A crucial part of being an effective manager is to find ways to maximize productivity without sacrificing quality. Mastering the art of delegation is essential for increasing your output and helping your organization to achieve its goals. However, not everyone knows how to delegate successfully.
To help ensure that you’ll get satisfactory results from delegating assignments to your employees, make a point to work through the following six steps:
1. Determine exactly what you’re looking for with the assignment.
Before delegating an assignment to an employee, map out a plan for how you want the employee to approach the assignment. This will help you to clearly define your expectations for the project when communicating with them so that you’re both on the same page.
2. Assign the project to your employee.
Once you define your expectations for the assignment and a game plan for accomplishing it, you’re ready to assign the project to your employee. When delegating the assignment, be sure to define the deadline, budget, context, communication requirements, and any other critical details.
3. Confirm that the employee understands the assignment.
This is the most crucial step of the delegation process. Rather than assume the employee understands the assignment, ask him or her to paraphrase the assignment in his or her own words. Confirmation will only take a minute and will make an impact on whether the project is a success or failure.
4. Confirm that the employee is committed to completing the task.
Make the employee aware of how his or her contribution (or lack thereof) will impact the team and overall organization. When employees feel that their work has purpose, they’ll be more likely to see the project through to a successful outcome.
5. Turn challenges into learning opportunities rather than take back an assignment.
You’re delegating an assignment for a reason; you need to focus on your core tasks while also increasing the productivity of your team. If the employee faces a roadblock with an assignment that you’ve given him or her, coach the employee through the challenge rather than taking back the project for yourself (known as reverse delegation).
6. Hold employees accountable.
Two-way communication throughout the project is necessary in order to hold employees accountable to successfully completing tasks that you’ve delegated.
Master this 6-step delegation process and become a more effective leader for your organization!
