Your ability to delegate important work defines your success as a leader. Redirecting important work to others means you’re finally using leverage. Delegating work allows others to develop the skills essential for long-term team success.
Not only does delegating work allow you the time to focus on the highest impact tasks, but it also shows the team that you trust them. The key to becoming better at delegating is to understand when to delegate. Nailing the “when” makes delegating easier for leaders to embrace.
Good leaders ask and answer these questions:
- Will the work recur in the future?
- Would a false start jeopardize the project?
- Do I have the time to check-in and lend a hand, if needed?
- Who has the context to make progress on the primary tasks?
- Who has the foundational skills to tackle the assignment?
- Who would most benefit developmentally from working on the project?
Be objective when reaching conclusions on these questions. No more feeble excuses.
Leaders too often rationalize the hoarding of tasks. They believe it will take too much time to explain how to do the work to make delegation worthwhile. The truth is, the leader probably could do it better and faster themselves. Duh. That’s not the point.
Remember two things:
- People don’t grow and develop without you delegating important work.
- You have bigger fish to fry.
Get over your controlling nature and learn to push work toward others. Everyone benefits when you do.
