a child ride a bicycle again after they fall off once. It stunts growth, prevents learning, and ultimately does more harm than good.
Obviously, our team aren’t children, but you get the point!
We’re scared of looking bad if they do it better
What if they end up delivering work that is better than what we’d have produced?
I’ll admit it – I was scared of this when I first became a manager. I was afraid of being surpassed by my team members.
Again, this is the wrong mindset to have.
You should want your team to do a better job than you – otherwise, how will your team ever innovate, improve and deliver even better work?
Your own knowledge and skills will end up being a limiting factor for your team’s development if you never want your team to improve on the work that you’ve done previously.
It takes time to delegate
This is a big one. Again, it’s understandable because it’s often true at first.
Let’s say that you’re thinking about delegating a task which would take you five hours to complete.
But to delegate the task, you need to write a good brief, provide some guidance on how to complete the task, explain this to the team member, check in with them, provide feedback, check over the final piece of work…
You then say to yourself that this will probably take a couple of hours at least, plus the time for the team member to actually do the task themselves.
So you do the sums and think – “It’ll be quicker to do it myself”. And you do.
Again, you’re not technically wrong. But you are thinking in terms of short-term wins and not long-term wins.
Another way to do the sums here is to think about getting to the point where you don’t need to do this task at all – therefore saving you five hours – every time this task needs to be done.
Sure, it’ll take time to get to this point, but once you do, the benefits for everyone are obvious.
How to delegate effectively
Right, let’s move onto the actionable stuff – how you can effectively delegate to your team. Remember that there are three parts to this that we typically struggle with, so we’ll go through each one.
When to delegate
As soon as you can.
If you have a new starter who joins your team, who is a complete newbie in your industry, you should be aiming to delegate tasks immediately. Even if it’s a tiny part of a tiny task, give it to the team member and ask them to own it.
For example, perhaps you have a task when you need to work on a strategy presentation for a stakeholder or client. Of course, you can’t delegate all of this to a complete newbie on their first day!
But you probably can delegate discreet parts of that presentation, such as:
- Researching a specific topic or piece of data that you need to include.
- Verifying information, data or research that you’ve already collected.
- Reading what you’ve done so far and putting forward some suggestions for what questions the stakeholder or client may have.
Tasks like these have real value to your deliverable, but aren’t going to make or break the success of your job. So you’re delegating very quickly, but doing so in a controlled way that still has value for you and the team member.
It also builds their confidence from day one because they aren’t being given “busy work”. They are being given work that matters and the chance to work directly with you (and learn from you) immediately.
What to delegate
As much as you can.
One of my old colleagues used to say that the job of a manager was to make themselves redundant. Obviously, this wasn’t literal! What they meant was that a team should be able to do everything that a manager can do.
You can only do this by not holding back with what you delegate. Of course, you need to be responsible with what you delegate too! So let’s break it down a bit and make this concept a bit more concrete.
You need to look at the responsibilities and success metrics that a team member has included in their role.
Once you are clear on these, your job is to look for everything that you can delegate that falls within these responsibilities and success metrics. This enables them to do their job and progress as much as possible.
They simply can’t fulfil their responsibilities and hit success metrics if they aren’t given the opportunity. So you need to actively look for ways to give them these opportunities.
How to delegate
I’ve written an entire guide on how to effectively delegate work as a manager, so I’d recommend taking a close look at that. But to give you an overview now, here is a simple framework that you can use.
1. Give a brief
Every piece of delegation starts with a good brief. If you fail at this step, then you’ll fail at delegation. If you give a bad brief, you’ll get bad work in return and it’s no one’s fault except yours.
Put the time into a good brief. Yes, it will take time, but this time will reduce over time and lead to better outcomes in the medium to long term.
2. Give feedback
As the work is done, build in some points where you can check in with the individual and see how they are getting on. Don’t leave these points to the last minute! Build in an early check in and a later check in and give feedback that helps them meet the brief.
Then, once the task is complete, give feedback on what they did well and what they could improve when they do the task again in the future.
3. Give Space
Once you’ve briefed them and agreed on the points where you’ll check back in, leave them to it.
I know, it’s hard. But they need space and the last thing that you want is to be seen as a micromanager. Leave your door open if they need to ask a question or check something with you, but apart from that, give them space.
If you can master these steps and be aware of the reasons why we fail at delegation, you’ll not only enable better development, progression and performance from your team, but it will do the same for your own career.
