Shawnee Love   •  
April 26, 2013

One talent managers need is to know is how and when to delegate.  Great managers do it well.  Delegation is not simply handing off the things you don’t want to do although on occasion it might work out that way.  Delegation is about:

• Using your time wisely (i.e., enabling you to work on more strategic activities such as planning, organizing, streamlining, and removing roadblocks for your team),
• Challenging your employees to take on more difficult work,
• Developing your employees in preparation for career growth opportunities, and
• Building trust with your employees.

Implied in delegation is that the person who receives the opportunities to do the delegated tasks also becomes accountable to accomplish the tasks to the quality expected.  Thus, for a manager to effectively delegate, that manager must not only transfer responsibility for the task, but also communicate what success looks like.  Additionally, the employee must accept responsibility for the task and understand how to do it right.  Usually these two steps happen in tandem, but it is really important to understand that both need to happen for delegation to be successful.

The biggest reason cited for not delegating is that it takes longer to hand off the activity than it does to do it.  This makes sense since it is actually two steps and there is time associated with each.  While this complaint is often true (and logical) in the short term, you can’t let it ride in the long term because not delegating holds you back as much as it does the business and your employees.  If you are ready to start delegating, come back next week for a step by step on how to delegate.

What’s holding you back from delegating?