Delegation – 3 factors you need to understand
• They don’t pull their own weight • They burden others • They eat up the precious time of their colleagues and subordinates • They destroy the harmony in any team or group
It must be stressed though that this type of delegation is not as common as you might think. Most people, who delegate, do so for the right reasons. And, when you learn to delegate properly, you will be amazed at just how much time you can save and, how much more of your most valuable work you can complete.[thrive_text_block color="dark" headline=""]
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The problem with avoiding delegation
Most people want to impress their manager, employer or customer. Unfortunately this often leads them to take on more work than they are capable of performing. Organisational cultures often see this keen attitude as a positive but it is far from being positive. The person who insists on taking on more work than he can reasonably do not only makes himself less productive but also affects the productivity of everyone who is counting on him to do the job. In addition to this, in an attempt to get the work done he often pushes himself too far, resulting in stress and health problems. As the organisation has a duty of care to the employee, this can also lead to legal issues.
You may feel that volunteering for every task will have a positive impact on your career but when you adopt this approach, you are trying to turn a marathon into a sprint. Your career will be played out over many years but adopting this mentality will see you burn out early on. Delegation plays a key role in helping you to manage your energy levels and your productivity by forwarding tasks to the people who are better suited to complete them.
The major benefit of delegation
That brings me to the second reason that you must consider delegation. Nobody can be an expert at everything and in the workplace; experts are valued most and receive the greatest rewards. It is far more effective, and productive, for you to focus on your areas of strength. Tasks which fall outside of these areas should be considered for delegation. You might think that this type of delegation is taking advantage of others but it isn’t. The person to whom you delegate the task will be able to complete it quicker, and to a higher standard, than you can. In the meantime, you can focus on what you do best, allowing you to get more done too.
When you adopt this form of delegation, you are assigning work to those best suited to complete it. In doing so, you are giving them a chance to demonstrate their abilities and shine. In return, if they have a task which is more suited to your skill set, you can return the favour. As long as delegation is done from this positive mindset, it can benefit everybody.
Where does delegation begin?
Contrary to what you might believe, the biggest issue that people take with delegation is not that you are dumping work on them. The biggest problem with delegation is that it is usually an afterthought i.e. you realise that you are not going to be able to complete a task so, at the last minute, you hand that task off to somebody else. When you take this approach, you are not just giving the other person the task; you are giving them the pressures and stress that come with having to complete the task within a limited amount of time. As you are handing them the task at the last minute, they do not have sufficient time to rearrange their own work so as to fit your task in. This can lead to major problems and, if you do this repeatedly; it will definitely lead to resentment, animosity and a very poor relationship.
What most people fail to understand about delegation is that it should be at the forefront of your mind at the beginning of a project. When you are planning your project, you should be drawing up a list of people who would be able to help you complete the project. As you break the project down into the all of the tasks necessary to complete it, you will be able to identify suitable tasks to delegate to these people. Once you have decided which tasks to delegate, you should contact the person at the earliest opportunity to discuss the completion of the relevant tasks. This way, you are allowing them the maximum time possible to organise their own work in a way that will allow them to fit your tasks in.
Even better than the above; if you feel that somebody could be doing a lot of work on a particular project, invite them to get involved at the project planning stage.
Delegation is one of the fundamental skills of highly productive people. Many people feel guilty about delegation because they think that they are dumping their work on other people. However, there are many reasons why it is often better to delegate a task to somebody else e.g. they are more skilled at the particular tasks and will be able to complete it quicker and, to a higher standard. Another reason that people avoid delegation is because they want to impress their colleagues and management. Unfortunately, these people eventually take on far more work than they could ever complete and they crumble under the pressure. There is nothing impressive about constantly failing to meet deadlines, letting others down and, the stress that comes with that. Delegation is a vitally important component of a productive working life. Learn to do it right and you will begin to achieve results that you had never thought possible while, securing your health and wellbeing in the process On a quick note, if you are self-employed and you work alone, you can still delegate. It is called outsourcing and it allows you to focus on the tasks which bring the money in.