📒 Summary + Reflections

The art of delegating tasks is an important skill to master in our times, not only to be efficient & effective in getting work done but also to have a positive work environment. As the nature of the work is ever-evolving, there is no shortage of growing responsibilities & workload, while the available time remains the same. Imagine you are the manager **of the Production Department in your organization where your core responsibilities involve high pursuit activities like Policy implementation, Budget Finalizing, Process improvements, evaluating performance & motivating your team, etc.- but you are stuck up in administrative tasks like production analysis, following up for daily production logs, etc. Does it seem to be a healthy work environment? Definitely no.

This is why it is incumbent upon the leaders to consciously work on the art of delegation of tasks as it benefits not only them but the team around them & the organization as a whole.

Some of the benefits are:

1. Reduces your stress level, and improves your coaching skills & there by your job satisfaction.
2. By delegating to your team, you increase their motivation, morale & confidence. Also, they get to learn new skills.
3. It increases the overall productivity of the organization, builds trust between teammates, and strengthens communication between employees.

How to delegate?

As the idea of delegating work is important, what is more, important is how effectively it’s done. Know that delegation does not simply mean dumping all your tasks to your team member, rather it involves smart planning & distribution of tasks & projects to the most competent members of your team. That is assigning the right tasks to the right person at the right time. Hence it’s very crucial to set the environment & the assignments before you delegate. Let’s discuss some key tips that help in setting a balanced work environment that facilitates smooth delegation of tasks.

Setting the Environment

• Develop trust in your team members.
• Delegate entire projects/tasks- to help increase your employee’s motivation & morale.
• Avoid assigning only tedious or difficult tasks.
• Know your team member’s strengths & weaknesses.
• Communicate effectively, and let them know what you want from them.
• Support them by providing resources & coaching if necessary.
• Involve them in decision-making.

Setting the Assignments for Delegation.

• Identify what & what not to delegate?
• Choose how much to delegate.
  • Delegate by tasks or projects or by functions.
• Select the most suitable person for the assignment.
• Decide on the level of authority to grant.
• Set a feasible timeline and agreed-upon deadlines.

Monitor & Review

Delegating the work to someone doesn’t relieve you of the responsibility. You need to close the loop making sure that the task objectives are met as intended. Hence monitoring review is important which involves the following:

• Regularly track the Progress.
• Provide support whenever there is any obstacle.
• Anticipate & address errors.
• Review the process & set continuous improvement measures.
• Evaluate the completed assignments.
• Teach delegation skills to others.