Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Tips in delegating effectively

As a manager today, do you ever got the feeling the work you delegated was not done properly, the results were not satisfying and you ended up wondering if you wouldn’t have been better off doing it yourself? It’s a common complain among my clients. Now the tricky question, Have you ever considered, that it is the way you have delegated the task the problem?

There is a misconception that delegation is just about giving a task to a person on your team without taking the time to explain it, identifying clear goals and setting deadlines. However, effective delegation requires you to take some time to think about what it is that you want and expect:

  • What exactly is it that needs to be done and to what standard?
  • Who in my team can do it and I trust to do it?
  • Why is it important?
  • By when specifically (date & time) do I need it done?
  • How will he/she know she has achieved or not your standard?
In times in which we are under so much pressure at work, both with regard to strict deadlines as well as to the required quality of the results, we tend to forget that delegation is not only about assigning tasks to your team in order to take some of the load of daily work off you, but that it has a significant impact on your team’s motivation, confidence, their professional and personal development and ultimately their productivity.

So just remember: Slowing down to delegate effectively will speed up your performance!

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