When trying to run a successful business, it’s pretty self-explanatory that you need to be able to hand off some of your tasks. Working with a team will not only help you free up more time, but it’ll help you excel at some of the tasks you’re not so good at. They can help streamline processes and further strengthen the systems you’ve already set up.
Giving responsibility to others isn’t simply telling someone to complete a task and you forgetting about it. It’s essential that you learn the principles of delegation so ensure your team members are working to the best of their abilities.
What Are the Principles of Delegation?
As a boss, what you need to be doing is to delegate tasks by the results you expect that team member to achieve. In other words, you should be able to measure the results that this person needs to do. That means you need to give them total responsibility of doing whatever they need to do to get those results. Without that, then you’re just hindering them.
It also goes without saying that you need to communicate clearly to your team members. When delegating something, it’s essential that you ensure that you’re not handing off a task and forgetting them about the whole thing. Rather, you’re giving them responsibility but they know that they can still turn to you for advice and help.
The third principle is to make sure that the level of responsibility you hand out is related to the tasks assigned and how much authority that actual team member has. For example, if you have someone helping you with bookkeeping but they can’t get access to invoices or client information, then that person can’t do their job correctly.
How Can I Ensure I Delegate Properly?
The most obvious (but most overlooked) thing that people should avoid doing is to not micro-manage. Think about how you would feel if you were given something to do, only to have the decision making process taken away from you. You don’t want to undermine any of your team members once you’ve delegated a task, so make sure you don’t micro-manage.
It’s hard because you don’t like to see mistakes, but this is how people grow. Think back to some of your biggest breakthroughs. It probably came from mistakes or small failures along the way. If you’re worried about something, schedule time to speak with your team members. Allow them to give you their honest assessment of what’s being done. If need be, you can steer them in the right direction and give them specific feedback.
The most important thing you can do is to ensure that you show your staff that you trust them, so that they can do their best. If they make a mistake, it’s OK as long as you’ve put in steps in place for them to fix it and that they are more mindful next time moving forward. The principles of delegation are simple and will take time to put in place, so be patient and your team will eventually thrive.
