Benefits of a delegating style of leadership
If you’re accustomed to handling a heavy workload on your own, delegating tasks may seem intimidating. The process is worth the effort—delegating work benefits both you and your employees.
- Boost employee morale: Delegation in management demonstrates a high level of trust in your employees. Handing over leadership duties is a vote of confidence in the employee’s skills, expertise and knowledge. Done regularly, it can make your team members feel more valued and satisfied.
- Improve employee skills: With delegated leadership, you allow others to think for themselves, make decisions and build new skills. The process creates a larger talent pool of capable, confident employees that you can draw from when it’s time for promoting staff and advancing new managers.
- Increase efficiency: You’re only one person—trying to do everything on your own inevitably results in delays and bottlenecks. A better solution is to spread out tasks among managers or high-level employees. The work will get done faster, which creates a more efficient workflow and helps the company meet deadlines on time.
- Make more time for crucial tasks: As an employer, there are some things only you can do. Off-loading other projects frees up your time for tasks that help the business grow: presenting to investors, making valuable industry connections and reeling in big clients.
- Use resources efficiently: You’re probably one of the highest-paid people in the company—if your day is taken up with administrative tasks or entry-level work, it costs the business a great deal of money. A better use of company resources is to hand off those tasks to lower-level workers, and spend your valuable time on revenue-generating work.
- Reduce the risk of burnout: Employers often worry about employee burnout without realizing that they’re susceptible to it, as well. Leadership delegation makes it easier to complete your projects on time. Plus, you’ll have more energy and be less stressed when you’re not working overtime trying to get everything done.
Best practices for delegation in leadership
Every leadership position involves delegation. However, developing a delegating leadership style may take time, especially if you prefer to be in control. Confident delegation is a strength; it shows others that you’re not afraid to seek help.
Keep in mind that the benefits of delegation are cumulative—the more you do it, the easier it becomes. It’s normal to struggle at first, but remember that you’re empowering employees to succeed. By following these best practices, you can establish a process that works for you and the company.
- Start small
- Define how you measure success
- Develop a priority system for tasks
- Delegate based on skill
- Balance the delegation
- Provide clear instructions
- Take time to teach
- Show trust in your team
- Encourage feedback
- Explain why each task matters
Related: 7 Effective Skills to Help You Become a Better Leader
1. Start small
Do: Start by delegating small tasks before handing off bigger projects. You can monitor employees’ progress and get a feel for how the new workload affects them. This is a great way to identify each employee’s strengths and skills; it may even turn into a promotion opportunity.
Don’t: Hand off your biggest project to someone who has never dealt with a task of that magnitude before. Doing so sets the employee up for failure.
2. Define how you measure success
Do: Meet as a team to discuss how you plan to evaluate the performance of your employees. Present them with clear metrics, and explain how you measure success. Employees work more efficiently when they have clear expectations and flexibility. If you tell them ahead of time that you’ll be asking for weekly updates, for example, they’re free to decide how to spend their time between check-ins.
Don’t: Give your employees work without setting a deadline or establishing milestones.
3. Develop a priority system for tasks
Do: Rank projects and tasks in order of importance; that way, employees always know what to work on first. Prioritizing tasks ensures that time-sensitive work gets done on schedule.
Don’t: Give someone an important task and not tell them when it’s due. It’s also important to avoid changing priorities too often.
4. Delegate based on skill
Do: Evaluate your employees, and assign tasks based on their skills and expertise. This sets them up for success and enables them to work to their strengths. You might also consider delegating to employees who want to develop a specific skill.
Don’t: Give tasks to employees just because they have the least amount of work to do.
5. Balance the delegation
Do: Assign tasks based on skill, but make an effort to use a balanced approach when delegating work. This allows everyone to assume a variety of tasks that keep them motivated and focused; it also spreads out the workload fairly. Balance is particularly important when you’re off-loading a mix of monotonous work and interesting challenges.
Don’t: Keep giving the same person the same tasks. Make sure to avoid overloading your highest-performing employees.
6. Provide clear instructions
Do: Give clear instructions on how to perform tasks in the beginning. A process that seems easy to you may not be as obvious to your employees. Invite your team members to ask questions as they arise.
Don’t: Expect someone to know how to do something without giving them the details or providing adequate resources.
7. Take time to teach
Do: Expect to spend time teaching your employees how to perform the given tasks. In the beginning, they’ll need additional guidance from you. Think of this time as an educational investment in the company’s future and the employee’s career skills.
Don’t: Neglect to provide support when needed. Be sure to welcome questions knowing that they’ll head off problems down the road.
Related: How to Start a Mentor Program
8. Show trust in your team
Do: Allow your team to complete the work without hovering over their desks. This shows you believe in their abilities and expertise. Successful leaders know employees prefer to complete work on their own terms, but don’t mind an occasional check-in to verify progress.
Don’t: Be the micromanager in the office. Strong leaders trust their employees to work largely unsupervised.
9. Encourage employee feedback
Do: Let your employees know you welcome feedback throughout the delegation process. Be clear that you mean to pay attention to the feedback you receive. This process opens your company up to innovation and insights that can streamline processes and boost efficiency. Make sure it’s a two-way street—offer praise and constructive feedback on a regular basis.
Don’t: Neglect your employees and discourage open communication.
10. Explain why each task matters
Do: Sit down with your employees and explain how their roles help the company achieve success. This is especially important when you’re asking them to take on more work; when they understand why it matters, they may be more open to change and growth. It’s also helpful to explain why you chose them for a specific task.
Don’t: Expect people to be eager for more work if they don’t understand why they’re getting it.
Delegating leadership FAQs
Even when you’re well-versed in the best practices for delegating leadership, you may still have additional questions. Here are the answers to some common frequently asked questions to help.
What does delegating leadership mean?
A delegating leadership style occurs when a supervisor makes it a practice to assign work duties to their team members. More importantly, the supervisor gives employees space to accomplish their projects. This leadership style allows workers to assume some of their leader’s responsibilities while having access to support if needed.
How do you decide which tasks to delegate?
Start by delegating the tasks that don’t require special skills, such as administrative work. Then, scan your to-do list for jobs that are slightly outside your expertise; hand them off to a specialist who can do them faster. If you’ve been updating the company website, for example, it’s more efficient—and more affordable—to give the project to a web designer or marketing employee. Delegating leadership tasks can also be a good way to build up your managers and high-performing workers.
Why is delegating important for teams?
Delegation is important for teams because it provides members with opportunities for learning, creativity and growth. It also helps employees feel valued when they’re trusted with special requests.
